Total Eclipse: A Demonstration of God’s Glory in Creation

A little before 2:00 p.m. and right on schedule, we saw first contact, when the moon took a tiny bite from the sun. Over the next hour, we watched the progression of the moon passing in front of the sun. The crowd watched the drama unfold while wearing their eclipse glasses, but we also had several telescopes set up for people to see magnified views of the partial eclipse phase. The Answers in Genesis education team showed people multiple images of the partially eclipsed sun by passing sunlight through holes in thin sheets of wood, with the sunlight projected onto screens.

The visual effect of seeing these in the sky is difficult to describe—it simply does not look real.

Anticipation grew as people noticed that everything around them was getting dimmer, providing an eerie setting. The climax finally came when totality began shortly after 3:00 p.m. The sun’s pearl-white corona popped out, and there were several deep red prominences around the edge of the eclipsed sun. Everyone noticed the very large prominence on the bottom of the sun. The visual effect of seeing these in the sky is difficult to describe—it simply does not look real. The thin clouds prevented us from seeing a few things normally visible in totality. We couldn’t see the wispy, moving shadow bands on the ground shortly before and after totality. The clouds also prevented us from seeing stars, though we were able to see Venus and Jupiter.

Alas, four minutes is not very long, and before we knew it, totality ended as someone counted down the time to when it was no longer safe to look at the sun without the protective eclipse glasses. Everyone basked in what we had just experienced, creating indelible memories that will last a lifetime. The partial phase of the eclipse following totality is literally anticlimactic, and people rarely show much interest in that. Consequently, people talked about what they had just experienced, but after a while, they began to pack up and leave.

We had taken along two telescopes from the Creation Museum’s Johnson Observatory to which I attached cameras. In addition to the education staff, the social media department at Answers in Genesis and one of our photographers were present to document this momentous event. We are sharing here just a few images that we took. Over the next few days and weeks, we will release more images and videos of what happened on Monday, so stay tuned.

Everyone who witnesses a total solar eclipse finds it to be a moving experience.

Everyone who witnesses a total solar eclipse finds it to be a moving experience. Many people who do not consider themselves to be spiritual say that it is a spiritual experience. Bible believers recognize that a total solar eclipse is an amazing display of God’s glory. But no matter how spectacular a total solar eclipse may be, it pales into insignificance when compared to God’s glory.