RBTH editor Marina Obrazkova watched the solar eclipse through hand-made glasses wrapped in tea packets
Unless you were in a cave or abstaining from media in all of its forms, those of you in Europe surely heard about – or maybe were even lucky enough to see – the total solar eclipse, which occurred on March 20, 2015. A solar eclipse occurs when the Moon passes between Earth and the Sun, thereby totally or partly obscuring the image of the Sun for a viewer on Earth.
Virtually all of Russia watched. And by watched we mean safely, of course, with people making sure their eyes were protected and never looking directly at the sun at any point without proper protection. And by protection we mean…just about anything, as far as Russia is concerned (there’s a reason we’re considered one of the most resourceful nations).
Things normally recommended for watching a solar eclipse include pinhole projectors (for the DIY types), eclipse glasses or aluminized Mylar sheeting. Here is what people from Moscow and St. Petersburg came up with instead.
You know what they say: An X-Ray a day keeps the eye problems away
And here we thought that we’d never ever use CDs or floppy disks again!
Safety first, fashion later
Now, as we start moving east things get even more interesting. Welcome to Chelyabinsk – a city proclaimed by scientists to be the most contaminated spot on the planet, a city that was closed to foreigners for 44 years, a city which had an atomic weapons complex called Mayak as its neighbor for decades.
The people of the area have suffered no less than three nuclear disasters. Saying that the residents of Chelyabinsk are tough would be a gross understatement.
They don’t believe in luxuries like pinhole cameras or specially designed eclipse glasses.
Case in point:
Коллеги из Челябинска смотрят затмение pic.twitter.com/5y6NxzCUoF
— Коффбой (@koffboy) March 20, 2015
How did you watch the solar eclipse? Source: Yaplakal.com
And that’s only what managed to find its way online…
Russians also never fail to make jokes or political references where they’re begging to be made:
Пару дней назад было #затмение,но у нас в городе были тучи..сфоткал его сегодня)#eclipse#солнечноезатмени #севастоп… pic.twitter.com/N94oTsrzVT
— Фото из Севастополя (@InstaSevastopol) March 22, 2015Photo from Sevastopol: “A few days ago the eclipse occurred but it was very cloudy in Sevastopol’…so I took a photo of it today!”
#Солнечное_затмение#затмениеpic.twitter.com/kv5j8Zf9s4
— Kirson (@Kirson_) March 22, 2015“I just want to watch the eclipse”
Немного актуального #юмора#псаки#мем#затмение#солнечноезатмение#brajianni#ещебольшехэштеговpic.twitter.com/8teXmAEsTu
— Molly_Crew (@Molly_Crew) March 22, 2015“I am absolutely certain that the solar eclipse is a Russian military maneuver aimed at adding the sun to the Russian Federation.” (pictured: Jen Psaki, spokesperson for the U.S. Department of State)
The eclipse according to Kiev’s version
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