- On Saturday a solar eclipse took place over the western US.
- TikTokers shared the methods they used to capture the view and shared them online.
Creators who used a variety of methods to catch a glimpse of the recent solar eclipse shared their results to TikTok.
On Saturday, a solar eclipse appeared over the western US, and was projected to be visible to around 68 million people during the two-and-a-half-hour event, Insider previously reported.
Looking directly at the eclipse without protective glasses can damage your eyes. According to NASA, "The only safe way to look directly at the uneclipsed or partially eclipsed sun is through special-purpose solar filters."
Some TikTokers attempted to catch a glimpse of the eclipse using their own methods.
On October 15, a TikToker who goes by Tanya Fortenberry, who describes herself as an elementary science teacher in her bio, received 4.3 million views when she posted a video with the on-screen caption "Solar eclipse 2023" which showed a piece of white paper on the floor and a colander in her hand. She held the kitchen utensil up which cast a shadow on the paper, and zoomed in to show the round holes had turned into crescent shapes on the paper, which appeared to indicate the outline of the eclipse above.
@tanyafortenberry0 How cool is this?! The partial annular eclipse created tiny crescent shadows through the holes in my collander #solareclipse2023 #annulareclipse #partialannulareclipse #crescents ♬ Eclipse - $uicideboy$
Over 990 commenters responded to say how cool the effect was, but admitted they didn't really understand how it was created.
According to NASA, this technique basically creates a pinhole camera effect, where the holes act "like a tiny camera lens," as light from the sun goes into the hole, becomes focused, and projects the shape onto the surface on the other side.
Bernadette Griego posted a video that showed groupings of orange, crescent shapes on the sidewalk, which seemed to be created by the sun which was partially visible behind a tree. In the caption of the video, which received 690,000 views, they wrote it took place "in the middle of the eclipse" and included the hashtag #albuquerque to indicate their location.
@bernadettegriego In the middle of the eclipse yard saling! #eclipse #albuquerque #foryoupage ♬ original sound - Bernadette Griego
This phenomenon was observed by various social media users, including the Boise National Weather Service, which tweeted a video of similar shadows. The visual effect is down to the trees and bushes creating a pinhole effect much like the colander, scattering dozens of crescent-shaped projections across the ground, Fox Weather reported.
One TikToker who goes by @remakuini documented a DIY approach, which they wrote in a caption that their husband learned from his grandmother. The technique goes against NASA's instructions, which advise against using "homemade filters or ordinary sunglasses, even very dark ones" to look directly at the sun, but the video went hugely viral, receiving over 1.9 million views.
It showed a man scorching the top of a transparent pot lid with a candle flame to create a burn mark and appeared to use his cell phone camera to film the eclipse through the residue, where the crescent shape could be seen.
@remakuini DIY hacks for the eclipse. #foryou #fy #fyp #foryoupage #foryoupageofficiall #fypシ #anulareclipse #eclipse #eclipse2023 #2023 #diy ♬ Magical Fantasy - Dmitriy Sevostyanov
This technique uses the newly formed layer of soot as a viewing filter, but it's not advisable if you're going to look through the glass directly. Dirk van Norren, a retired professor of ophthalmic physics at the University Medical Center Utrecht told Chemical & Engineering News in 2017 that he did not recommend the method as the soot can be too easily and accidentally wiped away.
A popular comment beneath the TikTok questioned the safety of this method, to which the original uploader responded that they just took a quick glimpse of it, and wrote it was better to use solar glasses.
Various other TikTokers appeared to use the correct lenses and posted videos as they filmed the perspective of the eclipse from them. One received 3.2 million views and over 4,600 comments, many of which wrote they had totally missed the eclipse due to cloudy weather or because they lacked the right viewing equipment, and thanked the TikToker for sharing their view with them instead.
A solar eclipse takes place when the moon briefly blocks the Earth's view of the sun. In the case of a total solar eclipse it completely covers it from view, but the recent showing was an annular solar eclipse, which means the moon was in the distant part of its orbit and appeared slightly smaller, and created a "ring of fire" effect instead where some of the sun was still visible.
The US is scheduled to get its next total eclipse in April 2024, which won't be seen again in the contiguous US until 2044, with another annular eclipse expected in 2046, Insider previously reported.
For more stories like this, check out coverage from Insider's Digital Culture team here.