I loved astronomy since high school, but I was never really a "oh, let's get out our telescopes" kind of kid. I liked thinking about the big bang, and galaxies colliding and the physics and math of "star stuff", but I was never (and am still not) the kind of person to point out a constellation except for maybe the Big Dipper.
So it's no surprise that It had never occurred to me to actually go travel to see a solar eclipse. And when I found myself really near the path of totality for the 2017 solar eclipse, it was actually a tough call for me to decide to go. But I updated my camping gear, got some "pinhole camera" making equipment, grabbed my son, and we drove out to Madras, OR from our new home in Portland, and made a weekend of it.
It was fun for a lot of reasons, but the moment of totality was shockingly profound. The world completely changes. It's eerie quiet, the animals act differently, and if I'm honest, I'll admit that I suddenly and unexpectedly burst into tears. If I had to explain why, I think I'd have to say it was a strange feeling of community with all human ancestors who had ever witnessed a similar event. The fear and the wonder and the literal magic they would have felt. It still gives me the chills thinking about it.
Anyway, long story short, I'll never forget seeing the solar corona with the naked eye, and this is my interpretation...
(For some extracurricular corona learning...
https://astronomy.com/news/2019/09/whats-hotter-than-the-surface-of-the-sun-the-solar-corona)
20in chain w/bar; 48mm x 30mm
sterling silver, 23.5k gold foil, fluorite