On Monday, the Finger Lakes witnessed an eclipse like they haven’t seen in, well, decades — at least in my lifetime. Today we know eclipses are events where the sun, moon, and earth line up just right and potentially create an awesome sky show.

While eclipses aren’t quite as awe-inspiring (at least to me) as when I saw the Northern Lights back in the ’80s, they are still pretty cool. They start off looking like the moon takes a bite out of the sun — and that chunk gets bigger and bigger. When the moon blocks the sun, everything goes dark. We get an entire day’s worth of light and dark over the course of a few minutes. It’s pretty darn neat.

Eclipses aren’t just great to look at, though. They’ve been a big deal in many cultures throughout history. People have been freaking out about them for ages, thinking they’re signs from the gods or something else. They’ve inspired myths, legends, art and sometimes........

© Finger Lakes Times