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Fermion@feddit.nl 3 weeks agoIgnoring conspiracy theory stuff, people aren’t very good at detecting changes in light levels if they happen gradually. During any solar eclipse there are wide bands where only a partial eclipse is observed. It’s pretty common for people in those bands to not notice that something has changed even with 50% occlusion.
I’d chalk that up to the assumption that a cloud has partially or fully obscured the sun. If clouds weren’t a thing, we’d be much more sensitive to light changes as they wouldn’t be a part of our outdoor experience.
I’m not checking to see if the sun is still there every time the ambient light outside dims, y’know what I mean?
If you ever get the chance to see one it’s actually quite a bit more odd than a cloud passing over. It feels kinda wrong. The sunlight doesn’t warm like it should. Shadows do funny things especially around things like tree leaves. The colors are just kinda eerie.
But yeah if you don’t know it’s happening it is totally possible to miss a partial eclipse if you’re inside or busy and just passing through outside.
I saw last year’s North American eclipse in the path of totality. I know what you mean. It is very strange.
Yeah I traveled for that one and just barely avoided the clouds. Memory of a lifetime.
Photography hobbyist here: our eyes adapt to light more than we realize. What to us is a slight change in brightness is a dramatic difference to a photo camera.
Passerby6497@lemmy.world 3 weeks ago
You’re right when talking about the average person with nothing but their eyes. But there are tons of companies and members of the public that have bits of tech that would call that out easily. Solar panels, environmental logging equipment, etc, would notice the drop in light levels fairly easily, and would be apparent when reviewing historical vs current levels, and the power grids would definitely notice the sun dimming dropping their power outputs.
Without going into conspiracy theory territory, there’s no realistic way to hide that from the public.
Fermion@feddit.nl 3 weeks ago
Definitely, any changes natural or anthropogenic would be measured and to great accuracy. I just wanted to point out that the notion of the general public, especially if conditioned to distrust scientists and authorities, not noticing changes isn’t the outlandish part. See global warming denial despite years of record setting temperatures.
Passerby6497@lemmy.world 3 weeks ago
I figured, which is why I framed my comment the way I did. You may be able to discount the scientists, but can you discount them, plus citizens complaining about their solar output, power plants having to raise rates due to falling solar generation, crop impacts, and even just other citizens posting raw data all coming out with similar data over time saying it’s a problem?
Having said that and looking at the state of climate change, I have a hard time not seeing the parallels against my argument. But falling solar output would have a much more immediate effect on us than climate change (and would likely reverse it to some extent).