Rodney Cole was spotted in downtown St. Albans on Monday afternoon, holding a solar telescope and observing the sun’s dark areas known as sunspots. At 59 years old, the Pittsfield, Massachusetts transmitter engineer had traveled to South Carolina in 2017 to witness the total solar eclipse but was disappointed by the cloudy conditions at the time. However, he remained optimistic about the viewing conditions in St. Albans on Monday.
As he watched through his Sunspotter Solar Telescope, two young children approached and asked if the dark areas projected onto a piece of paper were indeed sunspots. Cole confirmed their curiosity with a simple “Of course they are!” and shared his passion for astronomy with others, providing an educational experience for those who stopped to take a look. Despite his initial disappointment with the eclipse viewing in 2017, Cole remains committed to exploring different solar events and sharing his knowledge with others.
