Diane Birnbaumer, MD, FACEP, senior educator at Harbor-UCLA Medical Center department of emergency medicine and professor emeritus of medicine at the David Geffen School of Medicine at UCLA in Los Angeles, is an avid solar eclipse chaser. She’s seen seven total solar eclipses on five continents. She got hooked on astronomy and cosmology in college and says experiencing a solar eclipse surrounded by people is an awesome experience. “The last five minutes before totality turn the world on its head. … Right before totality, you take off your protective glasses and look up to see the brilliant diamond ring,” Dr. Birnbaumer said. “The sun becomes a hole in the sky surrounded by the brilliant corona, only visible during a total solar eclipse. If you know where to look, you’ll see planets and bright stars. If you look at the horizon, you’ll see you are surrounded by 360 degrees of sunset. … I have to tell you, the experience rocks your world.” Her hobby helps keep things in perspective, she said. “What an eclipse does is show you what is always there, even if you can’t see it because the sun is so bright … ,” she explained. “It affects how I think and perhaps helps me be more inquisitive and thoughtful.”