cubinator

I know Lots that can happen with a mechanism like that, and I'm also a big fan of not giving things a lot of extra potential energy when it's not needed.

Luckily it's not too hard to handle the wind force.

The most reasonable thing to do is not use SLS at all.

So I'm NOT necessarily completely wrong about that thing casting a shadow on Europa that I estimated to be 3-7 km tall by counting pixels?

Partway through my processing, still learning how to make it photorealistic. Here you can see all the detail I got!

One thing I wonder about near-horizon eclipses is whether the longer shadow makes it easier to see more stars above. The sunset effects compounded with the eclipse ones would undoubtedly be an interesting contrast to the two I've now seen. I thought about planning a drive up to Canada for the 2021 annular eclipse at sunrise, but the clouds didn't look favorable. I might be able to catch one of the upcoming annulars in Brazil or Argentina, but those are high in the sky.

Yeah, I could barely see the shadows on the grass IRL, so I didn't even bother trying to film them or watch them very closely. Maybe a project for next time. The most valuable thing to capture on the phone was the audience reaction. Finally back in my home state now. What an adventure! I objectively had a highly successful trip, and I'm ready for a rest now.

Correction: I went back and watched my video this morning, and in it I actually did mention spotting Capella. I looked back at the eclipsed Sun and the vista with greater focus. Was really amazing to see the stars and planets come out so abruptly right before totality, even though I didn't get as much time to enjoy them that way. It was a really big contrast from 2017.

I miss it already. Each 'o' is one hour driving. One-way. My timelapse is currently in pieces on my phone, as is my realtime/exposure bracketing stuff. Worry not - I will bring it back to my computer desk tomorrow night!

Congrats! Glad you didn't have to reschedule to 2044 due to clouds.

Some cultures are careful not to observe eclipses. It can sound antiquated to some of us, but a lot of people still practice these traditions.

Yeah, that comet was hyped up and even I kept an eye on its brightness online, but I never had plans to look for it. I'd already seen it with binoculars at night! Better things to spend my 4 minutes and change on on eclipse day. I was surprised that I couldn't see Jupiter or Venus till right around totality, I guess the moisture in the air makes it a lighter color that washes things out. Aldebaran was the only star I saw too. Could have looked for Capella but, again, I'm not here on months of planning for a four-minute window to look at Capella. I know what clouds you are talking about. I watched the easternmost part of that break open up, and wondered if we would get into it if we turned around. I was underneath the forwardmost part of that cloud deck, on the northeastern end, struggling to race it out of Oklahoma. But I knew that the only way to be absolutely certain that we wouldn't be clouded over was to outrun the clouds into Arkansas until they dissipated. I'm really glad to see in the GOES pictures that the clouds down south broke up significantly, and it looks like the passage of the shadow helped to disperse almost all the remaining clouds just in time for totality. But I couldn't have known where that was going to be the case beforehand, and cleardarksky looked way more optimistic than a lot of other models for multiple days, so I decided to go for the safer gamble and the longer drive. I used the NWS point forecasts to choose a destination and GOES to verify that things were going as expected. Even still, being under that dark cloud was nerve-wracking, and makes me feel like the next time I take one of these trips, I want to be either in the middle of the desert or at 30,000 ft.

Great story! That orange/red spot you saw on the southern limb was a big prominence stretching out from the Sun. There were quite a few of those, but that was the easiest one to see! I knew from 2017 that the big traffic jam happens when everyone tries to leave right after totality, but the eclipse is only half over at that point, with plenty of interesting effects to continue observing! I stayed for the whole thing today (especially so I could complete my timelapse). Didn't encounter much traffic during the return, although it was a looooong drive. I recorded video with my phone during the start and end of totality in order to try to capture that reaction! I knew that was what my phone would do best, while I already had the special telescope camera trained on the Sun. I think someone sounded a bugel or something right before and after totality, as if to announce it. Seeing the world get suddenly cast into such darkness really is fearsome! I think I drove by some of those locals' houses. I think the solar eclipse is more than all the other crazy stuff I've seen in the sky put together - Sun image reflected on a Starlink train, a meteor flash striking the Moon during a lunar eclipse, the ISS through a telescope, a comet, giant fireballs, Andromeda, Venus in daylight, Mars occultation...the total solar eclipse is like all that stuff happening at once, to the point where you have to miss one part of it for every other part you focus on. So today I thought about stuff I hadn't seen last time, or was more curious about having already seen one. I did the photography this time, which turned out really well but I think contributed to making the whole thing feel like it was going by faster. I looked for (but failed to find) the planets, since I'd seen them very early last time. The most fun 'experiment' I did was covering up the tiny sliver of Sun with my thumb and successfully getting a sneak peek at the inner corona before totality truly began, and continuing to see it for a few moments after. And I got to see the prominences more clearly this time. I spent a lot of the time in totality just looking at the corona, because I knew I probably won't get to see that again for a long time.

https://nso.edu/telescopes/dki-solar-telescope/

We drove through Broken Bow on the way there and back. Clouds were nerve-wracking but dissipated just as I'd anticipated and hoped they would. It took another hour and a half driving to be really sure we'd stay clear of it though...Ended up at a convenience store store with a big lawn in Pencil Bluff, less than half a mile from the centerline.

That's a great shot of the pinhole with the trees! I took a similar shot with the eclipse glasses over my phone. I tried to take video with my phone of the people and environment during most of the totality, while not watching my screen, and left the solar imaging to the fancy tracking scope on the ground. Got a whole timelapse of the rest.

The innermost part of the corona was so bright! I had a hard time focusing on the whole thing. I'm gonna wait to mess with photos for the most part till I get home in a few days.

A big solar prominence. I got photos of it I'll share soon.

Roosters called, crickets jumped out into the field...seriously a lot of wildlife where we ended up.

I saw it all. Got incredible photos too!!! WOW!

Alright, I am settled right next to the centerline, skies are clear and should hold!

Out from under that cloud deck but still trying to ensure it doesn't catch us.

Fighting clouds in southern Arkansas.

I predicted deceptively blue skies in the morning for Dallas. Those clouds will come up from the south... I'm heading NE for the edge of Arkansas, where hopefully only some thin cirrus clouds will be.

I'm honestly really looking forward to not caring in the slightest what the next day's weather is like. But first, 1. Sleep 2. Road trip 3. Eclipse