What are your plans for the solar eclipse?

[LordFerret]

I'll be cowering in a cave, sacrificing small animals over a fire while dancing and praying for the Sun God to return.

 

Or not.

I'll be home here in NJ, and watching it on tv or online.

[Just Jim]

3 hours ago, GoSlash27 said:

Well, hell...  You'll see 90% obscuration from your window. Surely Salem, OR isn't too far away from you?

Best,
-Slashy

Any idea how much, or little, I'll be able to see from the Tampa, FL area?

[GoSlash27]

7 minutes ago, Just Jim said:

Any idea how much, or little, I'll be able to see from the Tampa, FL area?

JustJim,

 About 80% in Tampa. Closest city to you would be Charleston, SC for the total eclipse.

Best,
-Slashy

[Just Jim]

80% is good.... thanks!  

Jim

[tater]

If at all possible, drive to totality. 80% is a routine partial eclipse. I've seen several of those, and a couple annulars. I have not seen totality, and everyone I know who has has said it's not remotely comparable to a partial, or even an annular.

 

[Just Jim]

2 minutes ago, tater said:

If at all possible, drive to totality. 80% is a routine partial eclipse. I've seen several of those, and a couple annulars. I have not seen totality, and everyone I know who has has said it's not remotely comparable to a partial, or even an annular.

It's really tempting.... depends on $$$ and the weather.

[tater]

I'm gonna have to drive maybe 9 hours as it stands---going north I can do over a couple days, I have friends in CO (family in Aspen, too, now that I think of it), so maybe I go halfway on Saturday, then to Cheyenne on Sunday. Monday, I drive a couple hours north, watch the eclipse, then drive all the way back to ABQ so the kids can go to school Tuesday.

[Just Jim]

I'm mostly worried about my car making it... Driving across Florida in mid-august is brutal, and my poor car is getting up there in years. Most likely I'll end up staying home and hoping it isn't raining when it happens.  

Edited May 25, 2017 by Just Jim

[Green Baron]

Having been under the totality of the 1999 eclipse i absolutely agree with @tater. Should you decide to go there then do drive the 100miles/169km more. You will not regret it, even if the car stalls ...

[Just Jim]

5 minutes ago, Green Baron said:

Having been under the totality of the 1999 eclipse i absolutely agree with @tater. Should you decide to go there then do drive the 100miles/169km more. You will not regret it, even if the car stalls ...

Unfortunately for me it's more like 450 miles to South Carolina, and that's a really long drive with an old car and bad back.

 

[tater]

4 minutes ago, Green Baron said:

Having been under the totality of the 1999 eclipse i absolutely agree with @tater. Should you decide to go there then do drive the 100miles/169km more. You will not regret it, even if the car stalls ...

Obviously a total eclipse includes a partial, but have you seen an annular? Perhaps you could describe the difference to people. We've all seen corona images, but that's not the same as the general... "feel" of such an event. A buddy of mine (we were physics undergrads together) ended up in lightning physics, and hence watches clouds rather a lot. He was at the eclipse in Mexico in the 90s, and he said that watching the shadow move in was fascinating, a well as watching the clouds dissipate along the path as it did so due to losing their energy supply.

I actually observed an substantial partial eclipse with him, and we saw that effect to some degree. I'm really interested though in how such an event feels to be there, vs a partial.

2 minutes ago, Just Jim said:

Unfortunately for me it's more like 450 miles to South Carolina, and that's a really long drive with an old car and bad back.

My car's not old, but I'm gonna have to drive farther than that... get a buddy with a better car, and pay the gas?

[Just Jim]

1 minute ago, tater said:

get a buddy with a better car, and pay the gas?

Maybe... there is one friend I have that's usually up to a road trip... I have to ask next time I see him. If we could switch off driving it would be much easier.

[tater]

Just now, Just Jim said:

Maybe... there is one friend I have that's usually up to a road trip... I have to ask next time I see him. If we could switch off driving it would be much easier.

And more fun to do it with someone else. There is another totality in the East in 2024, actually, but you never know about weather, it would suck to miss this one, counting on 2024, then there is an epic storm during that one.

The next opportunity is 2045 I think.

It's important to underline the fact that a total eclipse is qualitatively different than a partial, and even an annular eclipse.

Found this account:

https://www.beingintheshadow.com/2013/05/07/annular-versus-total-solar-eclipse/

Quote

What does it feel like to experience a partial eclipse, an Annular, and a Total?   To me, it comes down to the degree of immersion and intensity.  On a scale of 0 to 10 of immersion and intensity, a partial eclipse I would rate about a 4 – it is interesting, it makes you think about the Universe in a three dimensional way, it makes you feel insignificant, you become aware of the inevitability of the Universal clock.  An Annular Eclipse I would rate about a 9 – there are added experiences such as the gradual dimming of light, animal reactions, the approaching darkness, and seeing the Ring.  It is pretty awesome. On the same scale, I would rate a Total Solar Eclipse as – 100.  This is because once you experience the Total Eclipse you realize that it is on a completely different scale altogether, and just cannot be compared.  It completely blows you away.

 

[Green Baron]

@Just Jim: yeah, that was unclear from my side. I meant, if you drive up there don't just drive to charleston, drive a little more so that you're well under it. Teaming up with other sis certainly a good idea.

@tater, it was, if i remember correctly, a total eclipse and it was dark in Karlsruhe, Germany. And i had to part a solar film sheet with someone else :-/

You'll see soon ;-)

[tater]

 

The light gets interesting during an annular, but nothing at all like the darkness in this video.

[GoSlash27]

33 minutes ago, tater said:

It's important to underline the fact that a total eclipse is qualitatively different than a partial, and even an annular eclipse.

tater,

 No doubt. A 100% eclipse can't be just 20% more impressive than an 80% eclipse. It's got to be a whole other level of mind- blowing.

I've seen partial eclipses before, and it's not all that impressive. You get twilight and confused animals, but that's about it. Can't even look directly at it.

A total eclipse, OTOH would be unearthly. Day turns to night and you can look up and see the corona streaming off of a black sun into outer- freakin' space! O_O

/Can't wait

 

[tater]

Dapples on my house during a 2002 partial. The gaps between leaves create effective pinhole lenses.

 

Same effect during the 2012 annular on my neighbor's house (they had a party for it, as my neighbors are all wont to do for any possible occasion, lol):

Lousy image taken through a filter before it was a total ring.:

 

[ZooNamedGames]

I'm going to be In FL wishing I could see it but alas be stuck at home flying above Kerbin.

[DeltaDizzy]

I'm going to Carbondale, IL. There's this huge viewing event, and NASA is sending people. The point of longest duration is a lake in a university campus, less than a mile away.

[Brent Kerman]

7 minutes ago, DeltaDizzy said:

I'm going to Carbondale, IL. There's this huge viewing event, and NASA is sending people. The point of longest duration is a lake in a university campus, less than a mile away.

I wanted to go there, but my parents believe the news sites that say Hopkinsville is best. Hopkinsville is the place of maximum totality, which in a total eclipse means nothing!

[GoSlash27]

17 minutes ago, Brent Kerman said:

I wanted to go there, but my parents believe the news sites that say Hopkinsville is best. Hopkinsville is the place of maximum totality, which in a total eclipse means nothing!

Either is fine. The difference in duration between the two isn't even a half second.

Best,
-Slashy

Edited May 25, 2017 by GoSlash27

[tater]

I figure in Wyoming I can off road to a cool spot. Downside to taking the SUV is that the trip will cost maybe 4 tanks of gas, lol.

[PakledHostage]

4 hours ago, GoSlash27 said:

No doubt. A 100% eclipse can't be just 20% more impressive than an 80% eclipse. It's got to be a whole other level of mind- blowing.

I saw the same 1999 total eclipse as Green Barron, only from a spot about 200 km further east and I would have to agree with all the hype: Totality is mind blowing. It is almost supernatural. I think you'd have to be a poet to really be able to capture it in words but "supernatural" is the best single word description that I can think of. I have never felt so profoundly insignificant.

I was fortunate enough to have clear skies that day even though there were lots of towering cumulus clouds around. Those towering cumulus enhanced the effect of the onrushing umbra because you could see it coming from/receding to dozens of kilometers away. The speed and size of it was humbling. I remember saying afterwards that I understood now why eclipses invoked such fear in ancient peoples. It got dark at mid day, the wind stopped, it got noticably cooler, the birds stopped singing, the street lights came on, the roosters were crowing after totality ended... and at the centre of it all, there was this spectacular corona surrounding a black hole in the sky where the Sun should have been. It was otherworldly.

[LordFerret]

oops

 

Edited May 26, 2017 by LordFerret

[Brent Kerman]

1 minute ago, LordFerret said:

Well if you miss this one, there is another...

August 21, 2017

this is the one we are talking about!