08/21/17 Total eclipse -- Time to get serious.

I just returned home from Hastings, Nebraska. I fretted the weekend a little bit (ok.. a lot) because the weather forecasts were not great. I was going to go to a festival in Hastings, but when I got to the hotel, figured I would just stay in the parking lot, as I had an unobstructed view from there. However, the clouds were quite thick. So as I looked around, I saw that the skies were a lot clearer in a Northwest direction from where I was. So onto google maps to figure out a town that was in that direction but not too far. (this is 11:10, by the way, partial started at 11:33). Prosser, Nebraska it was... and I loaded my stuff into my car and punched it into my GPS and started heading that way.

This was farmland, through and through. Lots of corn and I'm on a paved road towards Prosser. I pulled over on a side road, right at the start of the partial eclipse and watched for a little bit. I had moved away from most of the clouds... so definitely a good decision. But based on the winds.. it seemed like it still wasn't quite right. So back in the car, and I drove up the road another 4-5 miles or so, and decided that the sunny spot I saw ahead was where I was parking myself... no more moving.. this was it.

I found a tiny little connecting gravel road between two paved roads. 1/10 of a mile long. No one else there, just cornfields and I stood watch over the eclipse. The occasional wispy clouds moved in front of the sun, but it was not enough to obscure the view through my eclipse glasses.

As the moment approached, it got darker, the wind stopped, and I removed my glasses and there it was.. in between clouds.. a perfect view of the eclipse for the entire amount of totality. It was simply breathtaking! No cars around, no other people.. just me and nature. I want to see another one! I was surprised how soft and radiant the corona was.. all the pictures make the light seem much harsher.

To all out there who think this isn't a big deal (.. cough cough .. RS.. cough)..... make plans for 2024 because it is a mind-blowing experience, being in totality.

I went to a house south of Carrier Mills, IL, a cousin of a friend, and hung out for the morning with great people. I left Mt. Vernon at 7 AM and experienced no traffic. The forecast had been for mostly cloudy, but there was never a cloud over the sun for the entire eclipse. Totality was an amazing experience. My favorite part was the end of totality and the diamond ring effect. Two things surprised me. I though it would get much darker, and the corona was much larger and brighter than I expected. It looked like an inside out plasma ball. The drive back north took about 90 minutes longer than it should have due to some heavy traffic. I decided to go to the Horseshoe in Hammond, thinking I would avoid some of it, but I didn't get there until 11 PM. On the plus side, I made enough to pay for my trip and hotel.

Kind of bizarre "watching from the outside". I recall a partial eclipse, had to have been in '93 - '94. I remember being told the day before we were gonna do something cool at school. I remember a few total eclipses since then during this information age, usually a pic of some foreign country with a bunch of revelers outside with about the same one day lead up. This? My gods. You couldn't escape it. Every day was an update on how no one has the right glasses and where you can find some legit ones still for sale. Then an all week lead up. An all day coverage. And now 500mm pics that were taken.

It sort of helps my problem determining whether its the world going to hell or just 24/7 news making it feel that way.

Anyway, I got to see what my area offered. I forgot about it all day until coming off the road at work when the "tornado sky" caught my attention. That weird state where the sky is darkened but the ground stays bright. That reminded me, but it was clear skies for miles and all I had was my fishing glasses. Then, on the way home, there was one little blup of cloud, a pinch of cotton in a sea of blue, and the shadow lie right in the road. Hit the dark, looked up, and there it was clear as could be. It was more striking than I remember. I recall thinking lunar were more cool after that day in school, but this was something else, alright. Now I just gotta survive 7 more years.

Question for all - any of you take this in around a navigable body of water, and if so, how was the boat traffic?

I envy those who saw it in totality. So...Mazatlan 2024, or maybe a cruise passing through.

Quote: Face

Kind of bizarre "watching from the outside". I recall a partial eclipse, had to have been in '93 - '94. I remember being told the day before we were gonna do something cool at school. I remember a few total eclipses since then during this information age, usually a pic of some foreign country with a bunch of revelers outside with about the same one day lead up. This? My gods. You couldn't escape it. Every day was an update on how no one has the right glasses and where you can find some legit ones still for sale. Then an all week lead up. An all day coverage. And now 500mm pics that were taken.

It sort of helps my problem determining whether its the world going to hell or just 24/7 news making it feel that way.

Anyway, I got to see what my area offered. I forgot about it all day until coming off the road at work when the "tornado sky" caught my attention. That weird state where the sky is darkened but the ground stays bright. That reminded me, but it was clear skies for miles and all I had was my fishing glasses. Then, on the way home, there was one little blup of cloud, a pinch of cotton in a sea of blue, and the shadow lie right in the road. Hit the dark, looked up, and there it was clear as could be. It was more striking than I remember. I recall thinking lunar were more cool after that day in school, but this was something else, alright. Now I just gotta survive 7 more years.

Question for all - any of you take this in around a navigable body of water, and if so, how was the boat traffic?

Lots of friends and coworkers watched on Lake Murray here in South Carolina. They were shocked how few people were out on the water.

Beaches in SC looked pretty empty. One of the networks had a reporter on them and while not empty, they weren't crowded.

Quote: billryan

Beaches in SC looked pretty empty. One of the networks had a reporter on them and while not empty, they weren't crowded.

My deck in PA was packed with people drinking sharing glasses, so it was a good Monday afternoon. I'll take an Eclipse monthly.

Super cool event - great to see Doc and Mrs. Doc and Rdw4potus again............. and meet for the first time Soopoo and sons, BBB, and Mrs. Rdw4potus

Eclipse was stunning. We got to see everything with a perfectly clear sky around the sun, no clouds except far off on the horizon. For the bucket list that was the totality obvious things plus we saw the 'shadow snakes' rolling across a white sidewalk, saw the 360 degree horizon effect, saw pindot effects, and felt the temperature change.

I found a tree nearby where some other people were set up and got to see the pindot effect through the leaves. These folks were unaware they should look for that and when I went back just past totality [a good time to look, more noticeable when near-full] I got immense praise, elevating me to Mr. Supercool/Awesome - that was nice.

It did not get as dark as I expected, an effect of too perfect weather? I said this to Doc and he mumbled something and had a look on his face like "here we go with the what's the big deal BS". So, let me be clear, no, not saying that at all, just saying what I was expecting from reading did not match exactly what I saw. I would call the light similar to the 'civil twilight' phase that is just prior to sunrise, or after sunset, for our area - maybe just a bit darker. I really suspect we got such a bright 360 degree horizon that it produced a lot of light.

Just should be something on everybody's bucket list!

PS did not see Bailey's beads, myself

The corona was bigger than some pictures show. Made it look like some big furry thing to me.

Quote: rdw4potus

Lots of friends and coworkers watched on Lake Murray here in South Carolina. They were shocked how few people were out on the water.

Fort Loudon Lake in Tennessee was packed with boats - I have never seen so many. The parking areas at all the boat ramps were completely full - if you didn't have a private dock you had to arrive early at the boat ramp areas or you were out of luck.

Quote: odiousgambit

PS did not see Bailey's beads, myself

The corona was bigger than some pictures show. Made it look like some big furry thing to me.

I agree.. I didn't see Bailey's beads, but i did see the diamond ring on the moon's exit. (apparently the diamond ring effect is a subset of Bailey's beads).

Late to the party but here's a brief TR: just got back to Vegas after a grueling journey through the Appalachians to see the awesomeness that was totality. Landed on Sunday in Cincy and took an RV down to Princeton, KY to witness totality. Return trip took ~18 hours of bumper to bumper traffic to get to Pittsburgh airport. This trip lasted from 3pm-830am and included several heartbreaking experiences with over booked hotels/motels.

Overall an amazing experience, 10/10, would eclipse again. Plan is to rent a boat for one of the Great Lakes in 2024.

Quote: Wizard (last week)

I'd like to suggest somebody open a new thread for the eclipse after the event where we can share stories and pictures.

I started such a thread here.

Sorry to be late starting it, since others have already posted their eclipse experiences, but I just now got something ready to post in that new thread.

Quote: rdw4potus

Lots of friends and coworkers watched on Lake Murray here in South Carolina. They were shocked how few people were out on the water.

Quote: gordonm888

Fort Loudon Lake in Tennessee was packed with boats - I have never seen so many. The parking areas at all the boat ramps were completely full - if you didn't have a private dock you had to arrive early at the boat ramp areas or you were out of luck.

Seems hit and miss, thanks bigly for the responses.

My home is in the path for '24, but dead center of it lies plop on one of my fishing spots in Erie. With a 1500 start time, seems it'd be a right treat to get two dusk's worth of prime fishing in 5hrs 3hrs (damnable standard time ><). I just wonder how to translate for size. Will Erie be easier due to the vast numbers of launches, or harder because they service multitudes more people?

Meh, we'll probably have hoverboats by then.

As everyone knows, the DNS attack started shortly after the eclipse and dealing with that has put a real damper on sharing eclipse stories. However, for those who don't know, I posted a blog entry about my experience.

Already making plans for Waco TX in 2024. Who is with me?

First came the eclipse, then the DNS attacks, followed by earthquakes and hurricanes. Seems like somebody somewhere is not too thrilled with something.

Quote: billryan

Seems like somebody somewhere is not too thrilled with something.

Probably angry about something you did.

One of my friends from childhood tells me he thought the eclipse was faked, he watched YouTube videos about it. Can't believe how stupid and paranoid people can be. Not only has he told me this, he also has told me all the planets are really stars, for some reason they're hiding it from us, and also Michelle Obama is really a man. I tried getting him out of the house for some good money and he just wants to sit inside on the internet, this is why he was on friend probation all year until recently, couldn't stand being around him any more and couldn't stand how useless he is, while his mental problems are out of control.

next solar eclipse in a few days, but only to south america. 1744 days until our next eclipse.

I find it really hard to believe it was almost two years ago already since the great WoV East conclave under the shaded skies. Geez. Lot of fun, though. Would do it again.

Quote: GWAE

next solar eclipse in a few days, but only to south america. 1744 days until our next eclipse.

I just learned recently that eclipses follow a regular pattern, and that the "same" eclipse occurs every 18 years, 11 days, 8 hours. This period is called a "Saros".

Similar, but different.

In astronomy, an analemma is a diagram showing the position of the Sun in the sky, as seen from a fixed location on Earth at the same mean solar time, as that position varies over the course of a year. The diagram will resemble the figure 8. Globes of Earth often display an analemma.

Which looks like this:

so you are saying the sun will be in those positions at say 1pm in consecutive days? I never knew that.

Quote: Ayecarumba

I just learned recently that eclipses follow a regular pattern, and that the "same" eclipse occurs every 18 years, 11 days, 8 hours. This period is called a "Saros".

I find it fascinating that there is an exact pattern like this. The earth/planets/stars are traveling as such crazy speeds and rotating and everything else that it is amazing that this happens to an exact minute

Quote: GWAE

Quote: Ayecarumba

I just learned recently that eclipses follow a regular pattern, and that the "same" eclipse occurs every 18 years, 11 days, 8 hours. This period is called a "Saros".

I find it fascinating that there is an exact pattern like this. The earth/planets/stars are traveling as such crazy speeds and rotating and everything else that it is amazing that this happens to an exact minute

It makes sense if you think about how we mark time. Sunrise and sunset are tied to the rotation of the Earth, the phases of the Moon are tied to the rotation of the Earth around the Sun... These regular cycles repeat and we divide and sub-divide these periods into years, months, days, hours, etc. Since eclipses involve objects that move in regular rhythms, it makes sense that the shadows also follow a regular pattern. The problem for us is our relatively short lifespan compared to the time between the events in the pattern.

Trivia!:

Deep six your wristwatch and try to understand
the time it seems to capture is just the movement of its hands.
Time is relative. A two hour concert might be four hours too short for me, but three hours too long for someone else.
Ten minutes of making love goes by in a flash but it takes an eternity to run to your car in a cloudburst.

Quote: Ayecarumba

Trivia!:

On July 16, 2186 the longest total eclipse between 3000 BC and 6000 AD will last...

7 minutes and 29 seconds. It is likely that I'm going to miss that one.

It doesn't have to be that way.

https://www.cryonics.org/

Today's episode of xkcd seems relevant...

https://xkcd.com/2685/