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Solar Eclipse 2017


boyst

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We went to Southern Illinois to see the total solar eclipse. This has been mentally planned for 28 years, since I saw my first partial eclipse and found out that a total eclipse would happen in 2017. I said to my wife, back then, "If we're still in this area on August 21, 2017, We're gonna see this."

Motel reservations made in January.

Five hour drive to get there Sunday. Pink Floyd's "Dark Side of the Moon" is on the road-trip soundtrack, as are assorted sun/sky-related songs that I put on a Summer Solstice Party disc several years ago. I'm not just a science geek, I'm a science-music geek. (After "Dark Side" finished, my son asked if we could listen to it again. Parenting win.)

9:00 PM yesterday: Check into motel. Watch weather forecast. Scattered clouds and possible thunderstorms. :-(

 

9:00 AM: Weather forecast looking a bit more positive, but still "iffy." While having breakfast, we meet a family of amateur astronomers. They have a telescope (with a filter, of course) and are planning to set up outside the motel. They're inviting everyone to join them.

 

10:00 AM: Aforementioned family sets up and a small crowd gathers.

 

11:00 AM: We join the motel parking lot party. Clouds in the distance. Temperature approaching 95 degrees.

Amateur astronomers (I'm one also) are happy to share knowledge with the general public, so the family encourages everyone to look through their scope and we all answer eclipse questions for the folks around us. One couple is sharing a pair of protective glasses. I brought a couple extras, because I'm my mother's son. (My family will understand that.) I give them a pair.

Through the telescope we can see six distinct sunspots. Very cool!

 

12:00 PM (T minus one hour and seventeen minutes): Clouds holding off. Partial eclipse begins. One group of tailgaters starts playing Dark Side of the Moon. (Three times in two days. I'm cool with that.)

 

1:00 PM: (T minus seventeen minutes): It's noticeably dark - like a storm is rolling in. But the threatening clouds are too far away; the ensuing darkness is due to the sun being 90% blocked by the moon. This thing is gonna happen!

 

1:17 PM: Protective glasses off. It's TOTALITY, baby!

 

1:18 PM: Four planets visible: Mercury, Venus, Jupiter, and Mars. I only notice Venus because I'm too focused on the sun's corona.

 

1:19 PM: Totality ends. (That was a fast two minutes.) Venus still visible for a minute or so, while the other planets disappear.

 

Almost eight hours to drive back. Yeah, there was a little traffic.

 

TOTALLY worth it. Checked an item off the bucket list.

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that is a cool recap! Thanks for sharing that

 

 

We went to Southern Illinois to see the total solar eclipse. This has been mentally planned for 28 years, since I saw my first partial eclipse and found out that a total eclipse would happen in 2017. I said to my wife, back then, "If we're still in this area on August 21, 2017, We're gonna see this."

Motel reservations made in January.

Five hour drive to get there Sunday. Pink Floyd's "Dark Side of the Moon" is on the road-trip soundtrack, as are assorted sun/sky-related songs that I put on a Summer Solstice Party disc several years ago. I'm not just a science geek, I'm a science-music geek. (After "Dark Side" finished, my son asked if we could listen to it again. Parenting win.)

9:00 PM yesterday: Check into motel. Watch weather forecast. Scattered clouds and possible thunderstorms. :-(

 

9:00 AM: Weather forecast looking a bit more positive, but still "iffy." While having breakfast, we meet a family of amateur astronomers. They have a telescope (with a filter, of course) and are planning to set up outside the motel. They're inviting everyone to join them.

 

10:00 AM: Aforementioned family sets up and a small crowd gathers.

 

11:00 AM: We join the motel parking lot party. Clouds in the distance. Temperature approaching 95 degrees.

Amateur astronomers (I'm one also) are happy to share knowledge with the general public, so the family encourages everyone to look through their scope and we all answer eclipse questions for the folks around us. One couple is sharing a pair of protective glasses. I brought a couple extras, because I'm my mother's son. (My family will understand that.) I give them a pair.

Through the telescope we can see six distinct sunspots. Very cool!

 

12:00 PM (T minus one hour and seventeen minutes): Clouds holding off. Partial eclipse begins. One group of tailgaters starts playing Dark Side of the Moon. (Three times in two days. I'm cool with that.)

 

1:00 PM: (T minus seventeen minutes): It's noticeably dark - like a storm is rolling in. But the threatening clouds are too far away; the ensuing darkness is due to the sun being 90% blocked by the moon. This thing is gonna happen!

 

1:17 PM: Protective glasses off. It's TOTALITY, baby!

 

1:18 PM: Four planets visible: Mercury, Venus, Jupiter, and Mars. I only notice Venus because I'm too focused on the sun's corona.

 

1:19 PM: Totality ends. (That was a fast two minutes.) Venus still visible for a minute or so, while the other planets disappear.

 

Almost eight hours to drive back. Yeah, there was a little traffic.

 

TOTALLY worth it. Checked an item off the bucket list.

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It wasn't me. Dolts

Really? NO!

 

Let me guess, the hairy palms touched (besides other things) a little too close home? :-P

 

For a Millennial you are sure easy to troll. I thought you Snowflake-Deplorable hybrids had a better detector!

 

Shrader and me trot lining you! LoL...

 

Just busting your hump... :-)

 

What good would this place be if we can't have a little fun! :-(

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that is a cool recap! Thanks for sharing that

 

 

 

Thanks. I wrote it shortly after we got home, while the experience was still fresh in my mind. I almost forgot the encore. While we were hoping to make it home before nightfall, the traffic was less than cooperative. That's okay, because Mother Nature treated us to an absolutely gorgeous sunset to our left and a nighttime thunderstorm light show (in the distance) directly in front of us. We got a little rain for the last 15 minutes, but the storms passed before we got home.

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Can anyone tell me what is so great about this? I mean, does it just get darker outside for a little bit? Sweet. Looks like it's not going to be very impressive here in VT.

I'm with you. Lost on me. Nothing burger

 

I still don't get the big deal about "things passing in front of other things," astronomy-wise. Sure, some give you important data - an eclipsing binary star, gravitational lensing. But for the most part..."Hey, Venus is passing across the sun today!" So? What's that going to tell me? Nothing. That's not science, it's fetishism.

One object passing in front of another. Ok. What happens next that everyone is getting geeked out over? Light show? Meteor shower? Moon doing figure 8's in the sky?

Work with an artist that made the trek up to Oregon to view it. Another couple we know who own a bar/restaurant did the same thing. Whatever floats your boat I guess. Who am I to judge we are flying back to watch the Bills week 3. Same kind of nothing burger.

Edited by Dante
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I'm with you. Lost on me. Nothing burger

One object passing in front of another. Ok. What happens next that everyone is getting geeked out over? Light show? Meteor shower? Moon doing figure 8's in the sky?

I hope you haven't been living under a rock and have somehow missed the incredible pictures posted on every news site around, but in case you have...

 

360 degree sunrise/sunset colors through the sky.

Day->night->day in minutes

Corona visible with naked eye

Diamond ring & Baileys Beads

Rolling shadow of the moon, most noticeable if you're on a high piece of land and see the shadow racing at 2000 mph toward you.

The strange view of the sun blocked by a black mass.

 

Ask anyone who was in totality and they will tell you how mind blowing it is, but if you're outside of that strip, you won't know....

Edited by TheElectricCompany
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I hope you haven't been living under a rock and have somehow missed the incredible pictures posted on every news site around, but in case you have...

 

360 degree sunrise/sunset colors through the sky.

Day->night->day in minutes

Corona visible with naked eye

Diamond ring & Baileys Beads

Rolling shadow of the moon, most noticeable if you're on a high piece of land and see the shadow racing at 2000 mph toward you.

The strange view of the sun blocked by a black mass.

 

Ask anyone who was in totality and they will tell you how mind blowing it is, but if you're outside of that strip, you won't know....

 

Well, when you put it that way, it certainly sounds like fetishism.

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