Chinook Posted May 8, 2012 Share Posted May 8, 2012 There's going to be a solar eclipse on May 20th, visible from the Southwest. Anybody going to watch it? http://eclipse.gsfc.nasa.gov/SEgoogle/SEgoogle2001/SE2012May20Agoogle.html Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
aslkahuna Posted May 9, 2012 Share Posted May 9, 2012 The path of annular eclipse, some 160 miles wide will sweep from NoCA near Eureka (clipping SW OR) through NV, southern UT/northern AZ, NM into W TX where it will end at sunset. East of a line from Fort Walton Beach FL to the NE corner of NY the eclipse will not be visible. West of that line a partial eclipse will be visible. The big show will happen along and west of a line from the Big bend of TX to the far eastern shore of Lake Superior where the maximum eclipse occurs at sunset. Outside the annular zone where 94% of the Sun's diameter will be eclipsed, a deep partial eclipse of 80% or more will be visible for much of the western US. This eclipse is a member of the same Saros (eclipse family) as the May 10,1994 Annular eclipse which was visible from NM (and SE AZ) to New England with partial phase throughout the US-in fact the two annular paths cross in eastern NM. I will not be able to travel to the annular path so I will have to settle for an 86% eclipse here in Tucson. Steve Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
CO SciFan Posted May 9, 2012 Share Posted May 9, 2012 I am hoping to take a photograph of the annular eclipse through Hope Arch in SE AZ with some friends I'm meeting to observe the show with. The last sunset annular eclipse visible in the US was apparently back inthe 1700s, and it's been a couple of decades since the western states have had any annular eclipse. Pray for clear skies! Here's another helpful link for planning: http://mreclipse.com/MrEclipse.html Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
aslkahuna Posted May 10, 2012 Share Posted May 10, 2012 Actually, the last sunset annular eclipse in the US was on January 4,1992 which was visible along the coast and 60 miles inland in Southern CA. The May 10th 1994 event was visible in the western plains (and SE AZ where I saw it). The West Coast saw a total eclipse in WA/OR in 1979 while the last Central eclipse (annular or total) visible in NoCA was in 1930 and that was a short (1.5 second) duration totality with annular elsewhere. I think the arch you are referring to is in either SE UT or NE AZ since there are no sandstone arches in SE AZ that I'm aware of plus the eclipse is not annular in SE AZ. Grand Canyon, Zion, Bryce Canyon NPs are in the path as is canyon de Chely and Monument Valley and the 4 Corners. Steve Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
CO SciFan Posted May 10, 2012 Share Posted May 10, 2012 Actually, the last sunset annular eclipse in the US was on January 4,1992 which was visible along the coast and 60 miles inland in Southern CA. The May 10th 1994 event was visible in the western plains (and SE AZ where I saw it). The West Coast saw a total eclipse in WA/OR in 1979 while the last Central eclipse (annular or total) visible in NoCA was in 1930 and that was a short (1.5 second) duration totality with annular elsewhere. I think the arch you are referring to is in either SE UT or NE AZ since there are no sandstone arches in SE AZ that I'm aware of plus the eclipse is not annular in SE AZ. Grand Canyon, Zion, Bryce Canyon NPs are in the path as is canyon de Chely and Monument Valley and the 4 Corners. Steve Teach me to post and run, but you are correct Hope Arch is in NE AZ near Chinle/Canyon de Chelly, no idea why I wrote SE. I really do have hotel reservations and do this sort of activity regularly, heh. The goal is to shoot the eclipse through Hope Arch like I did the last full lunar eclipse through Turret Arch at Arches. Hope is one gorgeous arch. I acknowledged in my previous post the last annular was within the last 2 decades, but I am surprised to hear that the last annular eclipse was at sunset as I read on some astro website that it was in the 1700s. Thanks much for the info, you've now got me curious to look at some charts to see how common a sunset annular eclipse is. I was under the impression that they were quite rare. My apologies for the sloppy post, hopefully I can make up for it with some beautiful images. Edit: Just in case you are curious, here's my take of the lunar eclipse referred to above, or here in a wider view. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
aslkahuna Posted May 10, 2012 Share Posted May 10, 2012 All annular and total eclipses have beginning points at sunrise and end points at sunset somewhere on the globe based upon their track though such circumstances may be relatively uncommon in any one given area. Sunrise totals occurred in the US in 1945, 1954, 1959 and 1991 while a sunrise annular occurred in 1951. The January 4, 1992 sunset annular was seen as such only in SoCA and northern Baja while the May 10, 1994 annular eclipse was a high noon eclipse in the OH river Valley. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Hoosier Posted May 10, 2012 Share Posted May 10, 2012 I remember that 1994 eclipse. Very cool even though it's wasn't quite a total. My goal is to see at least one of the upcoming total eclipses that will be visible in the US in the next several years. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mallow Posted May 10, 2012 Share Posted May 10, 2012 Would be beautiful to watch the sunset from Crescent City, CA that day. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Chinook Posted May 10, 2012 Author Share Posted May 10, 2012 The big show will happen along and west of a line from the Big bend of TX to the far eastern shore of Lake Superior where the maximum eclipse occurs at sunset. Steve Not sure what you mean about Lake Superior. This seems really far from the eclipse path. Wish we could have this much sunny skies for the eclipse next week. The sky is very blue right now. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Hoosier Posted May 10, 2012 Share Posted May 10, 2012 Here's an interactive map. http://xjubier.free.fr/en/site_pages/solar_eclipses/ASE_2012_GoogleMapFull.html Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
wxman1952 Posted May 10, 2012 Share Posted May 10, 2012 I'll be watching though I am only in a partial viewing area Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
aslkahuna Posted May 10, 2012 Share Posted May 10, 2012 Would be beautiful to watch the sunset from Crescent City, CA that day. The eclipse will be over by the time the sun sets in Crescent City. It's in West Texas between Lubbock and Abilene where the eclipse will be annular at sunset. Places like Sacramento, Vegas, and Flagstaff will see a weird looking partial eclipse much like the attached photo. Lake Superior will see about 60% eclipsed. Steve Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mayjawintastawm Posted May 21, 2012 Share Posted May 21, 2012 We saw it this evening, through intermittent clouds (dang convection leftovers) but it was cool. The light looked weird for 20-30 minutes at the peak. I was surprised how bright it still was out, though, even with the sun itself looking much like aslkahuna's pic above though not quite as covered. Anybody get those shots in Utah? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
nrgjeff Posted May 21, 2012 Share Posted May 21, 2012 Glad you enjoyed the eclipse. I felt the same thing about light during a May 10, 1994 annular eclipse in the Midwest. Believed my eyes simply adjusted since the light was dimming very gradually. Our brains try to keep perception close to previous reality; therefore, maybe it just appeared normal brightness out. Some of this is more psychology which is not my expertise. Anyway the temp dropped 3-4 degrees mid-afternoon, sensible evidence of the reduced radiation. Anybody else have thoughts on the perceived brightness? I'm looking fwd to the total eclipse in 2017. It will be quite spectacular - no question about light! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Chinook Posted May 21, 2012 Author Share Posted May 21, 2012 We saw it this evening, through intermittent clouds (dang convection leftovers) but it was cool. The light looked weird for 20-30 minutes at the peak. I was surprised how bright it still was out, though, even with the sun itself looking much like aslkahuna's pic above though not quite as covered. Anybody get those shots in Utah? I saw the eclipse pretty well. The clouds blocked the sun at 7:30 when it was supposed to be at the maximum blockage, but it didn't last too long. I will post a couple pictures of shadows that I took during the eclipse. See my post in the Photography sub-forum. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DoctorMu Posted May 22, 2012 Share Posted May 22, 2012 Just a chunk gone at sunset in central Texas Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Msalgado Posted May 24, 2012 Share Posted May 24, 2012 Got a great view of it here in NM. Here are a couple of my pics and a link to the rest. http://s203.photobucket.com/albums/aa136/Msalgado80/May%2020%20Eclipse/ Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
CO SciFan Posted May 30, 2012 Share Posted May 30, 2012 I had a fantastic trip to the Navajo Nation near Canyon de Chelly, AZ to view the eclipse! Our location put us within a mere couple thousand feet of the center line for the eclipse, in my mind we had some of the best seats on the planet to enjoy the show! Image Notes: This is obviously a composite of multiple frames as the sun went into eclipse and then set. The full sun was taken at the hotel in Chinle before we left for our shooting location (about an hour before the eclipse began). The sun set before it could come completely out of eclipse, this fact lent gorgeous sunset colors to the sun as it set creating a unique graduation of colors for the event. I used my Nikon D300 paired with a Sigma 100-300 F4 mated to a 1.4x teleconverter with solar mylar film to protect the camera sensor. I used an actual setting sun line to align the images more accurately. Thanks for looking! The Setting of the Annular Solar Eclipse of 2012, May 20 by Fort Photo, on Flickr Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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