The August 21, 2017 Great American Eclipse

[ice1972]

46 minutes ago, bdgwx said:

I just want to reiterate how neat the experience was. Those who weren't in totality had an overwhelmingly "meh" response. But, those in totality always responded with "wow, that was so worth it" or "I'm already planning to do it again in 2024". This is something everyone should experience at least once in their lifetime.

Exactly......you can't know what the big deal is until you actually see it....how many times today did I have to explain the difference between being in a partial - even 95% partial - and being in totality......they stared at me with blank eyes....like deer in the headlights....the disbelief was palpable....some laughed, some gently shook their head up and down, some called me weird.....nobody in the office has ever seen one....it's like a club....you pretty much know that everybody you interact now is likely to have never seen totality.....I'm proud I killed my self to see it....the meh folks are so lol

[Hoosier]

15 minutes ago, ice1972 said:

Exactly......you can't know what the big deal is until you actually see it....how many times today did I have to explain the difference between being in a partial - even 95% partial - and being in totality......they stared at me with blank eyes....like deer in the headlights....the disbelief was palpable....some laughed, some gently shook their head up and down, some called me weird.....nobody in the office has ever seen one....it's like a club....you pretty much know that everybody you interact now is likely to have never seen totality.....I'm proud I killed my self to see it....the meh folks are so lol

The average Joe just doesn't get it.  I had read about the difference between being in 99% and 100%, and it's not like I was doubting it, but you really can't fully grasp it until you're there. Totality began at 1:20 at my location and while the light was gradually growing dimmer, it was striking how much light there was even at 1:17, 1:18, etc.  I couldn't stop glancing at my phone to count down the minutes lol

[ice1972]

2 minutes ago, Hoosier said:

The average Joe just doesn't get it.  I had read about the difference between being in 99% and 100%, and it's not like I was doubting it, but you really can't fully grasp it until you're there. Totality began at 1:20 at my location and while the light was gradually growing dimmer, it was striking how much light there was even at 1:17, 1:18, etc.  I couldn't stop glancing at my phone to count down the minutes lol

Yep.....here's something I was disappointed in - lol I mean it's dumb but whatever - as a newb to the whole experience I still had my glasses on as totality approached and the first diamond ring popped.....and then I kept them on too long and it went total and I still had them on.....it was magnificent and stunning when I took off the glasses but I wanted to see it go total without the glasses.....sort of how when the diamond ring came back as totality ended I watched that with the naked eye well into the diamond ring until it was too bright.....next time I'll know....that second diamond ring was epic.....

[Hoosier]

12 minutes ago, ice1972 said:

Yep.....here's something I was disappointed in - lol I mean it's dumb but whatever - as a newb to the whole experience I still had my glasses on as totality approached and the first diamond ring popped.....and then I kept them on too long and it went total and I still had them on.....it was magnificent and stunning when I took off the glasses but I wanted to see it go total without the glasses.....sort of how when the diamond ring came back as totality ended I watched that with the naked eye well into the diamond ring until it was too bright.....next time I'll know....that second diamond ring was epic.....

Overall I was happy with how it went... I had game planned how I wanted to spend the 2 min 40 sec and it went well for the most part, but a couple things could've gone better.  I had a pair of binoculars for totality and it took me a good 10-15 seconds to locate it through the binoculars. Also I took 1 short video just to get my voice on record with the date/location but forgot to turn it to selfie mode.  Next time I may try to spend more time looking for shadow bands...

[ice1972]

14 minutes ago, Hoosier said:

Overall I was happy with how it went... I had game planned how I wanted to spend the 2 min 40 sec and it went well for the most part, but a couple things could've gone better.  I had a pair of binoculars for totality and it took me a good 10-15 seconds to locate it through the binoculars. Also I took 1 short video just to get my voice on record with the date/location but forgot to turn it to selfie mode.  Next time I may try to spend more time looking for shadow bands...

Ya I tried to find the shadow bands but didn't have anything light enough to see....I wasn't too worried about it....I remember at about the 2min 15sec mark looking away and peering west and saw this onrushing light.....that was very memorable.....here it comes I thought and then I looked up and the ring popped and it was all over.....and I remember thinking damn it was so short but so tremendous....

[Hoosier]

I am very glad I had non internet/GPS maps, especially since I made the decision to switch targets in the morning.  Internet/GPS capability was pretty awful where I was driving in S IL.  Then again I'm not sure how good it is to begin with in those rural areas.

[ice1972]

9 minutes ago, Hoosier said:

I am very glad I had non internet/GPS maps, especially since I made the decision to switch targets in the morning.  Internet/GPS capability was pretty awful where I was driving in S IL.  Then again I'm not sure how good it is to begin with in those rural areas.

I used Google Maps and downloaded the areas where I thought I'd be out of cell service.....worked very well....

[ice1972]

Although I also found that if I stuck to the interstates I never was out of LTE service so that was a bonus on Monday when I was coming down 29 and then east on 70.....always had good info

[winterymix]

Nice comments from everyone.

I did definitely see the shadow bands appearing against an off white plastic tent.

Took a photo that shows nothing.   These are mysterious and poorly explained and nearly impossible to capture in a photo.

BTW, I counted on the NAM cloud cover maps at instantweathermaps.com.   For all the NAM hatred, these maps did quite well for me.

During the excitement, I mis-programmed my Nikon for ISO 3200 at 1/4000 second.  Modern cameras are amazing, it still captured an image.

Diamond Ring for y'all.

 

 

 

 

[bdgwx]

8 hours ago, Hoosier said:

The average Joe just doesn't get it.  I had read about the difference between being in 99% and 100%, and it's not like I was doubting it, but you really can't fully grasp it until you're there. Totality began at 1:20 at my location and while the light was gradually growing dimmer, it was striking how much light there was even at 1:17, 1:18, etc.  I couldn't stop glancing at my phone to count down the minutes lol

The best way I heard it explained is that the sun is 400,000x brighter than the full moon. So even at 99% it is still 4000x brighter!

And yes. I too thought the light dropped off rapidly at the last 60s. I couldn't really perceive the shadow racing at me, but it went dark pretty quick.

So what do you guys think? How bright would you say the corona was? I was thinking it was about 1 or 2 full moons. It was brighter than what I was expecting. And really vivid.

[wxdude64]

45 minutes ago, bdgwx said:

The best way I heard it explained is that the sun is 400,000x brighter than the full moon. So even at 99% it is still 4000x brighter!

And yes. I too thought the light dropped off rapidly at the last 60s. I couldn't really perceive the shadow racing at me, but it went dark pretty quick.

So what do you guys think? How bright would you say the corona was? I was thinking it was about 1 or 2 full moons. It was brighter than what I was expecting. And really vivid.

An easy 2x for me, BUT I was up on a mountain at 2600-2700 elevation, and 1500-1800 above valley floor. It looked much darker down in the valleys? Cool perspective was watching all the street lights and signs light up as darkness approached from above.

[eyewall]

11 hours ago, Juliancolton said:

Took 16 hours to get home from Greenville and I'm only now getting to process my photos from the event. A couple of my favorites...

Outer corona, Regulus, Mercury, and some earthshine on the moon:

Gorgeous prominences just after second contact:

Wide-angle view of the Reedy River and thousands of spectators at totality:

I love the last wide shot from the park. That is awesome.

[eyewall]

Here is one more crop to highlight the star Regulus making an appearance to the upper left of the sun/moon disc. Unless I bracketed, I am guessing I wouldn't have that if underexposed more to gain better detail in the Corona:

[Juliancolton]

3 hours ago, eyewall said:

I love the last wide shot from the park. That is awesome.

Yeah, that may well be the defining shot for me as well... I love all the human activity and the fact that there are some actual landmarks connecting the eclipse to a real place. I was slightly worried the sun would be too high to capture any foreground elements, but I actually visited this spot with my widest lens at 2:40 on Sunday and confirmed that I could get the shot. Overall I'm pretty thrilled with how I managed to successfully take several different types of pictures while still enjoying the event with my own senses. My goal now is to be fully automated for the next one so I don't have to concentrate on the cameras at all during totality.

Very much a fan of your photos as well. That most recent one is spectacular with how brightly Regulus is shining.

[eyewall]

21 minutes ago, Juliancolton said:

Yeah, that may well be the defining shot for me as well... I love all the human activity and the fact that there are some actual landmarks connecting the eclipse to a real place. I was slightly worried the sun would be too high to capture any foreground elements, but I actually visited this spot with my widest lens at 2:40 on Sunday and confirmed that I could get the shot. Overall I'm pretty thrilled with how I managed to successfully take several different types of pictures while still enjoying the event with my own senses. My goal now is to be fully automated for the next one so I don't have to concentrate on the cameras at all during totality.

Very much a fan of your photos as well. That most recent one is spectacular with how brightly Regulus is shining.

Thank you and seeing venus and bright stars emerge was pretty awesome. I was at the spot in greenville the night before and figured it would be packed there.

[wxeyeNH]

13 hours ago, Hoosier said:

The average Joe just doesn't get it.  I had read about the difference between being in 99% and 100%, and it's not like I was doubting it, but you really can't fully grasp it until you're there. Totality began at 1:20 at my location and while the light was gradually growing dimmer, it was striking how much light there was even at 1:17, 1:18, etc.  I couldn't stop glancing at my phone to count down the minutes lol

Because I saw my 3 1/2 minute total in Aruba in 1998 I have been harping my family and friends to do whatever they had to do to see this one.  I started 3 years ago.  The last few months I have aggravated so many people because I kept saying you have to do this!  Do whatever you can, you just have to see this.  A few family members got it and went.  A couple of friends too but most just told me, Gene, shut up, enough is enough a partial is fine and I can watch it on TV.  Now you guys know!  Before this week I was in a club of about 50,000 people that lived in the US and had seen a total.  At least you guys now understand.  Even today the people I talk to say, yeah it looked neat on the evening news but no big deal!

[wxeyeNH]

I posted this on the New England thread but will repeat it here.  This photographers description summed it up perfectly!  His picture attached...

[Juliancolton]

40 minutes ago, wxeyeNH said:

Because I saw my 3 1/2 minute total in Aruba in 1998 I have been harping my family and friends to do whatever they had to do to see this one.  I started 3 years ago.  The last few months I have aggravated so many people because I kept saying you have to do this!  Do whatever you can, you just have to see this.  A few family members got it and went.  A couple of friends too but most just told me, Gene, shut up, enough is enough a partial is fine and I can watch it on TV.  Now you guys know!  Before this week I was in a club of about 50,000 people that lived in the US and had seen a total.  At least you guys now understand.  Even today the people I talk to say, yeah it looked neat on the evening news but no big deal!

Some folks just don't share in the enthusiasm even after experiencing the thing for themselves. My dad has seen a couple in his lifetime and thinks it's pretty cool when you find yourself in totality, but probably wouldn't go out of his way to see another one even if it were only a half hour down the road. Everybody gets their kicks in different ways... if it were up to me, my whole family would be fanatical snowstorm chasers but alas.

 

[ice1972]

35 minutes ago, Juliancolton said:

Some folks just don't share in the enthusiasm even after experiencing the thing for themselves. My dad has seen a couple in his lifetime and thinks it's pretty cool when you find yourself in totality, but probably wouldn't go out of his way to see another one even if it were only a half hour down the road. Everybody gets their kicks in different ways... if it were up to me, my whole family would be fanatical snowstorm chasers but alas.

 

I think the magnitude and awesomeness of being in totality has great potential to change peoples minds......moreso than a lot of other awesome things.....its why I don't get it when people are dismissive about it or borderline insulting about the effort you put in to get in totality......I'm saying just try it once......

[eyewall]

54 minutes ago, ice1972 said:

I think the magnitude and awesomeness of being in totality has great potential to change peoples minds......moreso than a lot of other awesome things.....its why I don't get it when people are dismissive about it or borderline insulting about the effort you put in to get in totality......I'm saying just try it once......

It is really totality or bust after what I experienced. The 2:36 duration went by so quickly. I only wish I could see a 4 or 6 minute event. I am now hooked and would love to chase to South America in 2019.

 

Jeremy

[Hoosier]

4 minutes ago, eyewall said:

It is really totality or bust after what I experienced. The 2:36 duration went by so quickly. I only wish I could see a 4 or 6 minute event. I am now hooked and would love to chase to South America in 2019.

 

Jeremy

The 2045 eclipse in the US will be insane with 6+ min totality.  I don't think I will be globetrotting to future eclipses but I'll certainly try to get to the US eclipses.

[Hoosier]

Forgot to post this before.  Tom Skilling's reaction was gold.

 

[ice1972]

20 minutes ago, Hoosier said:

The 2045 eclipse in the US will be insane with 6+ min totality.  I don't think I will be globetrotting to future eclipses but I'll certainly try to get to the US eclipses.

To get the 6+ minutes for that eclipse you need to be in Tallahassee......when it makes landfall in Eureka, CA totality is only 4min 24sec.....lol....I would kill for even that.....

I guess the length of totality is related to how close to the earth the moon is when it crosses in front of the sun.....

[Juliancolton]

I've actually spent a little time since Monday looking into what it would take to hit up La Serena, Chile in 2019. At the centerline, about an hour north of the city if you take the rural coastal roads, totality is just 2m36s – as we've all just witnessed, that's spectacularly brief. That said, it all goes down about an hour before sunset, so the low angle would introduce a while new dimension into it I think. The photography prospects would be epic with the beaches and rocky coastline.

[ice1972]

10 minutes ago, Juliancolton said:

I've actually spent a little time since Monday looking into what it would take to hit up La Serena, Chile in 2019. At the centerline, about an hour north of the city if you take the rural coastal roads, totality is just 2m36s – as we've all just witnessed, that's spectacularly brief. That said, it all goes down about an hour before sunset, so the low angle would introduce a while new dimension into it I think. The photography prospects would be epic with the beaches and rocky coastline.

For $10,000 you can book on a 2 week cruise and see the eclipse in the Pacific.....with stops at Pitcairn Island, Bora Bora, and other south pacific islands.....seriously want to do this

[Chinook]

The sky looked mostly dark in Wyoming, and I could see Venus overhead. As you can see here, the trees look black in this picture because there was zero radiation directly on the trees. We had totally clear skies, and I saw the diamond ring quite well. I saw a bit of the shadow snakes on a white sheet. I was amazed that the shadow snakes worked. Some of these places in Wyoming may have seen more traffic than they have seen in human history. People said it took 6 hrs to go from Casper to Fort Collins, coming home. I did not get jammed up on I-25 for very long. I took a detour to Laramie and then to Fort Collins. I still hit an eclipse traffic jam north of Laramie, on normally empty Highway 287. I did get heavy traffic on I-25 at 5:00 AM. That was so weird.

 

 

eclipse in a box

[Big Jims Videos]

Mike Rizzo (news 12 met), his GF, Noni Hodges (News 12 met) and myself chased from NJ to Seneca, South Carolina to the Duke Energy facility in the upstate. I just threw this little video together of our experience.  If I said I didn't cry when it happened I would be lying. If I said I didn't cry assembling this video, again, I would be lying. We had 2 minutes 30 seconds of totality. It was the greatest single nature moment of my life. I find myself even getting choked up when trying to describe to friends back at home what it was actually like. 

[weathafella]

4 hours ago, Big Jims Videos said:

Mike Rizzo (news 12 met), his GF, Noni Hodges (News 12 met) and myself chased from NJ to Seneca, South Carolina to the Duke Energy facility in the upstate. I just threw this little video together of our experience.  If I said I didn't cry when it happened I would be lying. If I said I didn't cry assembling this video, again, I would be lying. We had 2 minutes 30 seconds of totality. It was the greatest single nature moment of my life. I find myself even getting choked up when trying to describe to friends back at home what it was actually like. 

Well done!

[CT Rain]

I just saw this thread. I was in Sullivan's Island, SC and the experience was beyond incredible.

I blogged about it here ---> http://www.nbcconnecticut.com/weather/stories/Solar-Eclipse-2017---What-an-Incredible-Experience-441577713.html

Glad to see so many others had a great time. Onto 2024!

[Roger Smith]

Just wanted to put one thought "out there" for April 8, 2024. I would be very reluctant to put much money down on cheap accommodations anywhere along that track except possibly south Texas, because of the high risk of large swaths of frontal cloud. My research would suggest the strong chance of low pressure being present somewhere near the NY-PA border with widespread frontal bands. 

I was very happy with the research indicators for the August 21st event, low pressure was very close to the most likely locations in both western Canada (not interfering with viewing) and central plains (enough patchy holes in that pattern to give a lot of folks a last minute reprieve, but the research did indicate the least likely spots for good viewing).

Much work remains to be done on this research but there is a definite spike in both precip and cloudiness at new moon events in both March and April for Toronto, the primary research location. And a total eclipse is the newest moon you're ever going to see. Of course reality will be a mix of good and bad viewing but I would put little faith on options in upstate NY or w PA, OH.