This was not a “once in a lifetime experience,” as the media nitwits proclaimed this eclipse. Texas, April 8, 2024, totality….but do not come. Stay off our lawns.
Some folks said they were a little disappointed...even in areas of totality.
Not sure what they expected...a celestial scraping sound when the moon passed over the sun?..trumpets and drums?...a mad desire to kill an animal or human to make the sun come back?
At 98.6%, the eclipse was a big nothing-burger as well. Not nearly as dark as it gets with a big mid-western thunderstorm. It got much darker when the heart of the Mount St. Helen’s ash plume passed over my town in Northern Idaho in 1980.
I stayed inside from 1 PM to 4 PM because I didn’t want to accidentally look up at the sky. My area western PA had a partial. I noticed that the light coming thru my blinds dimmed a bit on the walls, then at 430 PM the light got real bright again like it was noontime.
The thing I find astonishing about the eclipse is that the whole dazzling light show is the result of incredible astronomical dumb luck.
If the disc of the Moon was slightly smaller in the sky in relation to the Sun, the Sun would not become fully occluded, and you would not be able to see the corona and the dazzling light show. If the disc of the Moon were slightly larger, the corona would also be occluded. It would get dark, but no diamond ring of fire would be visible.
But, as it turns out, everything lines up perfectly, the relative size of the discs match perfectly, and BAM!!! It is just amazing. Even thought I knew what would happen, it was still unbelievable to see it with my own eyes.
Sheer dumb luck.
“What I Learned At the Eclipse”
That it was insane to drive for hours for something that lasts less than 3 minutes?
CO2 levels didn't change, but solar radiation reaching a relatively small area for a short amount of time did.
And yet, all these people still believe in man made global warming.
We only got 63% where I live, and I’ve seen partial eclipses before, but it was cool to see anyway. We found a spot where the eclipse could be seen through nail holes in a sheet of corrugated metal...so it cast a reflection about 3 inches wide on the ground. Would have loved to see totality...the pictures I have seen on Facebook are amazing.
The guy who parked next to me was begging some relatives to drive 10 miles to come see the eclipse. They were in the 99% region so they figured it was 99% as good. No where close. I've seen 95% coverage in 1994 and yesterday was completely different.
I flew my Learjet up to Nova Scotia but there was no eclipse.
I was in Southern West Virginia, we were at ~90%. Honestly I was expecting to see more. It was a clear, brightly sunny day, even at totality it seemed only marginally dimmer, like perhaps there was some atmospheric haze or a wispy cloud passed in front of the sun. I guess the sun doesn’t dim exponentially, because I was thinking 90% less sunlight, it would look like twilight right before the sun dips below the horizon, but the difference seemed to be barely noticeable.