Posted on 08/21/2017 9:12:49 AM PDT by Kaslin
Americans with telescopes, cameras and protective glasses staked out viewing spots along a narrow corridor from Oregon to South Carolina to watch the moon blot out the midday sun for a magical couple of minutes Monday in what promised to be the most observed and photographed eclipse in history.
Sky-watchers everywhere — and millions were expected to peer into the sun — set out lawn chairs and blankets and awaited the first total solar eclipse to sweep coast-to-coast across the U.S. in practically a century. Astronomers were giddy with excitement.
Jim Todd, a director at the Oregon Museum of Science and Industry, warmed up the crowd at an amphitheater in Salem, Oregon.
“The world is watching us, folks, because we are going to get the first, best show and the weather is gorgeous,” Todd said. “The weather forecast is crystal clear throughout the state.”
David Avison showed up in Salem before dawn with his wife and relatives, after traveling by car and overnight train from their suburban Portland home. They couldn’t get reservations at a nearby resort, despite making plans six years ago.
“I’m telling people if you want to see the one in 2024, you’d better make your reservations now,” Avison said.
With 200 million people within a day’s drive of Monday’s path of totality, towns and parks braced for monumental crowds. Clear skies beckoned along most of the route, to the relief of those who feared cloud cover would spoil this once-in-a-lifetime moment.
(Excerpt) Read more at apnews.com ...
I found out later that this is a perfectly explicable celestial phenomenon, occurs regularly, and is perfectly predictable. That's kinda tough luck on the virgin we sacrificed, but at least the sun came back.
I’m in New York City, BTW. We had about the same coverage: 75%
Ah, you are correct — several reports say the view from Saluki Stadium was partially obscured for all but 10-15 seconds. “Translucent”, one might say. So they got their 2:40 or so of totality, but not as much of the dramatic view I got for a little over 2 minutes, with the corona clearly visible, some planets visible (Venus was quite bright), etc.
I feel a bit bad that the biggest gathering in the Southern IL area had, apparently, some of the poorest viewing, but, I’m not going to trade!
I saw a NASA photo of (I think) likely the same sunspots on a partially eclipsed SUN - quite impressive, especially when one considers how large the Earth is (not) by comparison.
Me too, but you got a lot better pic of the corona!
From Canada, Oct 24, 2014...
No, no, NO! That’s not the time to sacrifice the virgin! That’s the time to step slightly closer and see if she’ll tolerate your arm slipped around her waist!
:-)
I was shocked by it; what a thrill.
I had read about it and had seen pics, but didn’t know it would pop up so fast and brilliant!
From Oct, 2014
"Here's the [2014] Solar Eclipse as seen from Notre Dame's Basilica of the Sacred Heart."
Check out the series of sunspots. Sun was more active at the time. I think it was near a solar maximum.
"Solar Eclipse & seagull, viewed from a beach in Florida. Credit: R. Schwartz
Two things:
Your eyes adjust to the gradual decrease in light level by opening up the iris. (You may notice a slight change in spectral content, though, different from typical sunsets.)
Also, sight and hearing (sound level) work in a logarithmic fashion. For example, a halving of acoustical power (-3 dB) is barely discernible to most untrained ears. It takes 10x (or 1/10[x]) to sound double or 1/2 as loud, to most people. God made us this way so that we can hear very soft to very loud sounds, and yet, for example, a nearby clap of thunder, or a yelling person, does not deafen us for life.
I was in Nashville, too... I was a little northeast in Gallatin at Bledsoe State Park. Crowded, but oh so worth it!
I’ll never forget the eeriness of totality. I mean, I enjoyed it immensely, but you cannot watch a video, or see it on TV, and reproduce what it is like to see the whole area dark like that.
The sky was even lit with faded reds and orange like a sunset right after the sun goes down, but not in the west, but rather 360 degrees around you!
AND, I just got home to South Alabama. I left the park at 1:45 PM, drove down 109 to I-40, and then I-40 to I-840. What a parking lot that road was!!!!
And I-65 was the same for miles and miles. Even slowed to a complete stop in North Alabama.
Now it is 10:30 PM and I am tired.
BUT—worth it!
A question for everyone who saw the eclipse...
How are you eyes?
Mine feel a little funny. I wore my paper eclipse glasses over my eye glasses. I definitely didn’t look at the sun directly except during the totality. Maybe I’m just tired (I am!).
Still, if any one would like to discuss symptoms or warnings to look for, I’m all ears—er, eyes!
You=your!
Roughly 110 planet earths could fit side-by-side across the diameter of the Sun.
Did you see any stars?
Is that an area known for dark night skies?
That’s interesting. The sun was covered to the tune of about 83 percent where I was, and I noticed the difference well before maximum coverage. My home was darker, too, and that was with the sun coming through the skylights.
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