2024 Solar Eclipse - never too early to get ready

[MissingInAction 25,110]

1 hour ago, SubliminalHorn said:

July 22, 2028 there’s a total eclipse for Australia with Sydney smack in the middle of it with an estimated time of totality of over an hour. That would be insane. My BFF and his wife live in Brissie, looks like I may need to head down unda for it

I'm fucking in!

[HornOnTheBayou 8,935]

 

[Biff Tannen 45,692]

Aside from an hour long totality being silly and making no sense at all, why wouldn’t all totalities along the center line be the same length of time every eclipse?  Isn’t it just the speed of the moon and rotation of the earth?  

[MalibuSheriff 1,090]

iPhone pics from the top of the Talimena Drive in southeastern Oklahoma today.

First pic is immediately prior to totality:

Second pic is at totality and shitty because it was so dark.  Planets and stars were easily visible.  360 degree sunset.

I’m really glad my son and I made the drive down today.  Absolutely amazing day!

[Hate 20,116]

4 hours ago, UnivTex34 said:

 

Timelapse from my drone at our viewing site out near Kingsland.

That's badass.  I was at Lake Buchanan and the clouds parted at the perfect time!  It was so fucking cool.  Since the lake is so far down, we walked pretty far into the lake basin and had unobstructed vision from horizon to horizon.  The bluebonnets had also filled the lake like I have never seen before.  I spoke to a few old timers that have lived there for 70 years and never seen bluebonnets like this.  The whole weekend was just amazing...other than the 6.5 hour drive home (normally just under 4). 
 

edited to add a few crappy pics. The camera doing its job really messed up just how dark it got.

 

 

 

 

Edited April 9 by Hate

[Surly Bevo 25,058]

14 minutes ago, Biff Tannen said:

Aside from an hour long totality being silly and making no sense at all, why wouldn’t all totalities along the center line be the same length of time every eclipse?  Isn’t it just the speed of the moon and rotation of the earth?  

Astronomy, physics and geometry and shit

Duration

The following factors determine the duration of a total solar eclipse (in order of decreasing importance):^[33][34]

1. The Moon being almost exactly at perigee (making its angular diameter as large as possible).
2. Earth being very near aphelion (furthest away from the Sun in its elliptical orbit, making its angular diameter nearly as small as possible).
3. The midpoint of the eclipse being very close to Earth's equator, where the rotational velocity is greatest and is closest to the speed of the lunar shadow moving over Earth's surface.
4. The vector of the eclipse path at the midpoint of the eclipse aligning with the vector of Earth's rotation (i.e. not diagonal but due east).
5. The midpoint of the eclipse being near the subsolar point (the part of Earth closest to the Sun).

The longest eclipse that has been calculated thus far is the eclipse of July 16, 2186 (with a maximum duration of 7 minutes 29 seconds over northern Guyana).^[33]

Edited April 9 by Surly Bevo

[pantone159 719]

14 minutes ago, Biff Tannen said:

Aside from an hour long totality being silly and making no sense at all, why wouldn’t all totalities along the center line be the same length of time every eclipse?  Isn’t it just the speed of the moon and rotation of the earth?  

No, it depends on exactly how close the moon and sun are, which vary in complicated ways. It never gets close to an hour but it does vary a lot. About 3-4 minutes is pretty typical.

[Biff Tannen 45,692]

2 minutes ago, Surly Bevo said:

Astronomy, physics and geometry and shit

Duration

The following factors determine the duration of a total solar eclipse (in order of decreasing importance):^[33][34]

1. The Moon being almost exactly at perigee (making its angular diameter as large as possible).
2. Earth being very near aphelion (furthest away from the Sun in its elliptical orbit, making its angular diameter nearly as small as possible).
3. The midpoint of the eclipse being very close to Earth's equator, where the rotational velocity is greatest and is closest to the speed of the lunar shadow moving over Earth's surface.
4. The vector of the eclipse path at the midpoint of the eclipse aligning with the vector of Earth's rotation (i.e. not diagonal but due east).
5. The midpoint of the eclipse being near the subsolar point (the part of Earth closest to the Sun).

The longest eclipse that has been calculated thus far is the eclipse of July 16, 2186 (with a maximum duration of 7 minutes 29 seconds over northern Guyana).^[33]

 

1 minute ago, pantone159 said:

No, it depends on exactly how close the moon and sun are, which vary in complicated ways. It never gets close to an hour but it does vary a lot. About 3-4 minutes is pretty typical.

And I learned something today. Thank you for doing my googling for me too. 

[austingirl 2,191]

We give the kids one day to skip school per year for whatever reason, and my 12-yo picked today. We're in NW Austin (Milwood) and we got so fucking lucky - the clouds parted for about 10 minutes right around totality. We were cheering along with a bunch of other families watching from their driveways. My son kept yelling "this is so cool!" and I am so glad we got to experience it together.

[UTexasFight 9,506]

Sydney would be cool.

but I’m holding out for a safari/game reserve in South Africa in 2030 and Antarctica in December 2039.

….or maybe the Karnak Temple in Egypt in 2027 which with get almost 6.5 minutes of totality…

[Wally Fairway 5,566]

8 minutes ago, Surly Bevo said:

 

The longest eclipse that has been calculated thus far is the eclipse of July 16, 2186 (with a maximum duration of 7 minutes 29 seconds over northern Guyana).^[33]

This is awesome news; and I'm excited to book a flight to Guyana. Of course this is only a few weeks shy of my 218th birthday. Anyone want to meet me there, seems like a great place for a surly meet up. 

I will however not start that thread, yet. Apparently, it is too early to get ready

[Aqua Buddha 14,598]

Russellville, Arkansas.  Pics taken from the same spot two minutes apart.  99% vs 100%:

 

 

 

 

748F2A41-B829-4BE1-AE51-6C7790020605.heic 23AF5C3E-8FB0-46DF-A1FC-C1B025CC4E22.heic

Edited April 9 by Aqua Buddha

[Aqua Buddha 14,598]

Russellville, Arkansas.  Pics taken from the same spot two minutes apart.  99% vs 100%:
 

 

[pantone159 719]

22 minutes ago, UTexasFight said:

Sydney would be cool.

but I’m holding out for a safari/game reserve in South Africa in 2030 and Antarctica in December 2039.

….or maybe the Karnak Temple in Egypt in 2027 which with get almost 6.5 minutes of totality…

Mecca will also get about 5 min 10 sec of totality in 2027, to add another religious site.

Edited April 9 by pantone159
added year

[Radical Larry 28,645]

 

[BachelorTrek 3,049]

4 hours ago, Aqua Buddha said:

I see that now.  This was my first and it was breathtaking.  The crowd audibly gasped.  Some cheered.  A woman next to me "My God.  Look at it.  It's awesome."

Easily one of my top 5 experiences ever.

[The Dog 44,066]

[BachelorTrek 3,049]

6 hours ago, Sgt Hulk said:

Only partial here in LA.  See you fuckers in 2045 

I'll prolly do that Tokyo one in 2035.

[BachelorTrek 3,049]

8 hours ago, Armybrat said:

I see someone interviewed Ramjet during the event…..

 

Is that Thundercracker next to him?

Where the heck did Skywarp, Dirge, Thrust, and Starscream get to?  Lulz.

[aggie08 21,505]

43 minutes ago, The Dog said:

That's just what big eclipse wants you to think.

[Pato del Muerto 52,529]

19 minutes ago, BachelorTrek said:

Is that Thundercracker next to him?

Where the heck did Skywarp, Dirge, Thrust, and Starscream get to?  Lulz.

Taken out by Jetfire after he turned. 

[JohnnyRage 1,617]

Beaver's Bend State Park success. A place, although in Oklahoma, near and dear to my heart. Cloudy morning skies parted about 60 percent into the eclipse through totality and then covered back up again.

Satisfied. I've been waiting 6 years for this.

[Captain Ron 12,883]

Well shit this traffic was no fucking joke. After the eclipse we went back the our place in Waterford and hung out before heading back to Boston Metro. My nephew and his girlfriend left around 7, we left at 8:45. A normally 2:30 drive was 3:45 for us. My nephew is still stuck in traffic.

We did take an alternate route than normal because they reported nasty traffic at Franconia Notch. They are still stuck there (IYKYK). 

[Jersey Man10 3,538]

Am I crazy, or did anyone see the comet to the far left of the eclipse? You could see it moving ever so slightly. Also seeing Venus just chilling there was cool as well.

I’m glad I live on the totality line lol.

[WhatTheBuck 28,788]

6 hours ago, pantone159 said:

Sorry about your luck. If you don't get a good look at totality, you miss the good part. A total eclipse is like nothing else you have ever seen. That includes any pictures you have seen before, which just don't capture how unreal it looks. All the leadup where the sun turns crescent, things get dark, is cool but not unreal like the eclipsed sun.

This. None of the pictures or videos I’ve ever seen before prepared me for the intricate detail and the magnitude of the thing. None of them here come close. The thin, shimmery radiants of the corona that reach out much farther than any of the pics capture. The crystal clarity can’t be captured by camera.

And then there’s the suddenness of it. You’ve been staring through your eclipse glasses for so long while this opaque disc slowly covers up the filtered orb of the sun. It’s a subdued, filtered, monochromatic view. Sort of abstract. Time ticks by. At about 50% coverage I noticed the wind start to pick up. Then things slowly started getting darker. Then the temperature started to drop.

The sun becomes a thin crescent and then finally it’s gone and there’s nothing but black in your filtered view. Then you take off the glasses and BAM! You’re back in full color and there it is in all its majesty and it’s beyond your imagination. It’s bigger and brighter and whiter and CLOSER than you were expecting. There’s deep dark sky around it with stars and planets and an eerie twilight glow all around the horizon. At my latitude it got pretty cold. It’s still early spring. I wore my hoodie. My neighbors were donning theirs.

Every second was precious. There were whoops and hollers from some viewers. Mostly it was just “Wooooooow.” It was ethereal, surreal. Just astounding. Breathtaking. Awe inspiring. Not gonna lie, I shed a few tears. Just out of happiness and joy and wonder. It was so worth it. You really can’t over-hype it. 

[crimsonlonghorn 2,306]

The worst part about our experience in the Walmart parking lot in Gatesville was that someone started blasting "Bad Boys" from Cops during totality. I still don't quite understand the logic but they must have had some. 

Also the traffic getting back to Houston was pretty bad. South of Temple there were lines of cars everywhere on every little highway and farm to market road. We cut over to Highway 6 which was slightly better but still not great getting through Hearne and College Station. At Hempstead we came home to Sugar Land through Bellville and Sealy. Apparently I-10 and 290 were even worse once the northern traffic from Waco met up with the western traffic from Austin. Houston news this morning said traffic was backed up on those roads until after midnight. 

But it was still worth it. 

[Aqua Buddha 14,598]

Downtown Dallas:

[Wally Fairway 5,566]

Just to reiterate - I first saw this xkcd after the 2017 eclipse, and reading other peoples posts about being in the totality convinced me that I wanted to go to view this in the totality. 

So glad I did, my 2 youngest who went to a dark park in Arky are already talking about not waiting until 2040's to see on in the US.

credit xkcd.com/1880/

 

[Wally Fairway 5,566]

FWIW - Randall Monroe does really kinda get it - here is today's

[MAUFRAIS 6,629]

Damn it. I got boned pretty hard by a cloud.

[Aqua Buddha 14,598]

Sydney in the summer of 2028?  Well, shit.  

 

[atomheartbevo 89,735]

1 minute ago, Wally Fairway said:

FWIW - Randall Monroe does really kinda get it - here is today's

And a few days ago

[The Royal We 3,072]

4 minutes ago, Wally Fairway said:

Just to reiterate - I first saw this xkcd after the 2017 eclipse, and reading other peoples posts about being in the totality convinced me that I wanted to go to view this in the totality. 

So glad I did, my 2 youngest who went to a dark park in Arky are already talking about not waiting until 2040's to see on in the US.

credit xkcd.com/1880/

 

This can't be said enough. I mentioned it already, but we almost didn't leave the house because of the weather and the fact that our house was going to get 98% totality. This thread and comments like this one were the nudge I needed to insist to my wife that we were going even if it was a 50/50 shot that we could even see it.

After experiencing totality, I'd drive a long way and put a lot of energy into a 10% chance to experience it again.

[Captain Ron 12,883]

7 hours ago, Jersey Man10 said:

Am I crazy, or did anyone see the comet to the far left of the eclipse? You could see it moving ever so slightly. Also seeing Venus just chilling there was cool as well.

I’m glad I live on the totality line lol.

Yes and no. But there was a comet that was potentially visible with the right conditions. We didn't have them, but I chatted about it with a number of people on our hill, I was hoping to see it, but no luck.

[Captain Ron 12,883]

1 hour ago, crimsonlonghorn said:

The worst part about our experience in the Walmart parking lot in Gatesville was that someone started blasting "Bad Boys" from Cops during totality. I still don't quite understand the logic but they must have had some. 

That sounds like the 2nd worst part about your experience. The worst had to be standing in a Walmart parking lot.

[High Plains Drifter 11,050]

 

Pic my daughter took with her iphone: 

 

[LonghornJones 837]

I pulled both of my kids (7&8) out of school for the eclipse. When we finally got to 1:40p, I told them to take their glasses off and stare at the sun. We had ~40 secs of totality before a cloud obstructed our view. I knelt behind them in their chairs in silence.

It did get a little dusty for me. Not so much for them.

[Pato del Muerto 52,529]

49 minutes ago, Aqua Buddha said:

Sydney in the summer of 2028?  Well, shit.  

 

Well, not summer in sydney

[Guest]

12 hours ago, pantone159 said:

Sorry about your luck. If you don't get a good look at totality, you miss the good part. A total eclipse is like nothing else you have ever seen. That includes any pictures you have seen before, which just don't capture how unreal it looks. All the leadup where the sun turns crescent, things get dark, is cool but not unreal like the eclipsed sun.

So it's the actual sight of the sun that's the cool part?

I thought the darkness was neat and see people talking about it, but I mean that can happen with a heavy storm rolling in. 

[pantone159 719]

2 minutes ago, FirstTimeCaller said:

So it's the actual sight of the sun that's the cool part?

I thought the darkness was neat and see people talking about it, but I mean that can happen with a heavy storm rolling in. 

The sun looks like a black hole, at least to me. It just looks completely wrong and impossible. The brightness of everything is just broken. It is hard to explain until you see it yourself.

[Guest]

Well fuck, I feel like a guy that was at the game but went for nachos during the game-winning TD.

Everyone here is talking about life-changing experience. I was close to the center line and it's going to be something that I'll remember when someone reminds me of it, but never think about again.

[Trey3216 15,349]

9 minutes ago, FirstTimeCaller said:

Well fuck, I feel like a guy that was at the game but went for nachos during the game-winning TD.

Everyone here is talking about life-changing experience. I was close to the center line and it's going to be something that I'll remember when someone reminds me of it, but never think about again.

Sounds like something Walter Mondale would say.  

[kevwun 15,803]

My wife took some pretty decent pics, but during totality when you could stare at the sun without glasses the pics just don't do it justice.

[High Plains Drifter 11,050]

1 hour ago, pantone159 said:

The sun looks like a black hole, at least to me. It just looks completely wrong and impossible. The brightness of everything is just broken. It is hard to explain until you see it yourself.

 

Exactly. 

 

[crash_davis 23,114]

https://www.wtxl.com/news/florida-news/florida-woman-claims-god-directed-her-to-shoot-cars-on-i-10-during-eclipse

Monday, Florida Highway Patrol took a 22-year-old woman from Georgia into custody after they said she shot at cars on Interstate 10 in Florida's pandhandle.

The woman had recently checked out of a local hotel and told the staff she was going on a shooting spree, directed by “God” in relation to the solar eclipse.

Read the FHP report below to see how they took her into custody.

FHP REPORT:

Florida Highway Patrol Troopers responded to a report of an active shooter in Holmes County. The suspect was reportedly a female who had recently checked out of a local hotel and told the staff she was going on a shooting spree, directed by “God” in relation to the solar eclipse.

The suspect, driving a purple Dodge Challenger with Georgia plates, entered Interstate 10 (I-10) at the 112-mile marker and traveled westbound.

Within 5 miles of entering the interstate, the suspect fired multiple shots into another vehicle traveling along the interstate, striking the passing car multiple times.

The driver was struck by glass fragments from the window and grazed on the arm by a bullet; however, he was able to steer his vehicle onto the shoulder of the road, away from the suspect.

Continuing westbound on I-10, the suspect shot at another vehicle near the 107- mile marker, hitting the driver in the neck. The victim was taken to a nearby hospital and is currently receiving treatment.

Responding Troopers located the suspect near the 96- mile marker and conducted a felony traffic stop. After the suspect was taken into custody, troopers recovered an AR-15 and a 9mm handgun within the purple Challenger.

The suspect, identified as Taylon Nichelle Celestine, 22, of Georgia, was taken into custody without incident and transported to the Holmes County Jail where she was booked on the following charges:

Attempted Murder

Aggravated Battery with a Deadly Weapon

Improper Discharge of Firearm

[gofuckyourself 8,339]

Damn.

Total eclipse news is getting dark.

 

/noracist

[SimonBolivar 10,958]

1 hour ago, FirstTimeCaller said:

Well fuck, I feel like a guy that was at the game but went for nachos during the game-winning TD.

Everyone here is talking about life-changing experience. I was close to the center line and it's going to be something that I'll remember when someone reminds me of it, but never think about again.

I love astronomy generally and felt the same as you. It was neat and I'm glad I did it, but it wasn't all that really except I can 100% see how my ancestors were sure that some deity had it out for them. I'd probably drive an hour out of my way to see it but that's about it.

 

One interesting thing that happened is that the dog gave zero fucks. Which makes complete sense as the lights magically turn off and on for them all the time.

[Aqua Buddha 14,598]

1 hour ago, pantone159 said:

The sun looks like a black hole, at least to me. It just looks completely wrong and impossible. The brightness of everything is just broken. It is hard to explain until you see it yourself.

Bingo.  I was in one of the longest totality zones and the sun/moon seemed incredibly close but I was staring at a giant black disk in the sky.  Maybe the sun/moon have varying sizes depending on where you're at but it looked like a huge black hole.

[MAUFRAIS 6,629]

[WhatTheBuck 28,788]

13 hours ago, Biff Tannen said:

Aside from an hour long totality being silly and making no sense at all, why wouldn’t all totalities along the center line be the same length of time every eclipse?  Isn’t it just the speed of the moon and rotation of the earth?  

The proximity of the moon to the earth depending on its orbit I’m sure is a factor.

(Oh, already covered I see.)

Edited April 9 by WhatTheBuck