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Total Solar Eclipse (US) of 2017

B

BlueTsunami

there is joy in sucking dick
The Exploder said:
I'm scared.
Click to expand...

The first bowl on the earth
the second bowl on the sea
the third bowl on the rivers
the fourth bowl on the sun
the fifth bowl on the beast
the sixth bowl on the stars
the seventh bowl on the air
And the earth turned grey
sea turned black
The rivers turned red
The sun turned cold
The beast turned pale
The stars turned fast
The air turned to poison
 
A

akira28

Member
I'm going to use the tried and true hands in front of eyes and looking for a millisecond and then hands in front of eyes again method.
 
C

chaosblade

Unconfirmed Member
Thinking about driving to my grandparents house for this. They live in south Missouri, so we could probably drive 1-2 hours to a place where we could see the greatest eclipse then 1-2 hours back. Good excuse to spend some time with them, no guarantee I'll be able to do that for the 2024 one.
 
P

psyfi

Banned
I'm going camping near the Idaho / Wyoming border with about twenty of my best friends for this. Can't wait. :)
 
H

HylianTom

Banned
woo! I just got a week of vacation for August approved, timed for this event. My mother-in-law just bought a condo in eastern TN, so we have a place to stay..

I'd also add: North America won't have many of these events over the next 50 years. When I did the math on my life expectancy and realized that I only have a few eclipses left, taking time off was a no-brainer.

21stCenturyNorthAmericanEclipses
 
S

superdeluxe

Member
What are people's plans? I'm assuming everything is going to be a zoo. I feel like even getting on the road to get in the totality area is going to be difficult. My plan is to get near madras and go east till it clears up
 
P

Piggus

Member
Considering driving north for a better view and maybe finding a camping spot on public land, but it's going to be a mess. There's a town in northern Oregon with a population of 10,000 that's expecting a MILLION people. Yeah, good luck with that.
 
P

patrickthehedgehog

Member
superdeluxe said:
What are people's plans? I'm assuming everything is going to be a zoo. I feel like even getting on the road to get in the totality area is going to be difficult. My plan is to get near madras and go east till it clears up
Click to expand...

You can secure a 5 day campsite at the Madras SolarFest for $150. I did this and will probably camp two nights to avoid any traffic insanity. Get out to the totality if you can. It will be worth it!

Onset of Totality
Partiality deepens even more, and the atmosphere actually starts to be a little scary. The sky gets deeper and deeper dark blue, and the Sun-sliver gets thin enough that you can actually (through your filters, remember?) start to see it shrinking as you watch it. In the five minutes before totality, you can really get a feel for how earth-shatteringly frightening this event must have been to ancient people who had no idea what was going on. We can truly believe that people could have been frightened to death! But not us - the spectacle gets your heart beating fast, your mouth watering for more, and your whole body trembling with excitement that you're being swept along in a wonderful dance of the cosmos that nothing is going to stop. But we're all too "modern" to allow anything like this to affect us...emotionally, right? Don't you believe it!


As the last bite of the Sun slides away, things happen way too fast to describe concisely. You simply cannot focus on every one of the events that are taking place all around you, so you have to pick the few that seem the coolest to you. (There will be more eclipses, after all, and in about 5 minutes you're going to be on the phone making travel plans to see the next one!) The most important thing going on is the actual Sun up in the sky, but let's take a peek at just a couple of other things first.

The sky surrounding the Sun will grow very dark very quickly. In real time, you will be able to see the deep blue turn to twilight blue, and then to bluish-black. Stars and planets will pop out of nowhere. Roosters will crow and insects will chirp as though night is falling. If you look to the west, you'll see a beautiful black curtain rising up out of the Earth, with hints of sunset-orange north and south of it, while off to the east, the sky at the horizon is still rather light. On the ground, your shadow will become impossibly clear and thin, and then will vanish completely as the Sun's light fades to about the intensity of the full Moon. In the last few seconds before totality, that dull blackness you saw off to the west will suddenly spring up out of the Earth, and take over the whole sky like a gigantic curtain being pulled over you - like that scene in the original Disney Fantasia movie - only about a hundred times faster. If you aren't focused on the Sun at that time (like most people will be), you'll be looking at the actual shadow of the Moon racing toward you at supersonic speed, covering you with its blackness. If you see that, you're very lucky, because it happens so fast. And besides, you'll probably be too awe-struck by what's going on center stage...

As the last sliver of Sun melts away, you will be able to see several things happening simultaneously. You will now definitely have the feeling that there are two bodies involved, because it is impossible to miss the disk of the Moon in these last seconds. (You should still be watching through the eclipse glasses, by the way.) But while the last bit of the sliver is shrinking, the Sun's corona will start to come out. The last little bit of the Sun's light will glare through valleys on the Moon, and will create a "bead" effect at the edge of the Moon's disk. These are called "Baily's Beads", and they are stunning. These will dance around a little, and then will fade away as the very last one of them brightens into a huge bead. Around the edge of the Moon, the Sun's corona will begin to glow, giving us the famous "diamond ring" effect. It lasts for only about 2-3 seconds, but it is stunning beyond words. Most people will take their filters off at this point (though technically, you're not supposed to look until the diamond ring is totally gone, we're just saying that most people choose to do it anyway). You will see the corona burst into view as the diamond fades away, appearing as though someone is smearing wispy-white cotton candy all around the impossibly black hole that's been cut out of the fabric of the blue-black sky. (We are convinced that the corona comes out while the diamond is still blazing away, and it is a beautiful sight to see.) There may be tongues of red fire visible around the edge of the Sun - these are solar prominences, and no one knows what they will look like until they see them right along with you.

Someone will blow a whistle to signify that totality has officially begun, and you can take your viewing glasses and all your filters off, and stare away. If there's no whistle, then once you can't see anything at all with your filters, take them off! You will see nothing if you keep them on, and now, during totality, they're not necessary! Keep them in your hand for when totality is over, but use your eyes. Use your binoculars with impunity. Don't look away if you can help it. The diamond is gone, all the sun's light is blocked, and you're looking at the most beautiful thing you're likely to ever see - the solar corona, shimmering around the Moon's disk brilliantly (and which is only about as bright as the full Moon). It will look to you as though someone has painted the sky a deep blue-black, has cut an impossibly-black hole in it with a pair of scissors, and then smeared radiant, glowing, shimmering cotton candy around that hole. No picture in the world can do justice to the sight you have before you, and you will want to etch it in your memory forever. Ten years from now, you'll still be able to imagine this sight in your mind - so burn it in there now, while you can. Listen to the people around you scream and yell and hoot and holler and yell "Oh My God" and do whatever else it is they do when there's nothing else to do but blither like a mad fool. Look and enjoy the gift you've been given - and be amazed.

If you have a second to look away, look at the horizon all around you. It will be the orange of a sunset, all the way around the whole horizon! You are in the middle of the circle of shadow that the Moon has projected onto the surface of the Earth, and all around you at the horizon, the eclipse is not total! You're seeing the sunset effects of the Sun's light from a hundred miles away or so, all around you! It will be too dark for you to see anything close at hand, but remember NO flashlights, NO flash pictures (they won't come out, and you'll ruin the scientists' pictures). Just stand there and enjoy it. Hoot and holler all you want. Talk to the Sun. Thank it for its gift in your own special way. After all, whatever craziness happens in the shadow, stays in the shadow.

After the initial cheers from the crowd, the atmosphere will settle a little, and you'll be tempted to look away. This is the stage where you have to remember that you're only going to get this show for a minute or two, and you have to record it in your mind in order to keep it forever. NO pictures will ever do it justice, so whatever you store in your brain is what you're going to be left with. Enjoy it, and immerse yourself in it. Tomorrow, you will look at the pictures in the paper, and you won't believe that those are pictures of what you remember seeing! (We told you so!)

You'll know when totality is finally coming to an end, because the western sky will brighten dramatically. The shadow is racing along to the next group of eagerly-awaiting victims to the east, and your time is sadly coming to an end. The right side of the Sun's black disk will brighten a little, you may see prominences or chromosphere again, and some people will plaintively yell "no, please don't go away". Just like that, the corona will dim, the diamond ring will flash into view on the right side of the Sun's disk (and it's time again for your eclipse glasses to go on!), the whistle will blow, the beads will come back, and it will be over. That bright bead of sunlight tells you that the Sun has come back, and you need to IMMEDIATELY put on your viewing glasses or filters. Totality is gone for you, and you will desperately want it to not be gone. Your brain will be frantically clearing its buffers, filing away the overload of memories of what you've just seen into permanent storage, and your body will be weak from the adrenaline crash that now comes over you. Everyone will cheer like idiots. The shadows will come back, the sky will brighten, and the sliver of Sun will majestically return. This is third contact - the end of totality - and you've just joined the very select, very small percentage of humans who have witnessed a total solar eclipse. Congratulations!

Source: http://www.eclipse2017.org/2017/what_you_see.htm
Click to expand...
 
C

Catdaddy

Member
I live in Nashville and were I live will have just over 2 minutes totality. Took the day off work, trafdic will be nuts in the city and where work is oit of it
 
W

_woLf

Member
A friend of mine's parents live in the line of totality in Oregon. Planning on staying with them.

Can't wait. Seeing a total solar eclipse is a bucket list item for me.
 
S

Skiptastic

Member
HylianTom said:
woo! I just got a week of vacation for August approved, timed for this event. My mother-in-law just bought a condo in eastern TN, so we have a place to stay..

I'd also add: North America won't have many of these events over the next 50 years. When I did the math on my life expectancy and realized that I only have a few eclipses left, taking time off was a no-brainer.

21stCenturyNorthAmericanEclipses
Click to expand...
Awesome, I'll just wait for seven years and get the badass one coming through just outside of Indy!
 
Clockwork5

Clockwork5

Member
falconxcrunner09 said:
So why is it that you can literally go blind by looking at it and you need special eye wear or use the pin hole trick?
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1. It will be dark out and your pupils will be wide open.
2. It is relatively comfortable to stare right at the sun during an eclipse.
3. There are still enough UV rays emanating from the solar aura around the moon to damage your eyesight.

It's really not much different than staring at the sun during the day except it's not painful and your eyes aren't protecting themselves.

I will have total eclipse status about 30 min from my house!!! I'm ready.
 
P

patrickthehedgehog

Member
If you're in totality you use the glasses or pinhole trick until the sun is totally covered by the moon.

If you are not in totality (most of America) please make sure to use glasses or the pinhole trick the entire time. Also make sure your glasses aren't damaged. Don't give them to kids until it's time to watch as they could poke holes by accident. You can't feel the inside of your eyes burning. (Scary, huh?)
 
R

RCSI

Member
Clockwork5 said:
1. It will be dark out and your pupils will be wide open.
2. It is relatively comfortable to stare right at the sun during an eclipse.
3. There are still enough UV rays emanating from the solar aura around the moon to damage your eyesight.

It's really not much different than staring at the sun during the day except it's not painful and your eyes aren't protecting themselves.

I will have total eclipse status about 30 min from my house!!! I'm ready.
Click to expand...

It's comfortable to stare at an eclipse during totality. As Clockwork says, never stare right at the sun during the moments before or after totality without proper eye protection
 
C

Catdaddy

Member
Nashville (the SE US in general) is prone to afternoon storms, but even with cloud cover will be awesome, just not as awesome.
 
J

Jeff-DSA

Member
We have a cabin in Star Valley, Wyoming. It will be perfect for viewing this. Can't wait. I have a telescope with a solar filter. Gonna be rad.
 
S

superdeluxe

Member
So what's the difference between being closer to the center line of the path and just being in the path? Is th eclipse longer?
 
Clockwork5

Clockwork5

Member
So as someone who likes to correct their mistakes, it is safe to look directly at an eclipse during its totality without protection. It is even encouraged by astronomers as it will be one of the most breathtakingly beautiful and unreal moments of your life. Enjoy!

Don't forget to look at the eclipse!

If you're watching the eclipse from the path of totality, you should absolutely remove your eclipse glasses during totality. "In fact, if you keep your filters on during totality, you won't see anything" because they block out almost all light, Fienberg said.

However, if you're watching the partial solar eclipse from other parts of the U.S., you'll need to keep them on the entire time. If you take them off, not only do you risk burning your eyes, but you also won't be able to see the eclipse. [What You’ll See During the 2017 Total Solar Eclipse]

"A total solar eclipse is truly spectacular and awesome in the true meaning of the word 'awesome,' whereas a partial solar eclipse could pass unnoticed," Fienberg said.

"Even if you do have a solar filter and watch the sun turn into a thin crescent, it's nowhere near as exciting as a total eclipse, because you miss all the really spectacular phenomena that are associated with totality. It doesn't get dark, you don't see the corona, you don't see bright red prominences of gas jetting off from the edge of the sun. It's just not the same at all."

So get to the path of totality if you can. And whatever you do, don't forget to bring the right kind of eye protection!
Click to expand...

https://www.space.com/36941-solar-eclipse-eye-protection-guide.html
 
C

Chris R

Member
ScottSullivan said:
Wow you're flying all the way to portland for this? I guess it is a twice in a liftime thing...
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I'm a huge space nerd. Alaska never gets to see any of this shit.

Best chance for quite some time to get anything like this. Plus, I've never visited Portland so I'll get a few days to check it out, watch an MLS game, ect.

The bump reminds me I need to buy my glasses.
 
D

DrForester

Kills Photobucket
Probably a good idea to buy your viewing glasses now and beat the rush on them that will probably come in the next few weeks.

Some safety tips and recomendations (if you go with welder glasses make sure they are #14 )

https://eclipse.gsfc.nasa.gov/SEhelp/safety2.html



B.K. said:
I'm planning to take the day off and drive about a hour to a place that is going to be in the line of totality. What are some good glasses to buy to watch it? Are there any good, cheap filers to put on the end of binoculars? I found these on Amazon:

https://www.amazon.com/dp/B06ZYKRH1V/?tag=neogaf0e-20

but they don't look very safe to me.
Click to expand...

Do lots of research as bad equipment can damage not only your binoculars, but your eyes.
 
B

Beer Monkey

Member
Driving down to Nashville from Ohio on Sunday morning, staying with friends, headed 30 miles north on Monday to see the eclipse and then back home.
 
P

PhoncipleBone

Banned
Ordered some eclipse glasses off amazon. Living in southern KY, we are right in the path. My wife works where the peak will be too. Gonna be a fun day.
 
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