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Total Solar Eclipse (US) of 2017
- Thread starter Elandyll
- Start date
ReadingRambo
Member
So glad to have driven to an area in TN with 100% totality. I'll never forget those 2 and a half minutes after taking my glasses off and experiencing twilight in the middle of an August afternoon in the south.
ghostofsparta
Member
Wow, I didn't know. That sounds incredible.
I can't imagine how someone 5000 years ago must have felt. I mean no wonder there's so many sun and moon gods. Honestly, I probably would have been down to be sacrificed during such an amazing sight
tonysidaway
Member
From my home in England I was fortunate enough to watch part of the NASA livestream on a good television screen. The view of the totally eclipsed sun from a NASA jet over Oregon was quite breathtaking.
LizardKing
Member
I live in the Portland area and wasn't going to drive the 45 minutes south to Salem because they said traffic would be bad. Well at 9am, 1:18 before total eclipse, google said the traffic was clear as a bell. So I drove down last minute and saw the full thing. Very glad I did because like others have said, the difference between the full eclipse and even a sliver of sun peeking through made all the difference in the world. Seriously, If you're close next time, don't just settle for 99.9%, it's not the same thing at all.
Fuck off haha
GameAddict411
Member
I was in Salem Oregon and it was magnificent. No picture could describe the utter beauty of the eclipse. I felt like I was in a sci fi movie. It got totally dark, but everywhere around it felt it like dusk.
GameAddict411
Member
It was quiet from Eugene to Salem as well when we drive there around 8am, but the it got crazy after the Eclipse. All the people that came from California wanted to head back all at once it seemed. It was bumper to bumper traffic for 3 hours to Eugene :-(. There were more cars with California plates than Oregon plates on the I5 lol. I saw many plates from different parts of the country.
tonysidaway
Member
Reminds me, after watching Cabin in the Woods one of my grown-up sprogs Rule Thirty-foured Hadley and Sitterson. I was like "really, internet? Not one single slash pairing of those creepy guys?"
LizardKing
Member
Yikes. Yeah I left from Salem at about 10:30, when I got to Woodburn traffic on I-5 slowed to a crawl. Then I got off and took the back roads which were still super clear. Made it back to Portland by 11:45, so only like a 15 minute delay. Then watched the roads look like they really seized up and was glad I was back already.
PingPongvonLaserstein
Member
There's an oak tree that shades the deck in my backyard, and I guess the mass of leaves was essentially making thousands of pinhole cameras. The entire deck was covered in thousands of perfect little crescents of light. It was really quite beautiful.
GameAddict411
Member
I saw that in Salem. Someone from the crowds pointed it out and it was crazy looking!
Cow Mengde
Banned
From reddit.
Awesome, I was in Monmouth too, my pictures all turned out like crap though
Sorry
Looks like you wen't too deep into the totality zone. Monmouth was fucking PERFECT. Zero traffic issues, lots of viewing spots, perfect weather.Escaping up the coast to Tillamook was a fun drive too.
Muku
Member
Husband and I rolled down to Dallas, OR. Figured Salem would probably be crowded. That was the most amazing experience in my life. I've never gone through a total solar eclipse before. The whole thing is such an experience, that even if folks tell you what it's like, it's so strange until it happens to you. Was totally worth the drive from Seattle down to there. I would do so in a heartbeat again. I might be addicted to total solar eclipses now.
I didn't take many pictures. I was so into it. I did video it right before totality and during it. It was just the most surreal experience ever.
I didn't take many pictures. I was so into it. I did video it right before totality and during it. It was just the most surreal experience ever.
Effming Chemtrails.From reddit.
Carbondale's totality was almost completely covered by a cloud We still had a solid three seconds of being able to see it though, and that was incredible. The remaining 2 minutes and 25 seconds were also sweet just because of the other effects. Hopefully in 2024 skies are clearer.
We still had a solid three seconds of being able to see it though, and that was incredible. The remaining 2 minutes and 25 seconds were also sweet just because of the other effects. Hopefully in 2024 skies are clearer.
Muku
Member
Perhaps. But it was totally worth it. I mean, considering last time was 1979... At least 2024 is sooner. Going to have to find a way to totality there too. It was rough coming back up to Seattle this afternoon. We even left right after totality to beat it. And actually the traffic issues were due to people slowing down and causing bottlenecks for no viewable reason when gotten to that point. (Exception was one accident. Which everyone had to rubberneck.)
Took us longer to come back up than it took to go down yesterday, which was smooth sailing. If you get a chance though and haven't seen one, I really recommend you do.
Bornstellar
Member
The night is dark and full of terrors.From reddit.
Carbondale's totality was almost completely covered by a cloud
Ya I was watching the coverage and the reporters seemed pretty disappointed but were making the best of it.
hodayathink
Member
I'm planning to cross the border and go around Indianapolis for 2024, it's a couple hours closer and will probably be easier in terms of booking hotels and such. If not that, I have some friends in Evansville.
100%TrophyMaster
Member
From reddit.
Looks just like a sword--the dark blade of the eclipse!
I once went 10 miles in 10 hours. When? Hurricane Ike evacuations. What a clusterfuck that was.
Fox Mulder
Member
It only rained for 20 minutes right during the eclipse window. It just wasn't meant to be for me.
shawnbuddy
Member
I thought it was pretty amazing. Birds landed, night singing insects instantly started making a racket, you could see Venus and some stars, the horizon looked like 360 degrees of sunset and the corona was a haunting ghostly white. Then it all snapped back, the light came back, the night insects were quiet and birds took off and flew over us in a v formation.
weremichael
Member
you described my experience exactly. The night insects were crickets, the birds were pelicans and I was stupified by the beauty and bizarreness of totality. I don't know of a more amazing experience in my life.
My brother took some amazing shots from Illinois.
https://www.flickr.com/photos/mooney1908/36332828570/
https://www.flickr.com/photos/mooney1908/36332828570/
KO Traveling Hobo
Member
My eyes are definitely achey this morning. RIP
BlindGAF ww@
BlindGAF ww@
From reddit.
I see the euro.
It was cool out side of the totality, but a far far FAR different experience.
On the Nova Special even they showed a guy at 99% totality or something and it still didn't really go dark or anything.
It's amazing how damn bright the sun is that you literally need the whole thing covered for the crazy eclipse magic to happen.
The Chosen One
Member
In San Diego it was at 50-60% totality and it was a complete bust. It was completely indistinguishable from a normal day. I tried with 3 different cameras and still couldn't see the moon eclipsing half of the sun. I didn't have solar eclipse glasses, so that made it more difficult. But even those who did have the glasses, didn't really see much. The best view came from the local news via their camera feed on TV.
I saw a partial solar eclipse in San Diego back in 2002 and it was far more visible than this. Oh well, I guess there's always 2024.... Glad the people in full totality got a great experience.
I saw a partial solar eclipse in San Diego back in 2002 and it was far more visible than this. Oh well, I guess there's always 2024.... Glad the people in full totality got a great experience.
jellies_two
Member
Someone said isn't it cool that we are lucky enough to live on a planet where the sun is 400 times away as the moon and 400 times bigger give or take..
But maybe it's not luck. Maybe with no perfect eclipses electrifying primitive apes every 50 years or so maybe with just a predictable boring unchanging sun, consciousness wouldn't have developed? Maybe the eclipses nudged evolution to favor genes that could think about them.
But maybe it's not luck. Maybe with no perfect eclipses electrifying primitive apes every 50 years or so maybe with just a predictable boring unchanging sun, consciousness wouldn't have developed? Maybe the eclipses nudged evolution to favor genes that could think about them.
Master Yoshi
Member
My eclipse viewing experience:
elshoelace
Member
Pretty much. Live in Champaign and drove 3 hours to Carbondale. Way back with a stop for food and gas it took over 8. Traffic was like a parking lot.
None of these pics do it justice
even my own I tried to adjust in lightroom, you gotta see it IRL to get the true experience
The ring around the moon is like it's made of electricity and the corona has a granularity to it that gets washed out in the pics due to its brightness
I drove 2 hours to see it and I would and will drive 7 hours to see it again in 2024
even my own I tried to adjust in lightroom, you gotta see it IRL to get the true experience
The ring around the moon is like it's made of electricity and the corona has a granularity to it that gets washed out in the pics due to its brightness
I drove 2 hours to see it and I would and will drive 7 hours to see it again in 2024
IggyChooChoo
Member
I have some friends who a) looked directly at the eclipse through clouds for a few seconds at a time, and argued that it was safe; and b) looked at the reflection of the eclipse in a bucket of water, also for a few seconds at a time. I was surprised to hear this and thought both sounded like bad ideas, but I'm having trouble finding definitive statements from trustworthy sources on the safety of either. Anyone have clear sources on these?
It's because our eyes automatically adjust by dilating to the slow decrease of light. Also yeah the sun is super bright.
It took my friends 11 hours to do what is normally a 6 hour drive.
elshoelace
Member
Well worth it though. It was an amazing experience.