2024 Total eclipse of the Sun

[veni vidi vici]

If you have never seen one it is worth whatever sacrifice you need to see one. You need to find a spot with totality and the longer the better .
I saw the one 3-4 years ago and had 2-3 minutes of totality.
It’s nothing like the photos, it is not dark, the lighting and colors are unlike anything you have experienced.

https://www.accuweather.com/en/space-news/2024-total-solar-eclipse-in-us-canada/1167521

 

[eric1207]

In the 2017 one my wife and I sat next to an astronomer on an ~10,000' mountain top in Wyoming's Wind River Range. He called out the timing and things that were about to happen or were happening. It was extraordinary to have him explain every thing and see it all. Memorable moments were the beginning, when the curtain dropped on the Grand Teton then racing over the mountains toward us and a few moments later totality swept over us. It got real cold. Another was the birds stopped chirping, and the illusion that the ground all around us was like looking down thru clear water wavelets at the sea floor: It went all shimmery. There were a couple hundred people in this double football size space, many of them in full Woodstock mode, tiedye, dreadlocks, dancing circles, who knows what else. It was pretty cool. It was one of those lifetime experiences. I encourage anyone to make an effort to see this one in 2024, I know I will.

 

[veni vidi vici]

In the 2017 one my wife and I sat next to an astronomer on an ~10,000' mountain top in Wyoming's Wind River Range. He called out the timing and things that were about to happen or were happening. It was extraordinary to have him explain every thing and see it all. Memorable moments were the beginning, when the curtain dropped on the Grand Teton then racing over the mountains toward us and a few moments later totality swept over us. It got real cold. Another was the birds stopped chirping, and the illusion that the ground all around us was like looking down thru clear water wavelets at the sea floor: It went all shimmery. There were a couple hundred people in this double football size space, many of them in full Woodstock mode, tiedye, dreadlocks, dancing circles, who knows what else. It was pretty cool. It was one of those lifetime experiences. I encourage anyone to make an effort to see this one in 2024, I know I will.

Yes and ideally I will find a place as you described with few people, although the shared experience was special , a place in nature. It is easy imagine the effect on primitive cultures.

 

[Waiex191]

I'll have to fly down to Carbondale this time.

 

[veni vidi vici]

I'll have to fly down to Carbondale this time.

My plan is to stage a few days before somewhere in the middle of the US path and depending on the weather forecast I’ll start zeroing in on the best location either towards Texas or the other direction towards the Great Lakes One thing I thought of after the last, I watched in Santee , SC hot humid thunderstorms in the region. As the time approached there were spotty low cumulus I was worried about. It was clear when totality occurred and I later thought that probably the gradual decline in clouds was because the sun light and its heat was decreasing.

 

[Danceswithoctopus]

There is no dark side of the moon really.

As a matter of fact, it's all dark.

 

[Diarmuid]

In the 2017 one my wife and I sat next to an astronomer on an ~10,000' mountain top in Wyoming's Wind River Range. He called out the timing and things that were about to happen or were happening. It was extraordinary to have him explain every thing and see it all. Memorable moments were the beginning, when the curtain dropped on the Grand Teton then racing over the mountains toward us and a few moments later totality swept over us. It got real cold. Another was the birds stopped chirping, and the illusion that the ground all around us was like looking down thru clear water wavelets at the sea floor: It went all shimmery. There were a couple hundred people in this double football size space, many of them in full Woodstock mode, tiedye, dreadlocks, dancing circles, who knows what else. It was pretty cool. It was one of those lifetime experiences. I encourage anyone to make an effort to see this one in 2024, I know I will.

What mountain in the Wind Rivers? Over by Union Peak or Three Waters Mountain? Envy you that, as we were stuck in a small park to the west of Casper. Festive crowd tho, except for the Germans who set up their telescope right in the middle of the park's Handicap Accessible sidewalk & refused requests to move it onto perfectly suitable grass. We had about 2.5 minutes of totality:

My father (a keen astrophotographer) flew in from New York & mounted his camera to my little refractor. He got this shot at totality, raw image not yet edited to remove CCD artifacts:

That's him on the right, at totality:

I made a little video of the terminator line racing to cover us, but it's too enormous to post. I'll see if YouTube will upload it.

The drive there was a little crowded, even tho we snuck up the back way. WY just doesn't have that many roads. The drive home was an absolute 'mare: seven hours for a 176 mile drive on posted 65mph highways. That was with the cops diverting traffic west onto I-80 to try to ease the pressure. Poor sods trying to reach Denver down I-25 were stuck in traffic for over 12 hours.

My dad claims he is staying alive for the 2024 return; he says after that he'll be ready to shove off.

 

[Diarmuid]

See if this works. It's raw cell phone video, so don't @ me about cinematography.

 

[00seven]

Where is MainSheet Sister??

@MSS

 

[Waiex191]

What speed would you have to fly in the eclipse path to keep up with it?

 

[Ed Lada]

I've been through a few of these.

 

[veni vidi vici]

What mountain in the Wind Rivers? Over by Union Peak or Three Waters Mountain? Envy you that, as we were stuck in a small park to the west of Casper. Festive crowd tho, except for the Germans who set up their telescope right in the middle of the park's Handicap Accessible sidewalk & refused requests to move it onto perfectly suitable grass. We had about 2.5 minutes of totality:
View attachment 571568
My father (a keen astrophotographer) flew in from New York & mounted his camera to my little refractor. He got this shot at totality, raw image not yet edited to remove CCD artifacts:

View attachment 571571
That's him on the right, at totality:
View attachment 571572
I made a little video of the terminator line racing to cover us, but it's too enormous to post. I'll see if YouTube will upload it.

The drive there was a little crowded, even tho we snuck up the back way. WY just doesn't have that many roads. The drive home was an absolute 'mare: seven hours for a 176 mile drive on posted 65mph highways. That was with the cops diverting traffic west onto I-80 to try to ease the pressure. Poor sods trying to reach Denver down I-25 were stuck in traffic for over 12 hours.

My dad claims he is staying alive for the 2024 return; he says after that he'll be ready to shove off.

I was SO excited yesterday when I posted about the 2024 eclipse because I had been thinking it was in 2025
and yes the drive from Santee to Savanna was a crawl and I got a detailed look at I-95 and plenty of time pondering why South Carolina has never expanded the original 2 lanes in their State and what they have been doing with all the tax dollars they have received. SC is a 2 lane bottleneck with 3 -4 lanes in NC and Georgia

 

[veni vidi vici]

I've been through a few of these.

Living in a powder keg and giving off sparks
Is great lyric

 

[Ed Lada]

Living in a powder keg and giving off sparks
Is great lyric

Pure Jim Steinman. Wrote most of Meatloaf's songs.

A couple of my favorite Steinman lyrics:

"You've been cold to me so long I've been crying icicles instead of tears."

You've put me through the fires of hell, and I've got the ashes to prove it."

The man sure could turn a phrase.

 

[nolatom]

What speed would you have to fly in the eclipse path to keep up with it?

English Major here. Earth 24000 circumference, 24 hours, a thousand miles per hour? But that would be at the equator, huh?

So in the US latitudes, it would be "less".

Aren't you glad you asked ? ;-)

 

[Diarmuid]

I was SO excited yesterday when I posted about the 2024 eclipse because I had been thinking it was in 2025
and yes the drive from Santee to Savanna was a crawl and I got a detailed look at I-95 and plenty of time pondering why South Carolina has never expanded the original 2 lanes in their State and what they have been doing with all the tax dollars they have received. SC is a 2 lane bottleneck with 3 -4 lanes in NC and Georgia

View attachment 571645

Looks like you got a bluebird sky, which is not a given on an East Coast summer afternoon. My father was making plans to head to Missouri or Tennessee but was finding hotel rooms booked and worrying about the 60% chance of overcast. I said "You have a son with a house in Wyoming, two hours south of the eclipse path and with 91% odds of clear skies. Oh, and he has this telescope with equatorial mount you gave him. Duh."

There were a few high clouds lurking to the west, just enuf to add some suspense. But it stayed clear and even our winds cooperated.

 

[blurocketsmate]

I was just a few miles outside the totality in 2017, so experienced most of it. What struck me was the drop in temperature!

 

[veni vidi vici]

I was just a few miles outside the totality in 2017, so experienced most of it. What struck me was the drop in temperature!

Gotta get into the totality!
The deeper and longer the better
🙃

 

[F_L]

Very cool and a once in a lifetime chance for me. I am between Austin and San Antonio. I just need to get a few miles west. It's on my calendar. Thanks for the heads up!

 

[justsomeguy!]

By Brian Lada, AccuWeather meteorologist and staff writer

A relative @Ed Lada ?