The Solar Eclipse Thread

[Redfern]

My immediate supervisor was kind enough to let me take a gander, even using the glasses he acquired. I didn't even ask. I first observed around 2 PM for a few moments, then we exited the building again at 2:35, about 2 or 3 minutes before we would get the most "coverage", around 85 to 90 percent. Basically, we had a very thin "crescent" of sun remaining, rather like the moon at its extreme first or last quarter. The overall light dimmed, casting an almost unsettling goldenrod hue. And as others have described, the temperature dropped considerably, from around 90 to something that felt like the high 70s. I didn't have a thermometer so I can't offer a precise reading. But it went from "sweltering" to quite "comfortable".

Puffy cumulus clouds started to obscure the sun during that first observation, but I discovered with the protective lenses, it was as though the cloud was not even there. For the 2:40 "near totality", the sun was totally free of clouds.

A few co-workers did the pinhole trick, but as demonstrated in a photo upthread, curling one's fingers into a tight "OK" gesture, one could see a surprisingly sharp "projection" upon the ground! I didn't think that would work so well!

Anyway, the "show" is over. I didn't expect to witness it, but my manager was quite gracious.

 

[Unicron]

We managed to get a pretty good viewing spot while on vacation in South Carolina, so that was kind of fun. I admit, in some ways it's a bit of a surreal experience to watch the light disappear and then reappear.

 

[marillion]

"I have the power..."

From
https://www.timeanddate.com/live/

Oh now THAT is just showing off!
Seriously.. Really neat....

The clouds parted just enough here for us to get part of the show.. Only about 73% I believe.. About 35-40 of us stood up on the roof of the parking garage next to our building and watched.. We had door prizes and the "grand" prize was a DVD of Twilight "Eclipse".. LOL... I work with some twisted people... Not even a Blu-Ray copy!

 

[Jedman67]

And of course, CNN got a nice picture of Trump staring right up into the sun without the glasses. (too hard to post it from here, but yeah...)

Also some with them on, to be fair, but yeah, they caught him doing it!

 

[uniderth]

I set up a spotting scope by the side of our house and we watched it through projection. 95% coverage. When the sun was visible I could see sunspots and I could just barely make out the surface detailing of the moon. When it was near total my oldest daughter(8) ran out into the remaining sunlight and said, "the sun is cold."

It's amazing that even with the sun 95% covered, the remaining 5% is still too bright to look at with your eyes.

 

[Kitty Worrier]

We got 100% in my city and it was awesome. The air cooled and the streetlights came on. You could see pink clouds in the horizon as if it was sunset/rise. Just a magical experience to behold. Fun part - how quiet it got once totality hit, and then 30 seconds later, the cheering from neighbors.

 

[Timewalker]

We were supposed to get about 75% here (Central Alberta, in Canada). Unfortunately, the clouds decided to ruin things, along with the haze and smoke we're getting from the forest fires in the Rockies and BC.

Oh, well. I haven't seen the Perseids in years, either. For some reason it's always cloudy.

 

[Gryffindorian]

Lucky I moved my day off to today. Earlier around 10 am Pacific, it was mostly cloudy here in the San Francisco Bay Area, but it worked to my advantage. I was able to take several shots of the crescent sun with my cell phone. I even put on my no-good sunglasses at some point and made good use of my DIY shoebox eclipse viewer. What a sight to behold. Thanks, Sol and Luna for a great show!

 

[T'Bonz]

We drove down to Columbia SC at 6 AM this morning to get in the path of totality. I was worried about cloud coverage (went from none in the AM to about 40% by eclipse time). The husband drove us around seeking a spot where the sun was shining. About 20 minutes before totality, he hit the jackpot and we found a spot without clouds that stayed cloud-free the entire time.

It was eerie and awesome and a space geek's delight. As the moon moved over the sun, it got darker - but not a true dusk but an odd shade I've never seen before. The temperature dropped and the humidity too. Then - the orange sliver vanished and it got dark and I whipped off those glasses! I saw the "diamond ring" and enjoyed all 2+ minutes of the eclipse. The crickets started to chirp.

There were eclipse watchers (like us) in every shopping center (where we watched) and in front of houses and businesses. Where we were, most of the staff from Publix (around 2 dozen people) came out of the store to watch. When it got dark and the corona of the sun appeared, everyone cheered, all over the parking lot.

Just fantastic. I always wanted to see one of these and now I have. It was worth the 6:10 drive home (it was 3:30 coming down). Traffic back was beastly, even after we took back roads. It still took an extra few hours, but at least, unlike on the main highway, we were moving. Once we hit the NC border, it was much better; traffic had thinned and we zoomed along. Didn't get home 'til 9 PM.

Tired, but happy.

 

[E-DUB]

Chuck Norris once stared at an eclipse. The eclipse went blind.

 

[marillion]

A solar eclipse is just the sun's attempt to hide from Chuck Norris....

 

[B.J.]

Had a similar experience to @T'Bonz, except we went to Unicoi State Park in northeast Georgia. Only had one cloud the entire time, and thankfully not during totality. I've seen pictures and videos of solar eclipses before, but it really doesn't compare to seeing it in person! Also, the 95% or 97% eclipse I would have seen had I stayed home also does not compare to seeing full totality.

Also, when we got back in the car, the first song on the radio was "She Blinded Me with Science"!

 

[Jedi_Master]

I was able to see about 90%... one of the residents at the condo I manage set up a solar telescope so we all got to watch real close. We saw sunspots and one little solar eruption and got to look at the ragged edge of the moon..all the little peaks and valleys.
It was quite beautiful, and the light changed in a way that is impossible to describe. It was like all of us had put on sunglasses, but we hadn't. We had fun with shadows and the temperature dropped maybe 30 degrees.

Then it was over and we all went back to our lives. I want to see more.

 

[publiusr]

Trump wasn't the only one who didn't use glasses.
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/entry...fter-eclipse-brag_us_599ecc85e4b0821444c12fef

I think several may have tried the briefest glances and didn't do damage--too risky though

 

[scotpens]

Chuck Norris once stared at an eclipse. The eclipse went blind.

A solar eclipse is just the sun's attempt to hide from Chuck Norris....

I didn't think anyone was still doing Chuck Norris jokes!

 

[marillion]

I didn't think anyone was still doing Chuck Norris jokes!

I'm bringing it back, baby! LOL... While they may no longer be the "it" thing to do, I'm just un-hip enough to go retro once in a while.

 

[feek61]

We were in Nashville but went to Lebanon (TN) to get the most out of totality. As many here before have said it was a truly awesome and almost indescribable event. We had 2 mins and 35 seconds of totality and the corona was beautiful and much more apparent than you see in photos! Looking forward to 2024 (4 mins of totality) and 2045 (6 mins of totality).

 

[Owain Taggart]

It was eerie and awesome and a space geek's delight. As the moon moved over the sun, it got darker - but not a true dusk but an odd shade I've never seen before. The temperature dropped and the humidity too. Then - the orange sliver vanished and it got dark and I whipped off those glasses! I saw the "diamond ring" and enjoyed all 2+ minutes of the eclipse. The crickets started to chirp.

That pretty much sums up the experience. Good description. Only I didn't get any crickets. I was very interested in the change in animal behavior. We were lucky enough to view the eclipse on our motel owner's private property, and he even had horses, and our party also had some dogs. Although, every one of them seemed to act normal and I didn't see or hear anything unusual. But the experience of the eclipse iself was quite something.

Everyone during an eclipse experiences different things. One is not expected to see everything it offers. For example, my Dad was trying to see how many stars were out during totality, but I found myself focused on the number of prominences. I counted 3, while a friend of mine counted more than that. It was really amazing to see them so bright and red during that time, to the point that I found I could see them with the naked eye, without binoculars.

The color change too was something I felt was interesting. It's almost like the feeling you get in the morning when one is groggy. Almost like a sunset, but not quite. A friend we had met before the Eclipse who was also staying at the motel described it as colors being polarized, and that seems fair since the colors don't seem quite right to our eyes.

We bolted as soon as the Eclipse was over to try and beat the rush. We did encounter a bit of traffic heading north towards Washington State, and we got the worst of it stuck in 10ft/per min for an hour and a half as we were crossing from Oregon into Washington State, but once we crossed over the bridge, it seemed to get much better. I've never been out that way, so I was able to enjoy views of the Columbia River and the forested highways a little later on.