Oh, nice, that one should be coming right over my head. April weather is unpredicatble though, could still be snowing.
I was swimming before the eclipse today, got out to warm up and the damn moon took most of the heat away. It didn't get that dark here, more like 6pm light at 2pm. Pinhole box thing worked perfectly to track the moon, not very spectacular though. The clouds all dissolved when the sun lost its strength ruling out any photo opportunities. It looked cool on tv anyway.
I saw it today. It kinda sucks that I live in California where there was only a partial eclipse. Would have loved to been in Oregon during the time of the Eclipse.
Dark_Lord_2008 said: Is that it? I expected an amazing spectacular life changing experience. 30 secs of darkness and then back to normal.
Well, you had a chance to see the stars without streetlight polution, although 30 seconds is way to short for your eyes to adjust. Don't you feel blessed the shadow of the moon passed over you, it's a once in a lifetime, err happens all the time.
Actually tomorrow will be the next total solar eclipse, several probably, severe thunderstorms expected.
I don't understand why people are downplaying the event. Maybe it didn't change your life, and maybe it's not "once in a lifetime" but it's still absolutely amazing, especially if you're in the path of totality.
I live in Florida and I was able to see it pretty well, got pretty good pictures too. Maybe I enjoyed it because I was actually able to correctly view it, and also conveniently didn't go blind.
Dark_Lord_2008 said: Is that it? I expected an amazing spectacular life changing experience. 30 secs of darkness and then back to normal.
30 seconds? Sounds like you were probably just on the edge of the path of totality. The corridor is only 70 miles wide - had you moved maybe 20 miles or so towards the centre of the path you would have got over 2 minutes.
It is an amazing, spectacular experience, but it sounds like you were in the wrong place and probably didn't even look up to see totality in all it's awesomeness. Do yourself a favour and get under the path next time the opportunity presents itself.
Dark_Lord_2008 said: Is that it? I expected an amazing spectacular life changing experience. 30 secs of darkness and then back to normal.
Well, you had a chance to see the stars without streetlight polution, although 30 seconds is way to short for your eyes to adjust. Don't you feel blessed the shadow of the moon passed over you, it's a once in a lifetime, err happens all the time.
Actually tomorrow will be the next total solar eclipse, several probably, severe thunderstorms expected.
There are usually 2 eclipses per calendar year somewhere in the world, but you'll only get a total eclipse every 2-3 years. Most of the paths run over difficult-to-get-to areas of the world which means that sometimes you have to wait decades for one to appear over a convenient location. Even then you're at the mercy of the weather.
Totality for some eclipses can last for up to 6 minutes, but most go total for about 1-2 minutes, and there's so much to look for during that time.
This is Argentina 2010, and it's special because the sun is very close to the horizon. Things to watch for:
0:30 Eclipse shadow coming in from the left 1:20 totality begins. 1:50 notice the shape of the shadow - the sky is light either side. 1:58 close-up of the corona 3:45 see how daylight is coming in from the left 4:02 totality ends with the 'diamond ring' effect 4:30 - 5:00 showing how the eclipse shadow is rushing off to the right 5:15 zooming in on one of the planets (could be Mercury) 5:53 filter over the lens shows over 90% of the sun is still covered, and it is already daylight.
There are usually 2 eclipses per calendar year somewhere in the world, but you'll only get a total eclipse every 2-3 years. Most of the paths run over difficult-to-get-to areas of the world which means that sometimes you have to wait decades for one to appear over a convenient location. Even then you're at the mercy of the weather.
Totality for some eclipses can last for up to 6 minutes, but most go total for about 1-2 minutes, and there's so much to look for during that time.
This is Argentina 2010, and it's special because the sun is very close to the horizon. Things to watch for:
0:30 Eclipse shadow coming in from the left 1:20 totality begins. 1:50 notice the shape of the shadow - the sky is light either side. 1:58 close-up of the corona 3:45 see how daylight is coming in from the left 4:02 totality ends with the 'diamond ring' effect 4:30 - 5:00 showing how the eclipse shadow is rushing off to the right 5:15 zooming in on one of the planets (could be Mercury) 5:53 filter over the lens shows over 90% of the sun is still covered, and it is already daylight.
It's just one of those things that the power of the internet / tv has diminished for real life experiences, just like the northern lights or looking at the night sky nowadays. The real thing feels kinda meh compared to the countless enhanced close up pictures and HD/4K slow motion or timelapse videos. Overhyped!
In 7 years I'll be in 99% of totality at 6pm, a short drive should be sufficient to get in the middle of the path. It's in April though so high chance of showers or still snow. It will be the fourth time in my lifespan. First time I drove a long way to see it and it was overcast lol. I watched it outside yesterday while my kids had the coverage on on tv. One looked much more exciting than the other...
The best experiences sky watching I've had was when I was young, in remote higher up areas, watching the stars. Actually being able to clearly see the whole milky way with your own eyes is pretty awesome. And that was before the countless hi-res pictures you have of it now. Nowadays there's so much light pollution I can count the stars in the sky and better views are just 1 click away.
My wife and I were traveling through South Carolina. We stopped for about 45 minutes to check it out while we were right in th3 center of the prime path. It was incredible.
