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Solar Eclipse 2017 Discussion Thread

Snowfan

aka Eric Nelson
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solar_eclipse_oregon_gorgeous.jpg


The folks in Oregon were able to see it with land included. :)
 

Mothertucker

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I shot this phone video blindly, just holding my phone while I watched the eclipse through e-glasses, it shows how rapidly the shadow overtakes you. An insect flies in front of the lens just before totality, and I turned it to the eclipse right before the dippin'. In my previous post I forgot to mention that a bald eagle had flown in and perched in a tree across the river, where it remained for the duration, adding to the experience. Words can describe it, photographs and video can show it, but it needs to be seen.
 

noncrazycanuck

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caught the total on a hillside just north of Madras Oregon, have to say it was the most spectacular natural event I've seen.
Well worth that 8 hour + drive down and the way longer return drive.

Amazing amount of people in the area. Met people from around the globe. Everyone excited and social reminded me of the atmosphere at Vancouver'a Olympics. And for a crowd of that size extremely well behaved and very patient. Vehicles were not obstructing traffic but both side of the highway were a solid line of parked cars. Police and state troopers even realized they could not micro manage and left. The local towns did an outstanding job of supplying supplies, trash control and washrooms facilities for what I am sure was an over whelming influx.

and kudos to the Comfort Inn in The Dalles.
once they found out many of their guest were leaving before 4am they came in early and had coffee and food ready.
even supplied packages with snacks and water for the wait. Nice consideration.

very positive event.
 

Tricia

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Its like everyone stopped with the mundane and the crazy for a few minutes and looked to the sky.
 

TonyC

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"I was in a 83-ish percent path, but it was an awesome 83%." That 83% was really .0015%

Liz' stepfather did not accompany her mother to Jackson because he is 92 and has mobility issues. They live in far west North Carolina where their house had a 99.3% eclipse, which really means .04%. The neighbors were content to have a social gathering there in someone's back yard. Fortunately we persuaded him to drive 20 miles down the road into totality. He couldn't get anyone to go with him.

One of my college classmates had minimal interest in eclipses but decided to drive 1,000 miles from Wichita to Jackson on one week's notice to attend our wedding. He's not going to travel the world chasing eclipses but he intends to get his 3 grown children to travel to Texas in 2024. I think this is a typical reaction of eclipse virgins. They will definitely make an effort to see another one if time and $$ cost is modest. And they won't stay home at 83%.

I am aware that reality of people's lives can override eclipse chasing just as it can skiing. But someone who lives an hour from totality and won't move after being provided the info is definitely in the category 1 "don't care" group.

As for Trish's repeated comments about being interested but settling for 83%, I'm guessing there's a category 2 context here. Maybe there were other obligations Sunday/Monday. Having to drive a 15-hour round trip marathon in one day may have been too big a hurdle.

As I mentioned earlier the media always picks up on these stories late in the game, long after people's schedules are set. Fortunately the number of Americans who have seen a total solar eclipse probably multiplied by a factor of 20 on Monday. Thus lots more people will have personal contacts with experience and far fewer people will find out about it too late in 2024.

As the North Carolina example shows, the most destructive myth is that 83% or even 99.3% is "good enough." I will continue to call out that canard every time I see it. I believe my stridency and beating the dead horse on this point encouraged several people on this forum to make the effort to "get their asses to totality." The results speak for themselves.
 

DanoT

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I was in an 80% zone, busy picking up my dog at a kennel, unpacking my truck camper and repacking for another trip, and the sky wasn't smokey or cloudy so...I didn't notice a thing.
 

TonyC

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DanoT has it exactly right. If you didn't know there was an eclipse, you would never notice it at 80%.

This why the ancients freaked out. They didn't notice anything until that wall of darkness overtook them at 2,000mph, then looked up at where the Sun used to be and were scared out of their minds.
 

Eleeski

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Except we did know that it was happening, had glasses to see and media coverage. I've seen a lot of partial eclipses and they are pretty cool. The one at sunset filtered by a fog bank was exceptional.

The folks in Boise who were stuck working got an amazing show. They felt the effects a lot. Glasses were passed around. Weird crescent shadows were everywhere. Everyone was aware and engaged. Cool vibe that is worthwhile in itself.

The only other total eclipse I saw was weather affected and only moderately spectacular. Without the visiting of friends and the fun water skiing it would have been hard to justify.

OK, Tony is right. This totality was fantastic in Idaho. Sucks if you missed it. But the partial consolation prize was still good.

Of course, you could have gotten married during the eclipse and been massively distracted from both events... (Congratulations.)

Eric

20170821_111519.jpg
 

at_nyc

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the number of Americans who have seen a total solar eclipse probably multiplied by a factor of 20 on Monday.
It's all down to the weather!

This year, the weather's been good in much of the totality path. Otherwise, you may instead only hear about it in the astronomer hobbyists circle!

I refuse to chase eclipse by plane pr make advanced arrangements for that reason alone.

That said, if I want to go to the same general area anyway. It makes sense to do it in the same time frame. Or even "make" a trip that coincides with "potentially" seeing a total eclipse. Once I retire, that is.
 
Thread Starter
TS
crgildart

crgildart

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That said, if I want to go to the same general area anyway. It makes sense to do it in the same time frame. Or even "make" a trip that coincides with "potentially" seeing a total eclipse. Once I retire, that is.

Agreed. We're looking at renting an RV around Acadia for April 2024.

We could also work on a PugSki gathering at Stowe or somewhere around there on April 8th, 2024 and ski in totality right?
 

Tricia

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I think the best thing about the Eclipse was that the US stopped for an hour and stopped with the madness.
 

Tricia

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Agreed. We're looking at renting an RV around Acadia for April 2024.

We could also work on a PugSki gathering at Stowe or somewhere around there on April 8th, 2024 and ski in totality right?
Or @Dadskier suggested the Loaf, IIRC. He can correct me if I'm wrong.
 

at_nyc

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There's a discussion in the Northeast skiing forum.

April showers to keep in mind.
 

Tricia

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April showers to keep in mind.
Yup. I'm sure its going to happen, after all we should start planning for the worst in 7 years.:doh:

Seriously? :huh:
 
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mdf

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Yup. I'm sure its going to happen, after all we should start planning for the worst in 7 years.:doh:

Seriously? :huh:

Well, there are times when Vermont and Maine have different weather. Not sure you can do much about that, though, since by the time you know you probably won't be able to get a place to stay. Maybe just choose whichever has the longer totality.
 

coskigirl

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There's a discussion in the Northeast skiing forum.

April showers to keep in mind.

Yup. I'm sure its going to happen, after all we should start planning for the worst in 7 years.:doh:

Seriously? :huh:

Criminy, there's no point to discussing a potential moment of weather for a ski trip this month much less for a solar eclipse 7 years away.
 

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