The Eclipse Apocalypse is Upon Us!

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The nice thing about the 2024 eclipse is that it will be about twice as long. This eclipse will be a little over 2 minutes. The eclipse in 2024 will be on the order of 4 minutes. Wow!
 
Also, for those of you who say "I've already seen a total eclipse", chances are you are wrong. See this:

There are many kinds of eclipses - total solar, partial solar, annular, and lunar, to name the most common few. Partial eclipses are pretty common, and you very well may have been a part of one of those. Lunar eclipses happen at night, and they can be seen by half the world at the same time! Annular eclipses are much rarer, but you need to have special filters to see them, so many people don't even know they're going on! But a total eclipse -- these are extremely rare, extremely beautiful, and the bare-eye view of totality is absolutely unmistakable to anyone in the thin path! They are the kings of eclipses, with nothing else able to stand in comparison.

2/26/1979
WA, OR, ID, MT, and ND were the only states to see totality, in the mid-morning. It was cold and dreary, and unfortunately many people did not see the eclipse due to rain.

That's it for total eclipses seen from the U.S.! Anything else you may have seen was not a total eclipse!


s6

I saw the 1979 one, but it was overcast and I was only six.

The forecast is for clear sky this time. I am looking forward to stars at 10:00 AM!
 
I saw the 1979 one, but it was overcast and I was only six.

The forecast is for clear sky this time. I am looking forward to stars at 10:00 AM!

Went a little South, but saw one in Baja Cali in July of 1991. I was a teenager, but still remember it.
 
I'm nowhere near being able to see the total eclipse. Was looking forward to at least partial , but Monday is forecast for about 50% chance of rain and probably overcast regardless. Indeed the rain is likely going to cancel a group bike ride during that timeframe, that would be "interesting" to experience mid-day darkening of the sky even if overcast. Oh well. I'll check outside regardless but....

And now a repeat of something I posted in the LOL thread:

20915542_1862497583771244_5619186005225914775_n.jpg
 
Also, for those of you who say "I've already seen a total eclipse", chances are you are wrong. See this:

There are many kinds of eclipses - total solar, partial solar, annular, and lunar, to name the most common few. Partial eclipses are pretty common, and you very well may have been a part of one of those. Lunar eclipses happen at night, and they can be seen by half the world at the same time! Annular eclipses are much rarer, but you need to have special filters to see them, so many people don't even know they're going on! But a total eclipse -- these are extremely rare, extremely beautiful, and the bare-eye view of totality is absolutely unmistakable to anyone in the thin path! They are the kings of eclipses, with nothing else able to stand in comparison to!

These are the only total solar eclipses that have touched U.S. soil in the last hundred years, and the general locations you would've had to have been in to see totality:

6/8/1918
A nationwide band of totality stretching from the SW corner of Washington, through Denver, the Tulsa/OKC area, Jackson MS, the panhandle of FL, and Orlando.

9/10/1923
Only visible from the far SW beaches and a couple of the offshore islands in California.

1/24/1925
Northern MN, WI, and MI, and about half of NY (NYC was split in two by the path!), plus pieces of PA, NJ, and CT.
Read the New York Times articles about the 1925 eclipse, courtesy of Michael Zeiler!

8/31/1932
Maine, NH, VT, and the far eastern coast of MA.

2/4/1943
Alaska only

7/9/1945
Our "Victory Eclipse" was visible in ID and MT only, in the early morning.

6/30/1954
From northern NE, through the western tip of Michigan's UP. Minneapolis was in the path. Early morning.

10/2/1959
Massachusetts only, just at sunrise.

7/20/1963
Alaska got a good show, and Maine was the only other state to see totality.

3/7/1970
From central Florida, the path hugged the eastern coast of the US up through Virgina's Eastern Shore. This may have been the eclipse that Carly Simon was referring to in her 1972 song "You're so vain". ("You flew your Lear jet up to Nova Scotia - to see the total eclipse of the sun.")

7/10/1972
Northern Alaska only. This might also have been the eclipse that Carly Simon was referring to in her 1972 song "You're so vain". (see above) They were both visible from Nova Scotia! (The song came out in December of 72, so it's unlikely that it was this one, but hey - you never know!

2/26/1979
WA, OR, ID, MT, and ND were the only states to see totality, in the mid-morning. It was cold and dreary, and unfortunately many people did not see the eclipse due to rain.

7/22/1990
This one only touched four small islands in the Aleutians, in the late afternoon: Atka, Amlia, Seguam, and Amukta. From reports we've read, the day was rainy, and unfortunately no one saw the eclipse from US soil.

7/11/1991
Hawaii only, and lots of people were clouded out. (Many people went to Mexico to see this one, and were not disappointed there!)

That's it for total eclipses seen from the U.S.! Anything else you may have seen was not a total eclipse!


s6

I think you are right, I have never seen a Total eclipse. Until aerostadt explained the difference, I assumed what I saw at Bluff was one.
I probably never will see one unless it's a picture someone took of it. I definitely won't drive to see one hundreds of miles away, but it's ok if you want to. My tasteless comments were in regard to the "apocalypse" used in the title of this thread. Come on guys, it's gonna get dark, the world won't end. Enjoy the view.
 
I hate crowds, so I am going to wait until next week to watch it.
 
We live pretty much in the center of the path of totality, which will make for a great time Monday morning. It is, however, creating some logistical problems.

Many gas stations are actually selling out of gas.

Pallets of bottled water clutters the storefronts.

Travel times on the freeways have tripled and will probably get worse.

Dirty hippies are everywhere (okay, this is Oregon we're talking about and we have more than our share of local dirty hippies, but it has increased significantly).

Grocery stores are as crowded as the day before Thanksgiving.


Anyhow, I am actually enjoying the commotion. As a teacher on summer vacation I've got nowhere I need to be and we are stocked with beer, wine, and gasoline...

What is it like for others that are in The Path?

Something that Randall Munroe already predicted:

https://xkcd.com/1876/

Eclipse Searches

ImageUploadedByRocketry Forum1503149430.734372.jpg

There were traffic jams for the eclipses in 1970 and 1979, and that was *before* we had the potential for overnight viral social media frenzies.
 
I saw the 1979 one, but it was overcast and I was only six.

The forecast is for clear sky this time. I am looking forward to stars at 10:00 AM!

I was 23. A few of us drove from Billings, MT to outside of Lewistown, MT to view it. We used solar filters that we had made from exposed photo film to watch it until totality. It was very interesting.
My father was operating a grader in the oilfield when the darkness passed over; he said it felt like someone had walked on his grave.
For this one I had intended to travel to Idaho Falls, a distance of 220 miles from Butte, MT, which is where I leave now. Unfortunately we've had a lot of wild land fires and I truly doubt that we would be able to see it well due to the smoke in the air. So, we came south to Phoenix. We visited White Sands Missile Range Museum and Rocket Garden on Thursday.
Instead of watching the skies Monday, I will be eagerly watching online. There's a group of colleges which are lofting a large number of high altitude balloons along the path of the eclipse to view the path of the suns shadow. Also, photos from space will be interesting.
The one on 2044 goes right through my hometown area. I'll be 89 but I hope to see it.


Steve Shannon
 

I think you are right, I have never seen a Total eclipse. Until aerostadt explained the difference, I assumed what I saw at Bluff was one.
I probably never will see one unless it's a picture someone took of it. I definitely won't drive to see one hundreds of miles away, but it's ok if you want to. My tasteless comments were in regard to the "apocalypse" used in the title of this thread. Come on guys, it's gonna get dark, the world won't end. Enjoy the view.

The thread title was meant to be tongue-in-cheek, a lot of people are kind of freaking out around here...

I personally think it will be Y2K v2.0, but we shall see. The real question is whether traffic problems reach the levels that some are predicting.
 
Instead of watching the skies Monday, I will be eagerly watching online. There's a group of colleges which are lofting a large number of high altitude balloons along the path of the eclipse to view the path of the suns shadow. Also, photos from space will be interesting.

Steve Shannon

Our High School is doing one. I went down to one of the build meetings to check it out, it is immensely cool technology. I was planning to go see it, but decided to stay home instead. Across the highway from my house is a tree farm with a panoramic view to the West - my hope is to see the shadow coming at us.
 
For this one I had intended to travel to Idaho Falls, a distance of 220 miles from Butte, MT, which is where I leave now. Unfortunately we've had a lot of wild land fires and I truly doubt that we would be able to see it well due to the smoke in the air.

Steve Shannon

Yep, this is a concern (Idaho Falls region is where I'm heading).
This was posted yesterday on an interagency fire/smoke website:

No significant changes in weather expected through Monday. In southeastern Idaho there is a lingering chance of some cloudiness on Monday morning. Elsewhere, periods of smoke and haze are possible along the Canadian border and in the vicinity of any active fires but no widespread buildup of smoke is expected at this time.

The solar eclipse could have an effect on wildfire activity and smoke on Monday. The loss of the sun’s heating during the eclipse’s passing in Idaho will likely delay inversion breakouts by temporally reducing temperatures and instability. Normally temperatures increase as the morning progresses. This works to lift any low level smoke. If there is smoke near you on the morning of the eclipse you may experience a delay in clearing. The eclipse may also limit some fire behavior by increasing relative humidity and reducing surface winds (not unlike what occurs each evening) but this will be short-lived with no long lasting effect expected. Enjoy the viewing
.

fingers crossed,
s6
 
Stealth, we are going to Fort Hall, ID tomorrow and then towards Idaho Falls on Monday morning. I'm very concerned about the traffic. I've been looking at the sun with solar filters on my 20 x 80 binoculars just now. There are 3 large sunspots near the sun. Actually at times I think I have seen 2 smaller sunspots between two of the large sunspots.
 
I got out my hydrogen alpha solar telescope. I only get this telescope out about once a year. Solar details are very tiny in this scope. I can see the 3 sunspots, but I don't see any solar prominences. I have seen prominences in this scope before. I don't know what gives. I think I've got things tuned properly. On the other hand they say that this is period of low solar activity in the solar cycle. However, there are 3 sunspots, which I saw yesterday, too.
 
Think my early decision to stay home and stay in is going to be a good one, look at that heat index of 100 predicted in National Weather Service's current forecast.
With several different neurological, endocrine, and musculoskeletal diseases I do not need to be out in that.
Looks like you're going to have to party without me and my idiosyncrasies of personality.


"Monday
A chance of showers and thunderstorms, mainly before 1pm. Partly sunny, with a high near 91. Heat index values as high as 100. South southwest wind 3 to 7 mph. Chance of precipitation is 30%. New rainfall amounts of less than a tenth of an inch, except higher amounts possible in thunderstorms."

Which of course is subject to changes.
 
Leaving for Weiser, ID in the morning; clear/94 degrees forcast. It's only 80 miles up the freeway, but I don't expect it to be a quick trip. We've got a reserved space on a high school athletic field, probably on an ant hill no doubt.

I remember going out to Edwards for the first Shuttle landing from space. Doom & gloom news reports were telling people for weeks that there's NO facilities, NO water, NO services, don't recommennd the trip, etc. I wasn't worried, we'd been out to dry lakes for launches many times. But when we got there, there was a 400-yard string of vendors, two rows; t-shirts, food, souvineers, and about anything else you'd need. Thousand or so porta-potties, water trucks, and bands playing at each end of the vendor row. It was an all-night party/carnival. I think we went to three of the landings from space, and two of the drop tests.

I expext there'll be plenty of folks out to make a buck off of the eclipse viewers.

/////Edit: Watching a live local newscast from Weiser, very possibly from the same high school, I see ball field lights in the background. Dozens of vendors right there.
 
My wife and I are leaving for Madras in the morning. So far what we've been able to see about traffic and such (ODOT has some nice data on the web at tripcheck.com) has generally been not as bad as the doom and gloom on the radio, social media and even, to some extent, the Seattle Times.

We are planning to stay in our little campsite at the airport on Monday night as well so as to avoid the mass exodus after the show is over. We'll top off the Mazda somewhere around Vancouver on the way down and will then have enough gas to get all the way to Madras and back home again. Once we get to our campsite tomorrow we have no plans to go anywhere until we start for home on Tuesday some time.

We may more resemble hippies by Tuesday than we will when we arrive.... :)

And yes I expect we'll encounter a few humans who are at least acting like Ferengi. Heck, $50 a day for a dry camping space at the airport is a little bit Ferengi-like, but not as much as some stuff we've heard about.....
 
And yes I expect we'll encounter a few humans who are at least acting like Ferengi. Heck, $50 a day for a dry camping space at the airport is a little bit Ferengi-like, but not as much as some stuff we've heard about.....

I've been reading about lots of "cashing in opportunities" all over Idaho and Oregon. Lots of folks and small towns charging upwards of $200 for a tiny dry campsite and upwards of $50+ just to park and such. Honestly, while it does cause me a bit of teeth-gnashing, head-shaking, and biting-of-the-lip, I can't really blame them. Their towns are going to be overrun with "tourons" which will suck for them, and why not take the opportunity to at least make a few bucks? While I wish folks didn't go so far as to be greedy, it's bound to happen and a certain amount of it is understandable and acceptable.

But some of them really take it too far. My current favorite here:
-- One small town "entrepreneur" has access to a 13-acre "empty lot" that he is going to charge folks to camp in. All good so far. But check it out - the idea is to create over 3000 spaces and charge $350 each! This is dry camping....just a small space with no other facilities. That's well over a million dollars to essentially let folks park overnight.

Lots of small towns are setting up their fairgrounds, football fields, & city park spaces into temporary camping for the weekend. Many of them are charging $100-$200/night to park an RV or even set up a tent. Again, that's pretty outrageous, but I get it and don't begrudge them too much. But.....the catch is you have to book a three or even four night minimum. I'm sorry but this too just pushes over the line into greed.

Oh well. I'm reasonably sure that I will end up at the mercy of one or another greedy bastard somewhere along this adventure. When and if it happens, I'll grit my teeth, grumble under by breath and have no choice but to "pay the man". But I won't let it get to me....I'm here to watch the sky, and that will "be worth it" in the end (I hope). And I'm sure that years from now I'll have strong memories of the eclipse itself, and will have long forgotten the douchebag that charged me $50 to park my van for a couple hours.

effing Ferengi...sheesh.

s6
 
From what I've seen so far the hoards of tourists are more hype than substance.
 
I'm not it the path but I listened with some degree of entertainment about the doom-saying of how the grid is going to collapse due to the loss of the sun and the higher use/dependence of/on solar. I would reckon the shadow is going to be about as large as a medium-sized frontal system who's clouds I believe also block the sun...???

:confused:
Total Solar Eclipse Could Cost US Nearly $700 Million in Lost Productivity
By Tariq Malik - August 19, 2017

https://www.space.com/37880-solar-eclipse-2017-cost-700-million-productivity.html

However, I project that this will be more than made up for by zombie repellant and fighting instrument sales after the great transformation.

But, seriously, I'd bet the sales of camping gear and supplies, travel supplies, gasoline, hotel reservations, etc., will more than make up economically for that loss... just not for many of the employers with employees looking up. It's a transfer of profits for most of them.

I wonder how many people are going to suffer eye damage from this. It's not like they haven't been warned.
 
Appropriate to this thread:

Many communities along the path of totality are having festivals, events, celebrations, etc. You know - rows of Easy-Ups, folks selling commemorative t-shirts, kettle-corn vendors, a bit of live music perhaps, and all that. But the one planned for this little town looks really interesting:

[video=youtube;9ULxjgF58dM]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9ULxjgF58dM[/video]

ssixsixsix
 
Total Solar Eclipse Could Cost US Nearly $700 Million in Lost Productivity
By Tariq Malik - August 19, 2017
https://www.space.com/37880-solar-eclipse-2017-cost-700-million-productivity.html

That one pretty much makes the eclipse loss a non-issue -->
According to NBC News, worker distractions from March Madness can reach up to $615 million per hour as employees take time out to track college basketball games, set up brackets or catch up on game highlights.
Yes, that eye damage thing is a good question. And iPhone camera damage along with the eye damage.
 
That one pretty much makes the eclipse loss a non-issue -->
I wasn't saying that it wasn't, pointing out the other side in my original post.

Yes, that eye damage thing is a good question. And iPhone camera damage along with the eye damage.
Nothing like focusing the sun on your camera sensor. Another "economic positive" from "The Broken Window Fallacy" files - increased smartphone sales... to dumb people.
 
Eclipse music. Should be renamed "Eye Damage/Eclipse"?

[video=youtube;DVQ3-Xe_suY]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DVQ3-Xe_suY[/video]
 
Well....this is being posted from my campsite in Madras. There are several rather large tent cities which we saw north of town on our way in....but thanks to being able to see traffic tie-ups on several traffic apps, we were able to bypass the worst of it between Seattle and Portland by going through the country east of I-5...and the rest of the way from there to here was pretty normal for a Sunday afternoon until we got to about half a mile from where we are staying.

So at least the traffic apocalypse was so much hyperbole. We shall see in the morning if the trip was worth it. I expect it will be.
 
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