Sciencemadness Discussion Board - Solar Eclipse 2017

Solar Eclipse 2017

Metacelsus - 20-8-2017 at 05:30

Today, I'm driving down to near Columbia, MO, where I will watch the eclipse tomorrow. Hopefully the weather won't be too cloudy. If I get any good pictures, I'll be sure to post them here.

Does anybody else have eclipse-watching plans?

Also, previous thread on the 2014 partial eclipse: https://www.sciencemadness.org/whisper/viewthread.php?tid=40...

DistractionGrating - 20-8-2017 at 05:37

I'll be at a beach house in Neskowin, Oregon. I hope it's not foggy!

pantone159 - 20-8-2017 at 05:38

I am in Idaho now with plans to watch. I am pleased that I can do the calculations for this 'myself'. I have a book with some sophisticated astronomical calculations, and I have modified it for my uses. The original author did all the real hard work,but I do maintain the code. The sun and moon calculations are adequate for this. Can't wait!!

Texium - 20-8-2017 at 09:52

I'll be watching from Austin. It's too bad that I won't get to see the total eclipse, but I can't get away right now.

Sulaiman - 20-8-2017 at 11:05

Good luck to all of you, I hope that you have a clear sky for the event.

Here in UK almost every recent significant astronomical event has been obscured by clouds. :mad:

PirateDocBrown - 20-8-2017 at 11:32

I'm driving to central Missouri, too.

wg48 - 20-8-2017 at 11:57

I considered flying to the states but the air fares had doubled or even tripled near the event and with no certainty of good weather I gave up the idea.

j_sum1 - 20-8-2017 at 12:14

Quote: Originally posted by Sulaiman

Here in UK almost every recent significant astronomical event has been obscured by clouds. :mad:

That includes Summer.

diddi - 20-8-2017 at 16:18

the last total solar eclipse in Melbourne was Oct 23 1976. I still have the newspaper cuttings

Melgar - 20-8-2017 at 23:29

According to astrology, this particular eclipse is supposed to be a very bad omen, especially for the places that get the total eclipse. Interesting that Washington DC is going to be getting quite dark tomorrow.

I should be able to see it from NYC, at least as good as the last time I saw one, during the 90s. One thing that's really cool is looking at the shadows cast by trees and bushes. You'll see a whole bunch of crescent-shaped light patterns shifting around.

I'm pretty sure that looking directly at a partial eclipse isn't any worse than looking directly at the sun, since your pupils would still shrink down to pinholes. It's only total eclipses that can be especially dangerous.

ELRIC - 21-8-2017 at 05:18

Ill be viewing it here in Kentucky. We should be getting

95% coverage of the sun. It starts at 1:30 eastern time and

lasts till 3:30. Clear skies so far. Happy viewing to all

JJay - 21-8-2017 at 06:14

I made a pinhole camera for watching it by sealing a small box with tape, cutting off one end of the box and replacing it with a piece of typing paper, and putting a pinhole in the other end. It seems to work well for looking at the sun.

Texium - 21-8-2017 at 09:39

Checking out the eclipse right now from the roof of my university's chemistry building!

ELRIC - 21-8-2017 at 10:23

It's dimming here, and it's cooled down ( work in the sun all day)

Bert - 21-8-2017 at 12:05

100 percent cloud cover here. It got pretty dark and the cloud layer looked like it does when you're about to be hammered by a storm- then it lightened up. No cool visuals.

ELRIC - 21-8-2017 at 12:11

Quote: Originally posted by Bert

100 percent cloud cover here. It got pretty dark and the cloud layer looked like it does when you're about to be hammered by a storm- then it lightened up. No cool visuals.

We got all the visuals, but we couldn't look verry long at one

time, as we used welding goggles, and nobody trusted them verry much.

Velzee - 21-8-2017 at 12:23

Taken using my phone:

[Edited on 8/21/2017 by Velzee]

violet sin - 21-8-2017 at 16:01

I got to see nothing... Super foggy here on the coast. Not even enough to the blurred Sun's disk. To boot, we were loading and hanging drywall

would have been nice to be home watching with the fam, but darn parental obligations, paying bills and all.

XeonTheMGPony - 21-8-2017 at 16:44

Nice and clear and a good loooong look through shade 13 goggles I put my shade 5 in series and get wickedly good clear view!

ninhydric1 - 21-8-2017 at 18:27

It was surprisingly cloudy where I viewed the (for me) partial solar eclipse, but the clouds actually served as a filter, allowing one to view the eclipse with bare eyes. Yes, it wasn't safe, but it was pretty magnificent.

pantone159 - 22-8-2017 at 01:50

Incredible show in SE Idaho! It was cool when things cooled down and the light dimmed as totality approached, but the view of the corona was astonishing. It looked pretty much like pictures I had seen, but in person it was a shock as it was so amazing.

Pictures, as promised

Metacelsus - 22-8-2017 at 07:02

Unfortunately, the sky was cloudy. However, it wasn't cloudy enough to completely obscure the eclipse, and I still managed to take some pictures.

Texium - 22-8-2017 at 07:28

Here's an excellent picture my friend got from where we were viewing it. The clouds were at just the right opacity for a few seconds to where no filter was needed!

Also, during the waning part of the eclipse as I was walking back to my car, I noticed these crescent shaped shadows while walking under an oak tree.

[Edited on 8-22-2017 by zts16]

pantone159 - 22-8-2017 at 18:02

Quote: Originally posted by Melgar

I'm pretty sure that looking directly at a partial eclipse isn't any worse than looking directly at the sun, since your pupils would still shrink down to pinholes. It's only total eclipses that can be especially dangerous.

This is backwards, actually. A partial is indeed the same hazard as the direct sun, both are completely unsafe to look at without eclipse glasses. Totality, however, is perfectly safe to view directly. In fact, with eclipse glasses, you can see absolutely nothing of the totality show.

PirateDocBrown - 23-8-2017 at 13:23

I decided to go to central Nebraska, not Missouri, after getting a good look at the weather chart.

Having only 150 seconds or so of totality, I spent most of it with naked-eye observation, looking at the corona, scanning the horizon, watching Venus get apparently brighter, then dimmer, watching the Moon's shadow move over the prairie, and just marvelling at the sheer awesomeness.

[Edited on 8/24/17 by PirateDocBrown]