20 replies to this topic

[Sci-Fi Girl]

It's eclipse day!  

Stories?  Plans?

SFG

[sierraleone]

Woo hoo! Sometime to talk about besides politics, because total darkness in the middle of the day is not ominous at all

I really didn't plan at all, flying by the seats of my pants here. Only plan: don't look directly at the sun, at any stage of brightness/eclipse.

I left work early. I have ~ 1.5 hours until we get the good-ist eclipse we are going to get.

I know a pin hole camera in a cardboard box will work, but WaPo has some other old school ways to enjoy the eclipse.

Edited by sierraleone, 21 August 2017 - 11:45 AM.

[Sci-Fi Girl]

Yep, I've read the suggestions for homemade projections, the easiest being the "waffle fingers" mentioned:

- Fingers of both hands straight and slightly apart, with the fingers of one hand on top of the other in the opposite direction making a crosshatch.  Stand with your back to the sun and hold your hands out, and look at the shadow.  Should be a pattern of little suns!

Also hold up a colander, or a spoon with holes, and make patterns of little suns on the ground!  

SFG

Edited by Sci-Fi Girl, 21 August 2017 - 12:11 PM.

[sierraleone]

Pinhole camera made, dragging my picnic blanket, a strainer, oh and some sunscreen, and heading outside

[yadda yadda]

This ain't nuthin'. The total eclipse of our souls already occurred last November 9th.  

[sierraleone]

^ My spirit may be a little worse for wear but I am keeping that darkness out of my soul

Came back in to charge my phone a little, but took some lovely pictures, inside the pin hole camera, a shadow from a strainer. I haven't taken a picture of tree shadows yet but I can see the change in them too.

Edited by sierraleone, 21 August 2017 - 12:58 PM.

[Sci-Fi Girl]

There is also the NASA livestream, they have different locations and technical info etc.

Here it is on Youtube:



SFG

Edited by Sci-Fi Girl, 21 August 2017 - 01:01 PM.

[G-man]

A group of us from the office in DC went out onto our building’s terrace to witness the event.  One could feel the humidity as we opened the door, and the temperature was on the warm side, but still there was something of a breeze available to mitigate DC’s usual summer mugginess.  A number of employees had brought special goggles that were freely shared with the rest of us, and one had made a pinhole camera.  Some even tried to photograph it through the lens of the goggles, but the results were not as impressive as one might hope, since the sun’s glare still showed around the 80% coverage provided by the moon.

Despite the day being partly cloudy, the eclipse was unobscured, and I got to see with my own eyes a crescent sun.  What was surprising to us all was just how bright the day remained despite the eclipse, leading to speculation that it is only those who are directly under the event who will have their day get dark.

Still, this isn’t something you see every day, and I’m glad that I went out to witness it.

/s/

Gloriosus
The G-man Himself

[sierraleone]

^ Awesome.

As I was leaving work I saw a coworker coming back from a walk, and she said another coworker had gone home for the eclipse too.

I was flying solo, but a couple people noticed me (a neighbour, a person walking their dog, and some trades workers), and asked what I was doing with a strainer on the sidewalk… or gave me quizzical looks and I explained

[gsmonks]

Every time there's an eclipse, the thought strikes my brain that the odds of our having a moon that appears the same size as our local star are an astronomical event in themselves.

[G-man]

Oh, I spoke to a friend of mine who is in Tennessee, and she reports that they got the full effect, with it becoming pitch dark outside with the total eclipse.

So that was exciting to me as it confirmed my expectation of what an eclipse should be as opposed to what I had personally experienced.

/s/

Gloriosus
the G-man Himself

[Themis]

Totally awesome here in Nashville.  I had a senior sitting job that ended at 12 noon so I couldn't get to some of the big gatherings so I just went down to the nearby Costco parking lot!  Other folk had the same idea.  Other than sky viewers, the parking lot was nearly empty and it looked like most of the employees were outside taking it in.  One lady I chatted with drove up from Memphis.  There were people in town from England and Japan!  One traveler chose Nashville because, as he said, if the weather turned bad, at least there would be music.  I figured every pro photographer was taking pictures so I just watched.  The difference between reality and the photos was that the corona during totality looks flat in the photos on tv; in person it was sparkling, shining.  It didn't seem to get pitch dark where I was - maybe because Costco had the parking lot lights on?  I could see one star, probably Venus.  TV coverage indicates that it was darker in other locales.  Oh, well, I had a nice breeze and was able to park my car in the shade on a 95 degree day and I'm sure sun during the almost-2-mins. of totality looked the same whether the surrounding area was dark or not.  Where I was, there were clouds when the eclipse started but they cleared for the main event.  Folk at our local science center weren't as lucky.

[Elara]

That would be cool, G-Man.   All I've ever experienced was shade. However, there is a certain neat eeriness to the light during a solar eclipse, and despite the mostly cloudiness of today, I got to experience that again.

It was completely overcast here, so looking at the eclipse, not a big deal (through a camera). However, we did get some thinner clouds and I took a few pictures. They aren't the best because I don't have a proper camera, but they weren't too bad:

 Solar Eclipse 2017.jpg   130.63K   1 downloads

[G-man]

^^^ That's so cool, Elara   I'm glad you managed to capture an image of it.

I had thought to snap a picture of it, but when I reached for my bag with the digital camera in it, I was reminded that I had left that bag at home.

/s/

Gloriosus
the G-man Himself

[Orpheus]

ah... ECLIPSE! <Rosanne RoseannaDanna>That's very different! Never mind! </R RD>

I've been handing these things out all day -- and getting strange looks for it!

 a.jpg   8.53K   0 downloads

[Elara]

^^^

[Elara]

G-man, on 21 August 2017 - 06:18 PM, said:

^^^ That's so cool, Elara   I'm glad you managed to capture an image of it.

Thank you, G-man.
When the sun broke through the clouds, I took approximately 20 shots, all of which just showed a glowing blob. So I watched the clouds and waited for some thinner ones that were approaching. That's when I got several decent shots. I was absolutely floored they turned out as good as they did.

G-man, on 21 August 2017 - 06:18 PM, said:

I had thought to snap a picture of it, but when I reached for my bag with the digital camera in it, I was reminded that I had left that bag at home.

oops. There will be another chance in 2024.

[sierraleone]

I tried to post a picture but couldn't figure it out.

In any case, you all should google "Eclipse tree shadows" and check out the images and be awed.

Mexico might be able to see leafy tree shadows during the 2024 eclipse, but not up here in Canada, not in April!
I might have to drag an unhappy house plant out
Yes, tentative planning for the next eclipse already

Edited by sierraleone, 22 August 2017 - 06:43 PM.

[gsmonks]

In this day and age, shouldn't it be e-clips, or e-something, or i-something?

i-know, eh?

Just sayin'.

They happen more often than that if you count partials and moon e-clips.

I've always wondered if there are interplanetary e-clips.

[Orpheus]

sierraleone, on 22 August 2017 - 06:27 PM, said:

I tried to post a picture but couldn't figure it out.

Yes, it's a odd quirk of IPB v3 software:

At some point after you browse/select/upload your image, you have to "Attach this file" -- which means "embed this image at the point where the cursor currently sits"

or you could "attach this file" anywhere, and just cut-n-paste the resulting tag where you want it.

I understand why they did it the way they did, but it feels kludgy, and the button titles don't quite fit their meaning, IMHO.

It makes a little more sense if you have multiple uploaded images in one post.