we were only at 61% so I didn't care too much about it. The next one in 2024 will be total in Burlington VT which is only 3 hours North for me. They'll have their F-35's by then so I'll hopefully be on top of the airports parking garage taking pics of the F-35's and then stop for the total eclipse when it comes through.

Just wait till the triffids come...

Just returned a few hours ago after being able to view the total eclipse, we took an extra day be for heading back. We where lucky as we secured a spot on a lake near central Oregon. The lakes name is Fish Lake, which drains out during the late spring. We where in the middle of the lake and where able to view the whole event, with our protective glasses. What an experience!!!

BTW, it was the "Day of the Triffids", NOT "Eclipse of the Triffids".

Oh I forgot to mention that a 15-20 minute car ride away from where we were, Ozzy Osborne came to play "Bark at the Moon" WHILE the eclipse was going on. That must have been a once in a lifetime experience!



v6,
boNes

Of course there were some naysayers:

http://www.bnd.com/news/local/article165006782.html

v6,
boNes

This.

Two friends and I made the road trip from Phoenix, Arizona to Rexburg, Idaho to see it (left Saturday morning, just got back home 5-6 hours ago). There wasn't so much as a wisp of cloud in the sky at our site, and the eclipse itself was stunning beyond words (though I've seen several partials and a couple annulars in the past).

Now, if it's not your thing, I get it - fine. But for 99% of the rest of humanity that have personally witnessed such an event, it is something both indescribable, and incredibly atavistic ... and we're not alone. Animals react differently during it, and it touches something that we only rarely access and feel these days. The temperature drops 10-20 degrees in a matter of minutes, and you don't get "normal" dusk as the sun slowly sets below the horizon, you get a full 360 degrees of dusk in a matter of a couple dozen seconds. Twilight descends in a cloudless sky, seemingly out of nowhere, and for a few seconds, there is a silence that is total, complete and profound. The sky goes dark everywhere but for that part around that impossible-seeming black hole in the sky, which glows an inexplicable silvery-white. Bright stars can become visible, and during this one, Venus and Jupiter were both easily seen. Some of the people at our site got goosebumps and a few cried, and several more cheered. A total eclipse is truly an amazing, eerie, incredible, and bizarre experience that defies real description and Monday's was every single bit of all of that.

None of that occurs during a partial eclipse, and indeed, unless you *know* it's happening, most don't even notice it -- but a total eclipse -- if you are in that path, you *will* forget anything you were doing at the time, and you'll *definitely* notice that!.

In this (jaded) day and age of computers and internet and minute by minute media telling us all the latest (whatever) that Kim Kardashian did for (or during) lunch the other day, this is something else on an entirely different level.

If you've ever experienced totality (and anything less, loses 99% of the effect), it's a truly eerie thing, and it's really simple to understand the gut reaction that primitive societies felt when one of these occurred out of the blue with no warning and no (apparent) explanation.

Here are a few pics of the event that I took, and I share them with 100% knowledge that they don't even begin to portray the actual experience of seeing it in person.


Regards,
4 <S!>



PS> These were taken with a Samsung S6 attached to a pair of Celestron 15x70 Binoculars.

Great pix and explanation FourSpeed. One thing I find interesting is that depending on where you are the eclipse looks different. In the first phases before totality, the moon entered from the 2:00 position and exited at the 9:00 or 10:00 position. Guess it has alot to do with where you are in relation to the event, the rotation of the earth, etc.

v6,
boNes

We were at 83% here but this hit right at peak.

That's true, geographically speaking, to some degree, if the viewing spots are quite distant from each other, but what often makes picture orientation more different looking is the optics they're shot through. In the pictures I posted however, the orientation difference is much easier to explain -- it's wrong -- the pictures are laying on their left side in the post. They should be rotated 90 degrees to the right (so the images should be top center, rather than left center). That's My Bad. It was pretty late when we got home last night and I was pretty tired by the time I posted them. Sorry.

Interestingly, in the newtonian reflector telescope I was using to observe the eclipse with (no pics from it though) the view actually is laterally inverted (making the eclipse look like it was coming up from 8 o'clock, rather than down from 2 o'clock) which can seem a little weird until you get used to it.


@F4UDash4: That is a super video, and catching the ISS transit makes those pictures even more incredible and special -- Very cool. Thanks for sharing that one!


Regards,
4 <S!>

Wonderfully stated FourSpeed. We traveled from Atlanta to Western Knoxville. I was not thrilled about it, but knew it would be cool to see a total eclipse. Boy did I underestimate the experience. Like nothing else I've ever seen. It is a truly phenomenal event, so glad the family went. We had two minutes of totality and ...wow, just wow.... No sky like it ever, not sunset, not sunrise. We were on a farm and the chickens all went back in the hen house, the cicadas started buzzing, the temp dropped, could see some stars. What was really neat was about 30 seconds into totality two C-130's came flying across the farm about 200 feet off the ground. Just sitting thinking about it now I'm getting goosbebumps and chills. For me it really was amazing. We are already planning a trip for the next eclipse in a couple years and I am totally on board, can't wait.

Just saw this on youtube
https://youtu.be/YBoa81xEvNA

Just watch it...all I have to say is

,,,,Oh my God,,look at that,,,Oh may God...look at that,,,there it is,...Oh my God,,,,look at that.

I would imagine that all of the Wiccans and neo-druids were out in force to celebrate this event.

"Neo-druids" ....

I did not notice that, but still cool vid.

Oh my god

oh my god

We're all poets, aren't we? "Pretty cool."

But really, it was. I saw the one in '79 and it was really neat then - though we didn't have eclipse glasses.

My son actually pulled off not looking like a complete dork with his on.



Must take after his mother:



Pin hole effect caused by the leaves of a little tree in the Walmart parking lot in Athens, TN.*



The obligatory totality shot:



The cone is pretty small, really. Here's a quick shot at the horizon during totality:



Poor bastages not only didn't get totality, they had cloud cover. Totally clear for us!

"Diamond ring" on the other side of the eclipse:



Totally worth the adventure of the journey getting there, which including staying the night before (and after) in Chattanooga. Alcohol sales in bars on Sunday! Sign me up for the sinful activity!

* Yes, we were in the WalMart parking lot, because, well, of course we were.

The difference between 99% and 100% totality:

https://twitter.com/amyULo/status/899953419695292416