21 August 2017 - Total Solar Eclipse

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Dave
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Re: 21 August 2017 - Total Solar Eclipse

Post by Dave »

lake_wrangler wrote:This makes me wonder: should I worry about being on the road at the time? Would I still need special glasses, just to be safe (but then, how safe would my driving be?) Should everyone stop driving, for the duration? Or would we be OK, as long as we don't look up?
You won't need special glasses and your eyes won't be in danger, as long as you do not attempt to look at the sun! The only time it's safe to look at with the naked eye is during the brief moments of totality...a partially-eclipsed sun is just as damaging to the eyes as a naked sun. Every in the last moments of the "crescent" phase, the visible bits would be at full brightness on the retina and can very quickly cause permanent eye damage! Make sure everyone in your vehicle knows that!

You can't possibly wear glasses dark enough to let you look safely at the sun, and drive safely. You would be blind to everything on the road... it would be like trying to drive without headlights on a pitch-black night.

Lighting-wise, 58% will be enough to make the day seem dimmer and perhaps a bit cooler than usual... like a dark cloud came in front of the sun.

Your biggest risk is likely to be that other drivers will be distracted. Some may pull over at unexpected times, to put on glasses and look at the partially eclipsed sun. Others may be looking around for places where the sunlight is passing through leaves, and making eclipse-shaped sports of light in the ground.

Just drive as if everybody else who is on the road, is distracted and foolish and a couple of drinks drunk, and you should be ok (that's the advice my father gave me when I started driving... perhaps the best advice he ever gave me about anything!)
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GlytchMeister
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Re: 21 August 2017 - Total Solar Eclipse

Post by GlytchMeister »

As long as you don't look directly at it, you'll be fine. The danger of eclipses is as part of the sun is obscured, total light drops, causing your irises to dilate to compensate. Problem is, even if there's a tiny bit of the sun still visible, that tiny bit is spewing out a cubic buttton of UV rays. So with dilated irises, more of that nastiness is allowed to flood your eyeballs. Can result in direct physical retinal damage as well as ionization, which can later result in cancer.

This effect is compounded by using improper shades while looking at the eclipse or the regular old sun. And it can also be compounded by using proper direct viewing shades while also looking through a camera, telescope, or binocular lense, as these types of lenses collect more light and focus it, which is not what regular eclipse glasses or even Shade 14 Welding Eye Shields can handle. To view properly through a telescope or other magnifying lense, you must use a solar shield made specifically for that purpose.
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Dave
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Re: 21 August 2017 - Total Solar Eclipse

Post by Dave »

Well, here goes nothing. I'm about to head north - drive from the Bay area up to Red Bluff today, then to Klamath Falls, and then (Sunday night) north and east into Oregon and into the eclipse track-of-totality. If I'm lucky I'll get to near the centerline; if not, I'll get as far into the track as I can before traffic makes it impossible to get further.

Just for nerdy grins, I'll probably be sending out ham-radio beacons using APRS (http://www.aprs.fi, callsign AE6EO-9) during the drive. Once I arrive at wherever I'm going to stop, I'll switch over to sending ionospheric propagation beacons using WSPR, and do that through the hours around the eclipse itself... there's a lot of interest in seeing how the eclipse affects the ionosphere.

I tested out "WSPR mobile" operation using my car radio a few weeks ago... 5 watts, into a "Little Tarheel" screwdriver antenna mounted on the trunk lid... and within a few transmission cycles, the global WSPR database showed that my signal had been picked up and decoded successfully by two hams in Australia. Pretty amazing! :)

I hope that those of you who are headed out to your own local eclipse-viewing spots, have a safe and successful journey!
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Re: 21 August 2017 - Total Solar Eclipse

Post by AmriloJim »

73rds, be safe!
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TazManiac
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Re: 21 August 2017 - Total Solar Eclipse

Post by TazManiac »

Picked up a pair of shades fro the local Library yesterday.

(Even though they are closed on Mondays, normally, they're opening up for the event...).
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Atomic
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Re: 21 August 2017 - Total Solar Eclipse

Post by Atomic »

Off to Florence SC tomorrow, then find a spot in the totality zone and wait. News and maybe some photos later...
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Re: 21 August 2017 - Total Solar Eclipse

Post by jwhouk »

Local weather report is calling for rain during the eclipse. :(
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Re: 21 August 2017 - Total Solar Eclipse

Post by GlytchMeister »

It's cloudy down in southern Illinois right now... been camping here since yesterday...
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Re: 21 August 2017 - Total Solar Eclipse

Post by jwhouk »

"Variably cloudy and humid" is set for tomorrow afternoon here in the 715. :(
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Re: 21 August 2017 - Total Solar Eclipse

Post by AnotherFairportfan »

Local weather says it should be clear here in the land of totality...
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Re: 21 August 2017 - Total Solar Eclipse

Post by ShneekeyTheLost »

We had partly cloudy skies. Kiddo and I did a science experiment.

Set up a pinhole camera, shining down onto a clipboard of copy paper. Every five minutes, we'd go out, he'd sketch the shape and position of the dot. We not only were able to capture the Eclipse, we were also, thanks to having a fixed pinhole camera, trace the angle of shadow as it moved across the page. We're going to turn it into a flip-book and see if it works.
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Re: 21 August 2017 - Total Solar Eclipse

Post by Catawampus »

ShneekeyTheLost wrote:We had partly cloudy skies. Kiddo and I did a science experiment.

Set up a pinhole camera, shining down onto a clipboard of copy paper. Every five minutes, we'd go out, he'd sketch the shape and position of the dot. We not only were able to capture the Eclipse, we were also, thanks to having a fixed pinhole camera, trace the angle of shadow as it moved across the page. We're going to turn it into a flip-book and see if it works.
I've seen photo-reactive paper before, that changes colour after being exposed to light for several minutes. It might have been interesting to take a booklet of that, have the solar eclipse projected onto it, and then flip it to a new page of paper every five minutes or so through the duration of the eclipse. Then you'd have a nice record of the progress of the eclipse, and you could scan it into a computer to animate it or something like that.
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Re: 21 August 2017 - Total Solar Eclipse

Post by Dave »

Wow.

That was worth waiting more than all of my adult life to see.

I was amazingly fortunate in a bunch of ways, and managed to be in the right place at the right time. Just got home, thoroughly exhausted (drove maybe 1200 miles in 4 days, slept two nights in the back of my car) and count it all well worthwhile.

More after I crash-nap for a while.
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Re: 21 August 2017 - Total Solar Eclipse

Post by GlytchMeister »

It was BEAUTIFUL. Absolutely gorgeous and awe-inspiring and I got goosebumps.

My iPhone couldn't handle the sun even in totality, though, so no pictures. :( Also the little tripod I got for it kept slipping, and the phone kept overheating. So I had to take a moment to calm down and focus on the positive because I was super dissapointed my iPhone's camera, even through my spare pair of eclipse glasses, was overloaded by the crescent sun and overloaded by the corona. The corona was invisible through the eclipse glasses. I was very frustrated but managed to shove that aside and focus on "hey I made it to see an eclipse!"

Still, it was an experience I doubt I'll ever forget. I still get a bit awestruck just remembering.

...


So it was about a four hour drive down, right?

I left right after the second diamond ring occurred. Had everything packed up already... literally got in my car and drive away when the totality ended.

Google re-routed me around traffic jams some fifty times, about half were stated to be due to accidents. I still got stuck in gnarly traffic several times at all the little small towns that peppered the back roads.

I stopped once to help when three cars got into a severe (one ended up in the air) collision RIGHT behind me. All I saw was the impact debris cloud out of the corner of my eye in the rear view mirror and looked to see the three cars scattering post-impact; one was in the air and landing when I looked. Lots of whiplash, one car was old and only had a driver airbag, the passenger smacked his head on the corner of the dash and was severely concussed and had a deep laceration between his eyebrows from that impact. Another man and woman were concussed because the airbags didn't go off in his car when they probably should have.
I stopped, grabbed my kit, and sprinted to the crash and washed out the deep cut with alcohol and pressed gauze to it, told his wife to maintain pressure while also keeping his head stable, in case he had a spinal injury. Had a couple bystanders keep the two other concussed people's heads and necks stable just as cops arrived (cops were everywhere yesterday, and boy did they have their hands full). Briefed the officers on who had sustained what injuries and told them what I saw, they called ambulances and told me I could go, as I didn't see enough for a solid witness statement.

After that I didn't really have any trouble staying awake for the rest of the EIGHT HOURS of driving I did last night. And boy was it intense driving. Heavy traffic. A bunch of southern Illinoisans who don't usually have to deal with heavy traffic. A lot of murderous-by-default Chicago drivers. And a lot of travelers who hadn't gotten very good sleep because they were camping or sleeping in unfamiliar beds (I slept fine, I'm used to camping, especially in that tent). So a perfect storm of bad drivers. I must have avoided thirty potential wrecks from other people doing stupid shit.
I slept fine, I've been "battle-tested" in Chicago, I learned to drive in Peoria and therefore have the relatively calm driving temperament of a central Illinoisan driver with the skill and awareness of a Chicago driver, and add on some vigilante wheelman experience. Even with all that I feel like I was super lucky to have not gotten into an accident.

I've never driven that long before. I get road hypnosis BAD - three hours used to be my limit, but I think sometime after the adrenaline rush of the crash wore off, my brain and body clicked into marathon mode - kinda felt like the times I had been focusing on a videogame for a long time. It was weird but I was alert and awake for the rest of the drive after that.

Which is a good thing because I-55 was NUTS. Imagine nearly-bumper-to-bumper traffic traveling at 50-80 mph. That shit doesn't usually happen outside of Chicago (in Illinois).

I got home at 9:30 PM. My head was buzzing. Talked to my girlfriend while I wound down and convinced my brain I was no longer in mortal danger and convinced my body to unclench.

I called in to work at 5 PM yesterday and said I'm not working today, which is a good thing because I didn't get to sleep until somewhere around 1 AM.

Oh, some other things I noticed: spiderwebs coating single branches of trees (it looked like dirty grey cotton candy). And there were these... slightly flatter Roli-poli's at the campsite with lightning-bug bioluminescent butts. I've never seen that kind of bug before.
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Re: 21 August 2017 - Total Solar Eclipse

Post by Atomic »

11 Hours down to SC - 19 hours back to PA. Gave up on the return day after 3 hours got me barely 60 miles, so found a motel.

OTOH, I had the joy of a clear sky at a highway rest stop packed with eclipse peeps and the view of a lifetime. I'll see how my pics came out later.

First surprise -- as coverage passed 75%, I noticed the 90F weather was suddenly cooler. The gradual loss of sunlight was offset by eye adaptation, so it seemed just a bright, just not as intense. It really sunk in when the street lights started turning on. Now I know what a sunny day on Mars would be like -- about 1/4 the light intensity of Earth at the same solar angle.

Second surprise -- I was amazed a how instant the full shadow clicked on and off as the Moon moved by. Even with the tiniest sliver of sun available, (the Diamond Ring), it was still much too bright to look at. I had hoped I could look at, briefly, the trailing Diamond Ring, but no -- it was basically a full power flash bulb going off. Beautiful dark Hole in the Sky, then SUN!!!!!

Third surprise -- Saw Venus as well (didn't look for Mercury which should have been nearby, just not sure where), with a decent dark sky, but the surprise was the twilight all around. Sort of a 360 degree Sunset. Had some nice growing cumulus clouds off to the east which were a lovely orange. I took shots of them as the sun darkened to follow the brightness change, so one more thing for the photo album. I hope I can composite the several corona shots I took and make something of it. Not a telescope, just a 4x optical zoom and lots of pixels.

Last surprise -- Everybody and their dog trying to go everywhere all at once on everything that resembled a highway after the event. And stop and go (and stop and wait and go) every 30 minutes or so the next day. General Eisenhower, thank you! It could have been much worse.
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Dave
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Re: 21 August 2017 - Total Solar Eclipse

Post by Dave »

Here's what's probably the best of what I managed to take. Nothing special by astro-photographic standards, but I'm glad to have had the chance to try.

What this picture barely hints at... the little bit of pink over on the right... is something I hadn't expected to see, and was therefore gobsmacked by. There were several spots of a very bright and clear red color, showing at the "3-o'clock" position. A solar prominence (or more than one) peeking past the moon, glowing brightly in the "hydrogen alpha" emission line. Looked like a tiny ruby embedded in a glowing platinum ring.

(Image is probably too big for your browser window - the direct URL is http://www.radagast.org/~dplatt/eclipse/P1470741_v2.jpg if you want to see the whole thing easily,

Image

The trip was exhausting, and worked out beautifully well. I changed plans several times, in response to what I'd heard of conditions in Oregon. Reportedly, traffic at Prineville had been "crazy" mid-week and there had been gasoline shortages (both apparently due to a huge rock concert being put on in the hills south of town over the week and weekend).

I ended up completely blowing off my plans to stay "night before" and "night after" in Klamath Falls. I got up at 0345 on Sunday, drive north to Mount Shasta City for breakfast, drove to Klamath Falls, canceled my first motel stay night reservation, and continued to Bend... got there before 11, gassed up, and took back roads to Prineville. Traffic wasn't bad at all that morning, fortunately. Once I got there I knew I was inside the track of totality, and I could relax... "I'm not going to miss it."

I pushed on about 50 miles to Mitchell, the little semi-ghost former logging town very close to the center of the track. There were a bunch of Forest Service roads off into the woods where I figured I could car-camp (a lot of people did just that), and ranchers in the area were offering space in their hay fields (often at prices of $50 - $500 per vehicle depending on location and whether they had portapotties or showers set up). I could have parked by the roadside; not technically legal, but a state trooper I spoke with said they weren't being strict about it as long as people were being safe.

As I was headed back to check out forest camping, I spotted a hand-lettered sign pointing up a loop road saying "Parking" and "Car wash $5". I checked it out, and found a family with a small field, a few tent campers set up, and their kids washing a car. I asked about parking and car-camping for the night, and the lady said "We've been asking $25 for all-day parking - how about I charge you that same amount to park tonight?" I said "Sold!", parked in a quiet corner of the field, set up my mat and sleeping bag in the back of the car, and then had the kids wash the car (they did a great job and I paid them double what they asked).

Walked into town, walked uphill, had a light lunch at a food truck run by the owners of a vacation-rental property, and went back into the center of town. Checked out a local antique-and-rummage store, was looking over stuff, and heard someone say my name. I turned around, and saw a guy from the Bay area I worked with for about ten years, a while ago. He was camping out (with a few other ex-co-workers of ours) on some BLM land a few miles out of town! Small, small world indeed!

Went back to the property, sat in my car and read for a while, and then the father in the family came home (he drives a truck for the Oregon Department of Transportation) and came over to say hello. He offered me the use of their pool for a swim, told me I was welcome to pick apricots from their tree, and invited me up to the house for a beer (I rarely drink but this was the sort of friendly offer I couldn't turn down). We, and the rest of the family had a fine chat for an hour or two, and then walked into town to listen to music at a couple of the local cafes which had bands or were running an open-mike session.

He strongly suggested I avoid the Painted Hills State Park area (right on center-line) which I'd thought to use as a viewing venue... "There were already 400 cars up there this morning, packed in the fields 20-deep, with only 2 rest-rooms. It's going to be worse tomorrow. Go east, towards John Day... when you get to mile 80, turn right on Forest Road 12 and go about half a mile, and you'll see a little paved turn-out we made for the road haulers."

So, Monday morning at 5 AM, that's just what I did... and it was perfect. One other car there, about four others arrived during the morning, no crowds, quiet, open, peaceful, and near-perfect weather and viewing conditions. A bit of haze and cirrus in the east, some smoke clouds in the west which never came near us (but which I suspect may have impacted the viewing in Madras further west).

A deputy sheriff stopped by, and said "I think you're the folks with the smart idea!" He also warned that there were probably at least 4,000 vehicles which would be trying to leave Painted Hills via Mitchell to Prineville (via the one two-lane road), and that some of the 70,000 attendees of the big rock concert might also try to go out that way... and that the incoming crowds for the concert had completely shut down traffic through Prineville for a full day! On the spot I decided to change plans again, and entirely avoid Mitchell, Prineville, Bend, and Klamath Falls on my way out. No sense getting stuck for a day.

Totality was... well, words just don't cut it, just as pictures can't convey the impact. Majestic, beautiful, bringer-of-tears-to-the-eyes... wow. Saw Bailey's Beads through my filter glass as the sun disappeared, saw the pink jewels of hydrogen, saw the corona like a crown and beard, saw Venus shining brightly, saw the Beads reappear a few seconds after my warning timer went off.

Packed up and left within a few minutes of the end of totality, trying to get at least a bit of a jump on the crowds. Drove 50 miles east to John Day (hit traffic in the towns), then south on 395 through the national forest to Burns, then on south to Lakeview where I was finally able to get cellphone service. It was well beyond the permitted time to cancel my second night's reservation in Klamath Falls, but i tried anyhow... and succeeded! Apparently the Motel 6 chain changed their policy for the event, knowing full well that they could sell any available space at a premium price.

Lakeview motels were either full or very expensive, so I kept driving. About 20 miles later I stumbled on a sign for the Goose Creek Oregon State Park, with camping available for RVs and tents... and (wonder of wonders) a VACANCY sign! I checked it out, found plenty of empty spaces, and paid for one ($22, with electricity and water hookups I didn't need, and hot showers!). The place filled up completely within the next hour... and I found the next day that I'd probably have had to drive another 2 hours to find a motel room available.

Got up at 0400 this morning, drove almost 8 hours through California and arrived home, exhausted but very very happy. I stopped for lunch at a cafe in Red Bluff, where the waitress mentioned that most of the customers that morning had been Californians returning from Oregon. I could tell... people coming back from seeing the eclipse had a Look about them... you could tell by a glance who had been there.

All in all, it feels like everything conspired to let me be in the right places, at the right times, several times over. I have no idea which deities I owe gratitude-gifts to, so (as Number Ten Ox said) I'll probably have to go into debt buying offerings for the entire pantheon... but it was worth it.
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Re: 21 August 2017 - Total Solar Eclipse

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GlytchMeister wrote:I stopped, grabbed my kit, and sprinted to the crash and washed out the deep cut with alcohol and pressed gauze to it, told his wife to maintain pressure while also keeping his head stable, in case he had a spinal injury. Had a couple bystanders keep the two other concussed people's heads and necks stable just as cops arrived (cops were everywhere yesterday, and boy did they have their hands full). Briefed the officers on who had sustained what injuries and told them what I saw, they called ambulances and told me I could go, as I didn't see enough for a solid witness statement.
Kudos, GM... well done! Put a gold star on your "civilian first responder" plaque!
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GlytchMeister
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Re: 21 August 2017 - Total Solar Eclipse

Post by GlytchMeister »

Dave wrote:
GlytchMeister wrote:I stopped, grabbed my kit, and sprinted to the crash and washed out the deep cut with alcohol and pressed gauze to it, told his wife to maintain pressure while also keeping his head stable, in case he had a spinal injury. Had a couple bystanders keep the two other concussed people's heads and necks stable just as cops arrived (cops were everywhere yesterday, and boy did they have their hands full). Briefed the officers on who had sustained what injuries and told them what I saw, they called ambulances and told me I could go, as I didn't see enough for a solid witness statement.
Kudos, GM... well done! Put a gold star on your "civilian first responder" plaque!
No such thing as a former Boy Scout. :) And I'm just glad I was around to help.
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Re: 21 August 2017 - Total Solar Eclipse

Post by TazManiac »

That reminds me of biking past a local shopping center (Costco, McDonalds, Krispey Kreme, but most importantly- the Cominc Book Store!) and hearing a crash behind me

Turned around and saw to vehicles in the intersection, checked on them. One driver was out and walking around, the other was dazed and still behind the wheel.

Air bag Deployment had burnt her forearm so I scuttled over to the Mikey-Ds and collected a few plastic bags, some handfuls of paper napkins and some crushed ice and she was able to apply an insulated compress to the affected area. (It wasn't until afterwards I thought about how McGyver-ey it all was...) :P

Since I didn't 'see' the accident the cops & insurance folks who called me later had no further use for me... :(
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Re: 21 August 2017 - Total Solar Eclipse

Post by Catawampus »

Due to my workload on Monday, I wasn't able to travel far enough to see the total eclipse. I wasn't too fussed about that, though, as I've seen several before (once was while I was on a rise overlooking a plain that spread all the way to the horizon, so I could watch the shadow creeping along; that was impressive). I did get far enough south that I saw it at about 95% or so covered. Didn't have any traffic trouble or adventures, either. The sun-funnel and the pinhole camera I'd made both worked, the welding goggles were able to keep my eyes from being fried, so it all worked out well enough. All in all, it was a rather quiet event. Then I went home and had pork pies and peach cobbler and read a book.
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