Total solar eclipse 2017

Might be venus.

Nice picture, btw :).
 
If Venus was that large in that photo (compared to sun and such), then I am not buying green bananas.
 
I disagree with all of those who say/said 92% or 95% of totality is good enough, and not worth driving to see it.

This was my first total eclipse to see, and while it was the same-old, same-old as the moon approached the center, once the sun was completely covered (totality) and you could take the glasses off, the scene was SPECTACULAR. You just can see or experience that unless you are somewhere in the totality because otherwise you can't take the glasses off and look. Really an awesome experience.

We traveled to Charleston and made a vacation out of it - just in case it was cloudy. We took an Uber over the Isle of Palms – they had an event on “Front Beach”.

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All the news stations CNN, HLN, etc. were there in a row of tents on the beach trying to crank up the hype and ratings.

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We got a “reserved seat” at "Coconut Joe’s" upper deck. For $35. you got an eclipse T-shirt, $10 worth of food/drinks, and a guaranteed seat/table from 11am to 5pm. You could leave, go the beach, whatever, and when you got back you were guaranteed your seat would still be there. Nicely done.

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It was cloudy all day and we were sure that we wouldn’t see anything. Up until about 10 minutes before totality….

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Then a hole just miraculously appeared in the clouds and slowly made its way toward the sun/moon.

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The hole was in the perfect position for 5min before and 5min after totality! It was unbelievable timing. There were solid clouds 360 degrees in every other direction! There were even lightning and storms just over in North Charleston. But we had perfectly blue sky through a hole for the 10-15 minutes around the eclipse. Wild.

I snuck my action camera over and latched it onto the corner of the bar to watch the people as it came over - a time-compressed video is here:
https://youtu.be/gx_Vtcr2HdY

One of my favorite shots:

150343280389.jpg
 
Fermion said:
If Venus was that large in that photo (compared to sun and such), then I am not buying green bananas.
Click to expand...

As said above, I enlarged the section of the photo where the spherical object is located.

If it's not a planet, then maybe it was a UFO? :eek:
 
FIREmenow, that's really cool that the clouds opened at just the right time! I was just reading that Nashville got a last minute cloud that blocked the view for some. I think NW Missouri was pretty cloudy, but otherwise I think the rest of the path was mostly clear? I've been trying to read post-eclipse reports but there are too many hits on pre-eclipse forecasts and averages to wade through.
 
EastWest Gal said:
Just finished two days camping in Madras. It was fun, challenging with all the people. Our campsite was adjacent to one occupied by a professor of astronomy from British Columbia. She had 3 telescopes setup for viewing and teaching. They let my son mount his 360 camera on their hardtop. Too bad he failed to turn it on.

We could feel the air get cooler and could see a gradually barely perceptible change in the light over the 30 minutes prior to totality. The plunge into twilight was amazing.
Click to expand...

Glad you had a good time. I need to eat some crow as things turned out a lot than i expected. Who knew that Madras and the State could coordinate so well. I'm a pessimist by nature. I always assume that things are going to go sideways.

I kinda wished that we had seen the totality now. But....then we would have missed our neighbor proposing to his GF during 99.6%! I was watching the sun/moon and I see him moving around out the side and wondering what's going on. It was a rock!
 
FIREmenow said:
I disagree with all of those who say/said 92% or 95% of totality is good enough, and not worth driving to see it.

This was my first total eclipse to see, and while it was the same-old, same-old as the moon approached the center, once the sun was completely covered (totality) and you could take the glasses off, the scene was SPECTACULAR. You just can see or experience that unless you are somewhere in the totality because otherwise you can't take the glasses off and look. Really an awesome experience.
Click to expand...

It really was a magical/mystical experience. I was in an area of totality, in Lathrop, Mo, that got covered in clouds ~20 minutes before totality and it was still amazing.

I am looking forward to 2024, and am developing a better strategy to make sure I am in totality. I may even go somewhere else in the world to get it before then. If I knew yesterday how great it was going to be, I would have seen the totality yesterday. I did not realize the impact it was going to be.
 
Venus was visible even during the partial phase about two handwidths (with outstretched arm) away from the sun. Without knowing your location I can't say whether that could be it, but it would be ahead of the sun. For me in Oregon where it was morning it was higher.

In any case, Venus is currently in gibbous phase not crescent. You got a ghost image in the optical system.
 
I only saw a 98.5% eclipse. :( I feel so inadequate. Can I still hang out with you cool guys?
 
travelover said:
I only saw a 98.5% eclipse. :( I feel so inadequate. Can I still hang out with you cool guys?
Click to expand...

Yes. You can redeem yourself in 2019 in Argentina.

There was a cruise I added myself to a wait list, and am looking at an Argentina eclipse trip. Assuming it is a safe country...
 
Traveled to Nashville for the weekend and drove up to Gallatin TN for the event.
Town of Gallatin was a gracious host. Free parking. Free viewing glasses. Local businesses giving away free bottled water. What a refreshing change to not be gouged at every opportunity.
It was a great place to watch the eclipse as there were no clouds obstructing the view during totality.
 
Saw it from Carbondale IL, alone in the woods behind the SIU student union. Very cool. Very nice town and campus.

Flew to New Orleans, Amtrak to Carbondale, Amtrak to Chicago, flew back to LA.
 

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GravitySucks said:
Traveled to Nashville for the weekend and drove up to Gallatin TN for the event.
Town of Gallatin was a gracious host. Free parking. Free viewing glasses. Local businesses giving away free bottled water. What a refreshing change to not be gouged at every opportunity.
It was a great place to watch the eclipse as there were no clouds obstructing the view during totality.
Click to expand...

We were at a park in Franklin KY. No admission, extra porta potty's, concession stand with normal pricing. Great place for viewing and what a show! 2+ minutes of totality.

Eclipse.jpg
 
CyclingInvestor said:
Saw it from Carbondale IL, alone in the woods behind the SIU student union. Very cool. Very nice town and campus.

Flew to New Orleans, Amtrak to Carbondale, Amtrak to Chicago, flew back to LA.
Click to expand...

I like the idea of taking a train. Traffic was terrible. Seriously and literally, the worst traffic I've ever seen. Four hours to go 70 miles out of Bowling Green KY on I-65.
 
travelover said:
I only saw a 98.5% eclipse. :( I feel so inadequate. Can I still hang out with you cool guys?
Click to expand...

No. IIRC, you were invited to drive a few miles south (in Oregon, right?) to join the club. Too late now. Sorry!
 
Saw it at the Levi Garrison brewery in Hamilton, Mo. Cloudy, but we were able to get glimpses of the eclipse between clouds, and experienced an awesome totality when the whole place went dark.
 
Was watching NASA for the eclipse at times...

Said the next one in the US was 2024... and crossing Texas!!!


Found out that it is going over where my sister lives so I called her and put in first dibs on staying at her house!!!!

She was still in Oregon at another sisters house that had total eclipse this time... it was the next day and she said traffic was still horrible....
 
Jerry1 said:
I like the idea of taking a train. Traffic was terrible. Seriously and literally, the worst traffic I've ever seen. Four hours to go 70 miles out of Bowling Green KY on I-65.
Click to expand...

Hey I was in that jam up! Saw it at Gallatin, Tennessee. The problem was pre-existing construction on I-65 as far as I could see. If it hadn't been there probably would have been better as once got past there was pretty clear sailing to the next construction in Cincinnati! Took me nine hours to get from Gallatin to Cincinnati. Google says it is a 4h drive normally.

And it was absolutely worth it!
 
I wasn't really sure about going to see it since it involved a 500 mile drive to a campground by Lake Barkley, Kentucky, but my wife was really keen so I figured why not. Well it was 1,000 miles of driving in 2 days (much of it in stop and go traffic), but it was one of the most amazing experiences of my life. I would drive twice as far with no hesitation to see another one.

I watched the Amazon Prime video a few days ago and thought the people they showed there were way over-obsessed with the eclipse chasing thing. But now I totally get it. Thinking about Argentina in 2019!
 
6miths said:
Hey I was in that jam up! Saw it at Gallatin, Tennessee. The problem was pre-existing construction on I-65 as far as I could see. If it hadn't been there probably would have been better as once got past there was pretty clear sailing to the next construction in Cincinnati! Took me nine hours to get from Gallatin to Cincinnati. Google says it is a 4h drive normally.

And it was absolutely worth it!
Click to expand...

trirod said:
I wasn't really sure about going to see it since it involved a 500 mile drive to a campground by Lake Barkley, Kentucky, but my wife was really keen so I figured why not. Well it was 1,000 miles of driving in 2 days (much of it in stop and go traffic), but it was one of the most amazing experiences of my life. I would drive twice as far with no hesitation to see another one.

I watched the Amazon Prime video a few days ago and thought the people they showed there were way over-obsessed with the eclipse chasing thing. But now I totally get it. Thinking about Argentina in 2019!
Click to expand...

Agree 100%. The driving was tough but totally worth it and now I totally get it. Not looking toward 2019, but I'm in for 2024.
 
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