Total Solar Eclipse April 8, 2024

[Chuckanut]

Views of the eclipse from orbit:

https://www.ndtv.com/world-news/sol...s-starlink-satellite-from-earth-orbit-5403993

 

[Winemaker]

Drove 3 hours NW to Mentor OH with son and grand kids, little traffic. Awesome experience, but the sun confused the sensors in all three of our phones and 2 tablets. The geese all ran under nearby pine trees, I guess, to bed down. I can see why those born in the past that didn't know what was going on, were mortified. Even 1 minute before totality, it was still pretty bright out. The trip back home took almost 4 hours, much traffic. Iwas expecting worse in both directions, but was pleasantly surprised. Local group had high school band play and fieworks! What a great day!

 

[street]

I thought this was pretty creative and really better than what I saw.

 

[GenXguy]

Did anyone in the path of totality have problems with cell service? I read about possible problems in advance but nothing confirmed after that fact. Supposedly there had been upgrades in many areas since 2017 along with 5G.

 

[Chuckanut]

I thought this was pretty creative and really better than what I saw.

Who knew the moon was the same size as the sun and so near it!!!

 

[Winemaker]

Did anyone in the path of totality have problems with cell service? I read about possible problems in advance but nothing confirmed after that fact. Supposedly there had been upgrades in many areas since 2017 along with 5G.

None, that I experienced near Cleveland.

 

[audreyh1]

The only time I have ever experienced cellphone service jammed due to too many users was at the first SpaceX Starship launch.

 

[Sojourner]

Nephew sent this one from Terre Haute Ind. I was at the ranch and got dark but was cloudy but could tell the change with about a 60% cover. It did seem like things got quite. The birds and turkeys were very vocal not sure if it was just coincidental or not.

This is exactly like the view I had from central Arkansas! I saw that same bright red "dot" at the bottom, exactly like in this picture, and it was spellbinding. Apparently it was a solar prominence erupting tens of thousands of miles out from the sun and looping back in due to strong magnetic fields. Wow... just WOW! The whole thing from start to finish was beyond spectacular for me and DW.

 

[Sue J]

We had a great eclipse experience! The weather was perfect and the view was spectacular!

At the moment of totality we all gasped and then we heard gatherings in the neighborhood cheering and applauding. We were on the deck in the backyard and there were other groups across the street and down the block.

Very impressive and the out of town visiting relatives were so glad that they came.

And then we had dinner together. Our son and DIL made chicken and beef kebabs and our son grilled despite being on crutches with his torn meniscus. His surgery was this morning and he's back home with some good drugs. DH was at the hospital with him and I made to trip to the airport for the sister-in-law's flight home. No traffic issues at all.

Lovely weekend and there's still too much food!

 

[Texas Proud]

Went to my niece's house which had like 4:15 total, so a good amount of time.... and we needed it as it was really cloudy...


We saw maybe 30 to 45 secs of totality between the clouds.... then less than 10 minutes later the clouds almost completely disappeared . They were back in less than 20 minutes...


This morning driving back home we had to drive through TORRENTIAL rain near Temple... like as low as 20 mph in some parts of the highway...


Will have to take a look at pics I got and see if any are good... DW said most I took on her I-phone were not that great... we used an app to zoom in and there was a focus bar but you could not really tell when the focus was good..

 

[wearefinishedworking]

Our experience was fantastic! On Lake Erie in New York state with friends and it was a real party atmosphere. Cloudy leading up to it BUT, the total 4 minutes of darkness along with rapid drop in temps was fascinating. Then the clouds broke and we were able to watch for the next half hour or so. So glad we traveled to experience it!

 

[Out-to-Lunch]

It was a total washout for us. I was near Rochester, NY. Thick clouds rolled in before first contact, and lasted until after last contact. It got dark, of course, which was pretty cool. However, the clouds actually screwed up the totality: we were close enough to the edge of the path of totality that we could see the clouds that were outside the shadow. So, even during totality, those clouds were lit up, and the horizon never got dark in that direction.

I am glad that I got to experience the 2017 eclipse in Oregon with decent conditions (only wildfire smoke to contend with).

 

[ERD50]

I thought this was pretty creative and really better than what I saw.

It's as if I was there!

-ERD50

 

[ERD50]

This is exactly like the view I had from central Arkansas! I saw that same bright red "dot" at the bottom, exactly like in this picture, and it was spellbinding. Apparently it was a solar prominence erupting tens of thousands of miles out from the sun and looping back in due to strong magnetic fields. Wow... just WOW! The whole thing from start to finish was beyond spectacular for me and DW.

I checked and it was indeed Venus and Jupiter, and there was a solar flare.

Yes, a solar prominence (similar to a solar flare). This article goes into it:

https://qz.com/2024-total-solar-eclipse-bright-red-dots-1851397840

We saw those planets clearly, and several of the red dots (~ 6:00 and 6:30 positions were the brightest for us, confirmed by other observers).

As I mentioned earlier, we set up our chairs next to a Father/Daughter couple, and had the good fortune/coincidence to learn that the daughter was an actual astrophysicist! She picked out Betelgeuse as well, but I couldn't make it out.

We joked that we would address her by her full name, since we that's what all the astrophysicists we know of go by (Neil deGrasse Tyson), so we did - lot's of kidding around, and her Father was an interesting guy as well.

Maybe I'll write this up later, but I think I now have a way to explain why totality is so different from 90-something % coverage. I previously heard people just say it is, but not why. But yes, 97% is not just 3% away from totality, it is really a completely different experience.

Oh, and the Solar Eclipse Timer app that we used was helpful - it gave you audio cues of what to look for when, so you weren't distracted trying to look at notes, or forget something. We definitely felt the air chill and the wind pick up as it approached. And as silly as it seems, we did observe the shadows of the hairs on our arms, as they are much sharper with the less diffuse light during totality.

-ERD50

 

[Time2]

My two kids and I made a 5 day event out of the eclipse. We all flew into Chicago, did the Museum of Science and Industry, Museum of Surgical Science (eh), the Navy Pier, and a couple of fine restaurants. We then drove to Dayton to the Air Force Museum, some more restaurants and a comedy club, then headed towards Cleveland. We got detoured by Grandpas Cheese Barn and Sweeties Jumbo Chocolates near Ashland Ohio. We saw people setting up to watch, so, we bought cheeses, crackers, smoked meats, and chocolates got out the chairs, blankets and glasses and stayed there. It was perfect!! Enough people to oow and ahh, but zero traffic problem when we left.

It was tech lesson for me. My kids are 29 and 31, everything was done on their phones, Navigation (sent to the cars onscreen display, finding restaurants, finding the comedy club, finding parking, paying for parking on their phone, ordering Ubers, setting up the Air BnBs. Without them setting up everything it could/would have been stressful, instead, it was very enjoyable. As I kept saying I'm along for the ride! It was great!

 

[audreyh1]

OK, I get it now. Here is a great view of the moon shadow covering a small bit of earth and you can see how it is black - like night there. From a camera on one of the Starlink satellites.

https://twitter.com/x/status/1777441354588791206

 

[Gumby]

Yes, a solar prominence (similar to a solar flare). This article goes into it:

https://qz.com/2024-total-solar-eclipse-bright-red-dots-1851397840
...

Thanks. I always thought they were the same thing. I am happy to have learned something new.

 

[ERD50]

Thanks. I always thought they were the same thing. I am happy to have learned something new.

Heck, I'm not even sure I understand the difference after reading it!

-ERD50

 

[ERD50]

OK, I get it now. Here is a great view of the moon shadow covering a small bit of earth and you can see how it is black - like night there. ...

But it's not observed as black as night. There still is light from the corona. You see twilight in all 360 degrees around you. So more like a while after dusk, dark, but not like night.

We all clearly felt the air get cooler.

-ERD50

 

[Gumby]

After discussion with the young wife, we agreed that if we had to spend time with a crowd of people, it couldn't get much better than a crowd of eclipse watchers. We were at Cumberland Bay State Park in Plattsburgh, NY, and the crowd was one of the more polite, friendly and interesting groups of people I have ever met. We struck up conversations with different people as we all waited patiently in line for the bathroom and also spoke with the people who had set down all around us. I couldn't tell you anyone's politics or religious views, but I could tell you that every single person was interested in the world and its wonders. We saw no drinking or bad behavior at all. People were reading or talking quietly among themselves until the eclipse started, and then they were all silently observing the spectacle. We were among the last to leave and noted that there was not a speck of litter where all the people had been just a short time ago. It was almost as amazing as the eclipse itself.

 

[yakers]

Great Day

Had a great day at CALTECH, they had telescopes stu up and astronomers to talk to and, pictures, data and a fun time, the geeks enjoyed the public interest, expected 200 viewers and got 2,000+

 

[donheff]

I got lucky in Cleveland. The cloud forecast seemed pretty bad, but they turned out to be light and we got an excellent view of the entire eclipse, including totality. My astrophotography is through remote telescopes, so I was there simply to watch. I caught some cell phone pictures of the eclipse out of curiosity, but they are nothing to speak of.

If any of you caught the totality thru a good DSLR with a zoom lens, you may have more in your photos than you thought. A sungrazer comet was discovered during the eclipse and is visible about three solar lengths away. Most people crop their images tighter than that and darken the background for contrast. But if you have a HD image with about a 4-degree field of view and you stretch the background (highlights) a bit you may find that you got the comet as shown in this picture. The comet is circled in white at the lower left. The red circles are stars in the field of view, but the comet is brighter since it was heating up as it plunged into the sun.

 

[Exchme]

It was pretty close to perfect in Cape Girardeau, MO. We had a tad over 4 min of totality and clear sunny sky. This was my first total eclipse and WOW. I did not expect the sunset in every direction either, that was very cool. We are already back in our hotel in TN, took about 2 hours to drive the 84 miles. I avoided the interstates and took back roads...very little traffic.

From Texas to Missouri, reverse storm chasing.

Yes, it was not totally dark like photos suggest, the only completely black spot was the moon, then there was a gold ring of the sun's corona and then a dimly lit sky, including the "sunset" orange light from all horizons. Wow!

We travelled to Dallas and there were some clouds, but from our vantage point, they cleared for the 4 minutes of totality, worked out great.

 

[tutan]

... I caught some cell phone pictures of the eclipse out of curiosity, but they are nothing to speak of.

If any of you caught the totality thru a good DSLR with a zoom lens, you may have more in your photos than you thought. A sungrazer comet was discovered during the eclipse and is visible about three solar lengths away. Most people crop their images tighter than that and darken the background for contrast. But if you have a HD image with about a 4-degree field of view and you stretch the background (highlights) a bit you may find that you got the comet as shown in this picture. The comet is circled in white at the lower left. The red circles are stars in the field of view, but the comet is brighter since it was heating up as it plunged into the sun.

That’s really interesting! I’ve been relying on cell phones more and more and didn’t want to carry a bulky camera and lens in my carry-on. Thanks!

 

[braumeister]

We were at Cumberland Bay State Park in Plattsburgh, NY, and the crowd was one of the more polite, friendly and interesting groups of people I have ever met.

I remember being on an inspection team evaluating a unit at Plattsburgh when it was an Air Force base 50 years ago. It struck me as a really nice town, so I'm glad that it still is. We also had a radar station right across the lake in Vermont, and those were both extremely popular assignments for a lot of folks.