Solar Eclipse chasers

if you think about it, there's an eclipse every time the sun goes behind a cloud

except you don't get perfectly circular clouds that by astonishing coincidence appear exactly the same size as the sun in the sky, making their exact alignment so satisfyingly rare

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v472/birdnestsoup/clipse.jpg

rode my bike out on to the downs this morning to see this thing, but it was so cloudy here, i only got the briefest and dingiest of glimpses. i enjoyed the odd crepuscular atmosphere though. passed a bunch of black-clad witchy looking people all assembling to celebrate at this little hindu temple thing we have here in the middle of nowhere, that was a bit creepy. found a nice spot by a dew pond, had visions of getting a nice photo of the eclipse reflected on the surface of the water, but the combination of shitty ipod camera and the thick cloud cover put paid to that. also the wind really picked up as the temperature dropped so this pond was a mess of muddy ripples anyway. sat amongst the cow turds and listened to some bonged-out sinister hippy nonsense to try and really feel the vibe, but that was quite creepy too and it made me keep checking over my shoulder to make sure the witchy folk hadn't crept up through the gorse behind me. so i switched that off and listened to the wind and the birds instead. poor confused birds: a bunch of pied wagtails going off to roost again so shortly after waking, gulls and crow gathering in their little flocks and dithering about in the sky like bored teenagers in a mcdonalds carpark. watched the cars switching their lights on in the distance. was joined by two dog walkers yacking on about i dunno, schools and stuff, and their fucking black labrador jumped into the fucking pond and started flubbering about all over the place, so that roused me from my cosmic ruminations. got back on my bike, came in to work.

I remember I watched the '99 one on the tv screen in the Dublin Tower. Now I just saw the one today through a bunch of clouds and the moon got in the way.
Took a lot of photos but my camera battery ran out before i could get them transfered to my computer or see if anything came out. Phone was also running really low.

Will see what I got in a while but presumably only after having seen photos from everybody else.

the clouds parted just after maximum coverage here in glasgow - it was pretty amazing:

http://i1247.photobucket.com/albums/gg622/bizarrogazzara/Eclipse1_zpslb4mzqih.jpg

oh i like that. a glimpse of the moon's white undies as it bends towards the heavens

except you don't get perfectly circular clouds that by astonishing coincidence appear exactly the same size as the sun in the sky, making their exact alignment so satisfyingly rare

― Eyeball Kicks, Friday, March 20, 2015 11:10 AM (49 minutes ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

haha, was more a comment on the weather, am very much down for ruminating upon the majesty of celestial bodies

http://www.davidicke.com/wordpress/wp-content/uploads/2015/03/Untitled-713-587x395.jpg

Could not find eclipse glasses anywhere (had been looking for the past week, by which time they'd already sold out from basically everywhere online), too lazy to build a pinhole camera affair, was in the office anyway: watched it online, only for my boss to come in late and go "WHHOOOAOOA did you ALL SEEEE" - uh no, we were here in the office <sadface>.

Still, saw the last one (though not from the path of totality), could go somewhere ridiculously hot and in the middle of an ocean or desert to see some more I guess.

i like how the sun's come out NOW

yeah it's a lovely day here now. come back moon!

I was asleep

Apparently the whole thing was hidden behind a wall of grey cloud here so I missed nothing. It's a lovely day now tho, sitting in the (warm!) sunshine drinking a beer by the river, perfect equinox vibes. Got grazed by a trio of gulls emerging from the river, but the impressive wingbeats were not enough to disturb my tranquility or hair (it was only minutes later it occurred to me to check that the dampness I'd felt was indeed river water rather than guano, which would have spoiled my mood a bit). Took a photograph of two German women drinking stout. Maybe the moon is super but I'm appreciating the sun rn

fuck that, i demand a reclipse

LOL at power surge from everybody heading inside

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/science/science-news/11485604/Solar-eclipse-huge-power-surge-as-disappointed-Brits-headed-indoors-for-a-cup-of-tea.html

Haha

Bollocks it is, mate

i read that in the style of sleaford mods

icke is from leicester iirc, so not a million miles away from sleaford mod country

damn, i'm hoping for collab of some sort now

the smell of piss is so strong in 'ere it smells like anunnaki

He wrote his second book in 1989, It Doesn't Have To Be Like This, an outline of his views on the environment, and was involved with the Green Party from 1988 to 1991, soon becoming one of their four Principal Speakers, a position the party created in lieu of a leader. The Observer called him "the Greens' Tony Blair."[17] He was regularly present at high-profile events. He was invited in 1989 to debate animal rights during a televised debate at the Royal Institute of Great Britain, alongside Tom Regan, Mary Warnock and Germaine Greer, and in September 1990 his name appeared on advertisements for a children's charity along with Audrey Hepburn, Woody Allen and other celebrities.[18]

Despite his success, he wrote that 1989 was a time of considerable personal despair for him, and it was during this period that he said he began to feel a presence around him.[19] In March 1990, while standing in a newsagent's, he felt that a magnetic force was pulling his feet to the ground, and said he heard a voice tell him to look at a particular section of books. One of the books was by Betty Shine, a psychic healer in Brighton. He decided to visit her to ask for help with his arthritis.[20] Shine told him during their third meeting that she had a message for him from the spirit world. She said that he had been sent to heal the Earth, and would become famous but would face opposition. The spirit world was going to pass ideas to him, which he would speak about to others, sometimes not understanding the words himself. She said he would write five books in three years; that in 20 years there would be a different kind of flying machine, where we could go wherever we wanted and time would have no meaning; and there would be earthquakes in unusual places, because the inner earth was being destabilised by having oil taken from the seabed.

Bollocks it is, mate.

I quite enjoyed the event. For a quarter of an hour I liked my colleagues more than usual.

I may come to regret buying eclipse viewing glasses from a bloke on Oxford's Cowley Road for two quid, though.

If I go blind tonight, it has been nice knowing you all (kind of).

In the scheme of solar system events nothing has topped Hale Bopp for me. Eclipses are very pretty but I don't get this shit where adults talk like they previously held pre-enlightenment beliefs until they saw a solar eclipse, like gravitational force doesn't quite convey to them that we are on a spinning rock! A couple of months ago I was reading about that rogue star (with a dimmer satellite companion) that grazed the oort cloud in a cosmic near miss incident 70000 years ago, that is what you call a solar event, although I guess it probably just looked like a very bright star from earth's vantage but at least there wasn't Brian Cox + BBC News 24 back then.

I live right next to an observatory and so there were a bunch of (mostly amateur) scientists and film crews and school groups out with equipment and it was cloudy but in a thin way so the sun poked through enough to see the eclipse steadily. It was only about a 70% eclipse down here but I got to see it through equipment at maximum.

schools weren't supposed to let kids out to watch it because they are dumbasses but they went out anyway, answering the kosmik imperative I guess. my son said one kid stared at it a really long time and then his vision was all yellow afterward, I dunno, maybe that's worth it.

now I have Coldplay in my head

nobody said it was easy

None to be had locally, so I ordered some eclipse glasses for next month. (we'll get 92% occultation)

not looking forward to the ONE MILLION extra people coming to Oregon

predictions are for 5 to 15 (!!) hour traffic delays

what the hell

also predicted: rural areas running out of weed and alcohol:

http://www.kgw.com/news/eclipse/eclipse-creating-record-demand-for-oregon-liquor-marijuana/459535936

Roadtripping to the Nebraska/Wyoming/Colorado border area for this. No way the eastern Oregon road infrastructure can take it

we're gonna be in eastern Oregon 1-2 weeks before and I'm hoping it isn't gonna be too much of a clusterfuck by the 13th when we get home to hunker down

My first trip back to Mid-Missouri in awhile. Of course this thing is flying right over Columbia.

https://webcache.googleusercontent.com/search?q=cache:is93ZejjQmoJ:https://www.craigslist.org/about/best/sfo/6256316306.html+&cd=3&hl=en&ct=clnk&gl=us

Wanted woman who wants to conceive child during totality eclipse in OR
I am 40 years of age, caucasian male from Europe. My heritage is strong and pure.

My looks, instincts, knowledge and strength is 100% pure and 100% lethal.

I am looking for a worthy female with strong genes, beauty and smarts. To join me - to experience the totality eclipse in Oregon.

Exact place not set.

If we have chemistry, I would like for us to make love while the eclipse is happening.

When totality occurs, we will have simultaneous orgasms and we will conceive a child that will be on the next level of human evolution.

We will make love together, with me and my penis directed towards the sun.
Everything will be aligned in the local universe.
Both of our cosmic orgasmic energy will be aligned with the planets.

In a brief moment of ecstasy, we will understand everything, and together, create a new universe. Full of love...

You must like cats. Drugs are OK. Nitrous Oxide while we climax and experience totality and conception, is OK with me.

You must like cats.

This guy needs to stick it where the sun don't shine - o wait.

posted by a local on FB:

These are things I have either heard people say or seen posted re the eclipse:

"Will cell phones still work?" (at VD)

"There won't be another one for 830 years." (facebook)

"Are you guys worried about shortages? Everything will be closed for a while cause of the eclipse, so people are going to stock up on food and water." (Kiva checkout line)

"How many days will it be dark for?" (at VD)

"Make sure you charge your phone Sunday night, because the grid will go down." (at VD)

"They're going to charge $25 per person for everyone who is outside for it, and all those people from other states are coming here because there's no sales tax in Oregon." (in line at ATM near Saturday Market)

"I'm requesting to take Monday, 8/21 off because it will be way too dangerous to come to work." (VD)

"All the computers will stop working, so get your cash out of the bank before it starts." People I was eavesdropping on by river)

"It's going to be 100% dark! Nobody will be able to see unless they wear special glasses." (Friend's mom)

"Cats and dogs need to be kept indoors or they will go blind." (At VD)

also re: an "Eclipse Party" - "my kids are in school that day, can it be postponed?"

http://time.com/4902109/total-eclipse-of-the-heart-bonnie-tyler-cruise/

i'm thinking about a spur of the moment all-day drive to see eclipse in nebraska, a little near omaha. any denizens in the area know of traffic snarls or other concerns?

traffic already backed up for 14 miles in central Oregon

http://www.bendbulletin.com/localstate/5523721-151/eclipse-traffic-already-backing-up-begin-in-central

i like that this dude in the 1st post was already cognizant of the upcoming 1

The next one in the States won't happen until 2017, I think.. and it's only going to brush the Northwest.
― Brian MacDonald, Sunday, October 28, 2001 8:00 PM (fifteen years ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

keep chasing that darkness, brian

i'm thinking about a spur of the moment all-day drive to see eclipse in nebraska, a little near omaha. any denizens in the area know of traffic snarls or other concerns?

Keep an eye on @Nebraska511 on Twitter. It's the Nebraska Dept. of Transportation and they're updating. There's also phone apps.

(on my way to Alliance, Nebraska in the western part of the state)

things I have either heard people say or seen posted re the eclipse: "Will cell phones still work?"

This one has a sort of tangential relevance, at least here in Oregon. Near the path of totality there will be far more people than normal, no more cell towers than before, and much of this combination will occur in highly rural areas. The cell phone capacity is likely going to be totally overwhelmed.

"Are you guys worried about shortages? Everything will be closed for a while cause of the eclipse, so people are going to stock up on food and water." (Kiva checkout line)

people are totally stocking up on food and water. everybody has gone batshit crazy about this for the past week. at my workplace we've gotten special emails about how to prepare for the emergency, with stuff talking about the power grid going out, nobody being able to get anywhere, etc., etc. it's not like there are a whole hell of a lot of roads that will take you to salem.

I'm drunk in a Nebraska cattle pasture. AMA.

So, then, everything's just fine for the nonce.

my house is in 99.6% coverage area. path of totality is 15 miles north. but that 15 miles could take a couiple hours to travel thx to traffic.

def the "once in a lifetime" opportunity appeals to me, and everything you read says "if you can get to totality, you MUST!" but i'm also wondering if i should avoid the stress and just enjoy 99.6% from the roof of my house.

thoughts, ilx?

i vote totality.

^^^^ Yes, here as well; peaked just over an hour ago, as foretold. Sky was full of grim cloud cover since morning, but cleared to blue skies after noon.

(86% here, no perceptual darkness)

It was definitely a lot darker here. As if someone attached a dimmer switch to the sun

97% eclipse in Washington I think, it got pretty dim. I saw a sliver of sunlight hit a power line, and for that moment, the powerline was just...so...beautiful (tearing up because I gave myself cataracts looking at the sun).

it definitely got dim and shadowy here. like me.

Will the real dim shady please stand up ..

95% in Boston, apparently, but really the darkness was barely noticeable (I didn't use special glasses, was just sitting in the yard waiting for the gloom to envelope me.) If you hadn't known about the eclipse you'd have just assumed some random cloud cover passed over.

you guys, it looked really cool. 90% or whatever. and i hate everything.

Clear skies but only 50% coverage in SoCal, though I still noticed a change in the light (not so much darker, but oddly "different," like approaching dusk but without any of the golden-ness of dusk). I work next to an animal shelter and the dogs were barking more than usual.

i think i got too much sun though. i should know better than to go outside. i feel woozy.

It's very cloudy in Austin, and the clouds peaked right for me right at the point of total eclipse. Still, I was able to catch a few seconds of it, and quite a lot of partial eclipse before and after. Got a whole bunch of cool videos on my phone.

the dimness did have an ominous feel to it. but maybe i was imagining that.

It felt sort of like how you feel before you faint or pass out.

91% occlusion here. It was too cloudy to see the disc, but it got dark enough for the streetlights to come on. My wife and daughter were at a park in Conway AR with mostly clear skies and said it was amazing.

The peak here (NYC) was 90%, which was enough to give the light outside a kind of eerie quality. I think it's because the light was dimmer than usual, but the spectrum of light was whiter, like when the sun is directly overhead, rather than the redder light typical of sunsets and sunrises (when its light passes through more of the earth's atmosphere).

Yeah that's a good point, it was stilly fully and recognizably daylight out but it wasn't any yellower. But yeah that 10% that we weren't occluded made it almost unnoticeable. It's remarkable that we normally get 90% more sun exposure than that and it feels almost the same (to a person) but makes a huge difference to the natural world and the available energy.

Even with the cloud cover, it was pretty cool in Rochester. From the George Eastman House: https://www.facebook.com/reel/410729598372567

ok so here in ne Knoxville the eclipse lacked luster. we were 89% totality here. I guess that 11% matters

It definitely does - I found this video from 2017 just to get an idea what totality would be like and at the end the guy mentions how even the smallest sliver of sun makes a huge difference (and you see it by how fast everything darkens and lights up - it’s not very gradual, it's surprisingly fast).

yeah, they said the shadow travels around 1,500 miles per hour on the ground

It's really cool how some of the accounts I found from lifelong chasers talk about how various animals react differently. Like bees will suddenly swarm back to their hive, cows will start walking back to the barn, some marine mammals will pop up to the surface and kind of look around, and of course the crickets start chirping...next total eclipse passes through Spain (between Madrid and Barcelona) and Iceland in 2026 and I think a year after that it'll pass through Spain again. I've been meaning to go to Iceland someday and have been hoping to go back to Spain soon so who knows, would be great to make that work.

I was surprised to learn that total eclipses happen 2-5 times every year, but rarely over such a populated path as today

IM me if UR a fellow millennial who read Edward Bloor's Tangerine in eight grade and were left wondering (after the big reveal) if it might actually be okay to look directly at the sun without protection during an eclipse

I spent this eclipse (Southern New Hampshire, 97% obscuration) sitting alone in the middle of a town hall green and looking at the sun every few minutes through a cardboard pinhole camera. I got a barebones view of the progression and noted a slight dimness/chill, but overall it was kind of a bummer, and I was mostly just disappointed that I didn't have the foresight to get the special glasses. I looked directly at the sun for a second during peak coverage, but the only impression I got was "IT BRIGHT". oh well

Already scheming on getting out to Spain for that 2026 one.

at the end the guy mentions how even the smallest sliver of sun makes a huge difference (and you see it by how fast everything darkens and lights up - it’s not very gradual, it's surprisingly fast).

Yes, that's what I found in the moment of totality. Just the shift from 99.5% to 100% coverage seemed incredibly dramatic. The light on the horizons was amazing too, like simultaneous sunsets in both directions.

I didn't even realize until getting there that when the sun is fully covered, it's safe to take off your glasses and look at the eclipse.

It definitely does - I found this video from 2017 just to get an idea what totality would be like and at the end the guy mentions how even the smallest sliver of sun makes a huge difference (and you see it by how fast everything darkens and lights up - it’s not very gradual, it's surprisingly fast).

― birdistheword, Monday, April 8, 2024 6:05 PM (forty-two minutes ago)

if you've ever tried to blackout curtain your bedroom because you're very sensitive to light...

Made it to just SE of Llano, Texas and watched it from the side of the road. That wall of dark that comes at you is something - birds were restless, the wind kicked up

Little late posting this, but this is pretty cool: weirdest things that happen during a total solar eclipse.

This is hilarious:

“It turns out that Galapagos tortoises had a remarkable reaction,” Hartstone-Rose says. “Right at the moment of totality, they started mating behaviour. As in, they literally started breeding in front of everybody, before our eyes.”

it's from the Daily Mail so you know it's been well-researched

Americans suffering from 'eclipse sickness', including insomnia, headaches and changes to women's periods

* Eclipse sickness has been used to explain weird side effects of the event
* People have also reported feeling more anxious and emotional

(strangely, I had a bout of insomnia last night which is not all that common for me)

I think i have it. I changed into a locust.

My wife and daughter have a hotel room in Little Rock tonight, but my wife's cousin had to get back to Birmingham for a work meeting. It took her four hours to get from LR to Memphis.

It doesn't look like fun over there.

https://i.imgur.com/RYelXVI.png

https://i.imgur.com/8mid9GK.png

My shot of the day.

https://i.imgur.com/AJNi0Bq.png

Memphis didn't get 100% totality, but Chip Somodevilla did get this:

https://i.imgur.com/WfMlcag.jpeg