Last Solar eclipse for 600 million years

[davidmash]

https://www.yahoo.com/news/last-ever-total-solar-eclipse-132530476.html

is anyone in the path? Im too far south and too much going on for a road trip.

[Dubyagee]

Well. That title is wrong.

[davidmash]

Yep. You are right. I misread the article. I guess the last one will occur in 600 million years due to the moon getting farther from the earth.

Sorry.

[OM617YOTA]

Yep, prime viewing from my backyard. Have 12 family members coming in from out of state to see it, going to fill the yard with tents.

Traffic is supposed to be a fornicating nightmare, the population of the area is predicted to double for that weekend. We're going to stock up on necessities and other supplies and hunker down for the weekend. Keep the grill going and enjoy family time.

Looking forward to it.

[pj67coll]

My wife has family at ground zero in Wilbur Nebraska. So she's likely going to go back there to see it in person. I won't be able to though. Pity but I'm sure there's going to be a bunch of great imagery.

- Peter.

[Dubyagee]

Schools are out for this around here.

[davidmash]

Never seen a full eclipse. I think it would be a neat bucket list item but we are going out of town at the end of August and I have to much too do before then. May b next time.

[pj67coll]

Well that was a bust. My wife was completely overcasted at ground zero in Neraska, saw nothing. Really dissapointed for her. I actually managed to see more here in Phoenix even though the clouds messed it up. Ironic that one the one day in a decade you "don't" want clouds in Phoenix they just emerge right at the wrong moment. Managed to get a few shots of the beginning, end and a couple of ones in between with my homemade "Sun Gun" rear projection screen. Nothing spectacular though.

I think my wife and I will try to catch the next on in 2024 in Texas.

- Peter.

[OM617YOTA]

We threaded the needle here in my chunk of Oregon. Sunday night was starting to get hazy and cloudy, Monday morning was bright and clear with PERFECT eclipse viewing. Then Monday afternoon smoke haze started drifting in from wildfires.

I taped a lens from some eclipse glasses over my phone camera and got some OK shots, but nothing special. No good camera, no tripod or anything.

Traffic did turn out to be a disaster. Nothing in our small town, but main roads were an absolute mess. Girlfriend's parents left a little before 11am on what should have been a three hour drive, got home sometime after 9pm. They were wishing they had just stayed another night.

[cmac2012]

Originally Posted by pj67coll

Well that was a bust. My wife was completely overcasted at ground zero in Neraska, saw nothing. Really dissapointed for her. I actually managed to see more here in Phoenix even though the clouds messed it up. Ironic that one the one day in a decade you "don't" want clouds in Phoenix they just emerge right at the wrong moment. Managed to get a few shots of the beginning, end and a couple of ones in between with my homemade "Sun Gun" rear projection screen. Nothing spectacular though.

I think my wife and I will try to catch the next on in 2024 in Texas.

- Peter.

You didn't miss much. Totality is what's worth seeing/experiencing.

The path of totality went through WA state in '79 when I was living in Seattle. Olympia, where my parents lived, was on the edge - would have about 45 seconds of totality. My dad and I drove about 60 miles south, would yield a couple of minutes. It was a crapshoot as it was mostly overcast, with patches of clearing. We pulled off on a side road, near a farm, and after it got dark we could see dogs doing a mild freak out. It slowly darkened, sort of like just after sunset then suddenly it went to 3 AM level darkness, as if with a switch. Pretty wild. We had cloud cover but it was still dramatic. Roosters started crowing.

Then after couple of minutes, up came the lights, again as if with a switch. I gave a couple of the glasses I made (crude cardboard frame, 4 layers of the mylar) to my mother who went outside with a couple of coworkers to watch it. Olympia enjoyed a total break in clouds for the event. Just my luck. She saw the whole thing. Her boss at the stock brokerage firm wasn't interested in even going outside (?!). Never did like that guy, just a cold fish.

Later while driving home, the sun peeked out and I used the glasses to see the partial eclipse. Very small consolation, the sun may as well have been 99% brightness.

[ILUVMILS]

Here in NJ we had ~75% coverage. It was noticeably cooler and the sky darkened somewhat. I made a quickie pin-hole projector to view it periodically, although there were a few co-workers with solar glasses, which looked really cool. The last partial eclipse I saw was Christmas Day 2000.......

[elchivito]

75% here, surprised at how bright it stayed. Figured it'd be 3/4 dark. No. My telescope has a solar viewer so I set it up at school. All the kids had glasses as well. Pretty cool.

[pj67coll]

Originally Posted by cmac2012

You didn't miss much. Totality is what's worth seeing/experiencing.

Yes, I know. That's why I was sorry for my wife who had gone back to the family farm because it was in the middle of the path of totality but the previous night they had 3 inches of rain in an hour and nearly a tornado and was completely overcast the whole time of the eclipse itself. I think we shall plan for the next one, maybe in Texas, maybe further east but I think you need to be mobile enough to get to good weather quickly assuming you have clouds.

- Peter.

[davidmash]

Assuming I am still in TX which I do not see changing, I'm planing for Apr 8, 2024. I asked my boss if I could have that day off. Got a weird look till I explained why. We only book vacations 1 yr out.... he said to get back to him.

[sunedog]

Went out on Lake Murray in central SC with our crew of regular friends, rafted 10 boats together and had a big time.