Topic: Eclipse 2024

[Mike]

IIRC several of you are near the path of totality.  Anyone doing anything for it?

My wife and I are flying to Memphis and driving up Poplar Bluff, MO for it.  After the 2017 eclipse I decided I wanted to travel to experience the totality and had it on my calendar since then. Back in July I made our travel plans.

Really hoping the weather holds as it is supposed to be raining on Sunday and Tuesday but only partially cloudy on Monday.

[Jake]

it's cool, I guess, but I don't get why people are going completely nuts over it. Day like any other day, as far as I am concerned.

this map is awesome though

[ober]

My parents are coming out from PA. I am in the 100% totality path.  They shut down all the schools and they are ramping up police and EMS ahead of it.  It's supposed to be nuts around here.  My plan is to hunker down until all the people GTFO lol.

[Mike]

My parents are coming out from PA. I am in the 100% totality path.  They shut down all the schools and they are ramping up police and EMS ahead of it.  It's supposed to be nuts around here.  My plan is to hunker down until all the people GTFO lol.

That is part of the reason I avoided the larger cities, I knew it'd be just nuts. It's also why I'm coming in the day before and leaving the day after.

[charlie]

My wife spent most of her childhood in northwest Ohio and we've always talked about taking a trip to see where she grew up. But we never ended up doing it.

But then I found out that her old hometown is in the path of totality for this eclipse. AND it's happening during the week of our kids' spring break. It's perfect. She only has to take a couple days off and we can all go experience the eclipse in person and also be able to finally get to see where she grew up.

Alas, for several reasons we never actually decided to do it and never booked the trip. So I'll be at home seeing 30% coverage through my possibly fake eclipse glasses we got from Amazon if I get lucky and that day is the one day we aren't completely covered by clouds.

Kinda sad it didn't work out. That would have been one of the rare trips where I was the most excited to go.

[ober]

Northwest Ohio?  I'm in NEO and that's in the totality.  Whereabouts were you headed?

[charlie]

Bowling Green. My plan was to stay Sunday night somewhere near the exact path and then Saturday or Tuesday go to her old hometown. Maybe also stop in Toronto or Chicago or something to make it a proper trip.

Funny thing was I saw a tiktok that said the two best weather locations right now look like Ohio Valley and Northern Maine. My other option was to visit an old family friend in Northern Maine. Doh!

[Mike]

Oh man, that would have been a great trip.

So, we got to our destination and the town has really prepared for this. They've got five viewing spots set up and shuttles for them. I think we are going to go to the community college that is really close and attend the talk beforehand.

[charlie]

Sweet.

Weather forecast is good?

[Mike]

Not too bad, partial cloud and 81. Apparently, it is better than other areas which is causing even more people to come here. They were initially expecting about 20,000 people but have increased the estimate to 40,000.  In a city of 16,000.  The town has apparently been prepping since the 2017 eclipse which was close but not in the path of totality.

[Mike]

Really awesome experience. We had great weather and clear skies. The presentations were a mixed bag as the astronaut was interesting, the physics professor had good information, but the astrophysics PhD candidate was speaking to the wrong crowd.

Totally worth the trip. The next US one in 20 years will only be a few hours away from us so maybe we'll make another trip.

[charlie]

Awesome.

We saw the partial here with glasses. It was actually pretty cool on its own. This was the first time we had glasses (or remembered where they were) for a partial eclipse and it was clear skies so we got to see the pacman fully.

[ober]

The weather was amazing here in Cleveland.  Only a few clouds but we could see it perfectly the whole time.  It was WILD when it went full totality.  I thought it would be cool but it was better than I expected.

[Mike]

I thought it would be cool but it was better than I expected.

That is probably the most succinct way to put it.

We were laying out on the grass at the college and marveled at how little of the sun was needed to light the area. Then in totality, seeing the corona and was I eventually learned were the solar prominences was amazing. I've seen a few pictures of the corona but most pictures (like mine) don't do it justice.

One thing that we thought about afterwards was that with solar glasses the process takes awhile but without them it really is a sudden event. Yeah, there are some subtle changes leading up to and afterwards but not so drastic as we were expecting. Until totality the sun was bright enough that you can't look at it directly. So, I can totally understand how the ancients were like "what the fuck is this, fuck the gods are pissed" and change what they were doing. One minute things are normal and then suddenly everything goes dark, it is basically dusk, and the sun has a fucking hole in it.

[ober]

Yeah, if I didn't know what was happening, that would have freaked me out lol.  The 'surround sunset' was awesome too.  Like a sunset in every direction.  And it was cool to look at it without the glasses when it was in totality but I was watching as the sun started to peek out the other side and it was like BAM, blinding!  Sort of just reminds you how bright that fucking thing is.  The prominence (the big one) was cool to see too because you could notice it with the naked eye.

I honestly hope I get to see it again in my lifetime.  Truly a unique experience.