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"In the words of Steve Winwood, Roll With It!"
(set 28 days ago)
Location: State of the closed-minded
296 posts, read 217,449 times
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One good thing I will say about the event today, the pesky spammers/scammers/robocallers seem to have taken a day off, still plenty of junk email, but my phones have been silent, unlike most weekdays.
Well it was worth the drive. I was just NW of Grand Island NE... I had to drive there to get full sun and escape the clouds.. 85 miles each way further from my original destination of beatrise. Definitely worth seeing once if you're a science geek. I picked a dead end gravel road by myself where it was just me, the sunflowers, corn, and insects. . This is where I ultimately stopped:
It's breathtaking to see totality really. The nearby clouds we're still bright and kept it a bit lighter than if it had been completely clear from horizon to horizon...
I'm sure YouTube will be full of people trying to get their 15 minutes of Fame with their over the top reactions. . That was my first totality. I probably won't go out of my way to see another in my lifetime. This one happened to be close enough and coincided with my larger vacation. Once you've seen it once theres no need to see it again.. it's kind of vividly stamped into memory like what I was doing on 9/11 or any other significant event.
Saw the Eclipse in Madison, Kentucky. A clear sky and a 2:35 total eclipse time. And to be honest, I was disappointed. The surroundings were not totally dark, and the sky was bright enough that there were few stars visible: things I thought would occur. When you hear wild stories about the beauty and how the event brings people to tears, perhaps disappointed is I enviable.
>>>. I was listening to the idiot of the year being interviewed on Fox as he was talking about peoples reactions to the Eclipse and the trips they made to see it. He praised the desire for people to witness a scientific marvel and to embrace nature and the world around them. BS. People just want to be part of something and to be entertained and go along with whatever the crowds do and what they're told they should be doing. They'd line up to see a volcano erupt and to see a tidal wave and not think twice about the science involved. Its all hype, one big circus.
Still, nature puts on quite a show.
Interesting take. Because science is precisely why we drive miles to celebrate seeing an eclipse. I think most people know darn well that an eclipse happens when the moon blocks the sun, and they know that's possible because they know something about the structure of the solar system. I'm sure they know they learned this in science class, and not in sunday school or however they were taught religion. The crowd of random strangers at a highway rest stop who surrounded me were indeed explaining to their children the science of the eclipse, the science of how to safely watch it using eye protection or projection onto white paper, and why the shadows on the ground were so interesting.
There may have been non-scientifically literate cultures who celebrated eclipses, but AFAIK, the general reaction used to be terror and foreboding, not delight.
It was my first TSE, and I think it was the single most beautiful thing I've ever seen. I understand why people chase eclipses around the world, if I had the means, I would too.
You got some great photos there. I see you were able to capture what they call the "diamond ring" That's awesome!!
Where I live, we weren't completely blacked out. Probably lost 75% of light which equated to nothing more than when clouds move in front of the sun. It's been fun looking at all the photos taken by people who were in the direct path of the eclipse.
Saw the Eclipse in Madison, Kentucky. A clear sky and a 2:35 total eclipse time. And to be honest, I was disappointed. The surroundings were not totally dark, and the sky was bright enough that there were few stars visible: things I thought would occur. When you hear wild stories about the beauty and how the event brings people to tears, perhaps disappointed is I enviable.
I wouldn't say I was disappointed but I was very surprised by how light it stayed. When I hear people talk about seeing the stars during an eclipse, I think about it being like the night sky. When I watched this eclipse, I did not see a night sky. I saw no stars what so ever. What I saw was a very abnormally extreamly dark blue sky, the sun with a black dot (the moon) in front of it, and I saw Venus and Jupiter on each side. Which are not stars, they are planets, and they are often visible in the daytime even when there is no eclipse.
On the plus side I was really amazed to see the moon in front of the sun in 3D, and be able to look right at it. It looked nothing like images or video of it. I didn't even buy eclipse glasses, because to me watching a circle slowly disappear on a filter is not very interesting. But actually seeing the moon in front of the sun with my own eyes was amazing. It's one of those things that you just can't describe, or even show with pictures or video.
I think for the future I would tell people that a total eclipse doesn't really get that dark, and forget about a partial eclipse. If an average person was outside during a partial eclipse, and didn't know it was happening, they would probably never even notice it. That said, I hope I can see at least one more total eclipse.
We traveled to central Nebraska for the eclipse and stayed in Kearney. The university there put on a big public event at their stadium for several thousand viewers, but we decided to find a quiet place about a mile from US Hwy 183 about 40 miles NW of town. It was a beautiful late summer day with clear skies and the eclipse was spectacular. We only had some meadowlarks for company and the rural postman drove by once.
Looking forward to the 2024 event which will be a lot closer to home.
I wouldn't say I was disappointed but I was very surprised by how light it stayed. When I hear people talk about seeing the stars during an eclipse, I think about it being like the night sky. When I watched this eclipse, I did not see a night sky. I saw no stars what so ever. What I saw was a very abnormally extreamly dark blue sky, the sun with a black dot (the moon) in front of it, and I saw Venus and Jupiter on each side. Which are not stars, they are planets, and they are often visible in the daytime even when there is no eclipse.
On the plus side I was really amazed to see the moon in front of the sun in 3D, and be able to look right at it. It looked nothing like images or video of it. I didn't even buy eclipse glasses, because to me watching a circle slowly disappear on a filter is not very interesting. But actually seeing the moon in front of the sun with my own eyes was amazing. It's one of those things that you just can't describe, or even show with pictures or video.
I think for the future I would tell people that a total eclipse doesn't really get that dark, and forget about a partial eclipse. If an average person was outside during a partial eclipse, and didn't know it was happening, they would probably never even notice it. That said, I hope I can see at least one more total eclipse.
Here is something to think about. .. well, maybe think about. If the eclipse were an everyday thing and nights were rare events, people would be astounded and even traumatized by night: total darkness and in the sky overhead many thousands of tiny illuminated specks visible known as stars. People would be saying, "Who would have thought that the cosmos was so incredibly vast."
Here is something to think about. .. well, maybe think about. If the eclipse were an everyday thing and nights were rare events, people would be astounded and even traumatized by night: total darkness and in the sky overhead many thousands of tiny illuminated specks visible known as stars. People would be saying, "Who would have thought that the cosmos was so incredibly vast."
You've just described the classic science fiction story "Nightfall" by Isaac Asimov.
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. This is where I ultimately stopped:
I see you were able to capture what they call the "diamond ring" That's awesome!!
