you only had to look down
you only had to look down
My three favorite things are the Oxford comma, irony and missed opportunities
The problem with humanity is: we have paleolithic emotions; medieval institutions; and God-like technology. Edward O. Wilson
We watched it from our yard. The eclipse started at 9:04 AM and peaked at 10:21 AM with 99% coverage at our place. I took this pick at 10:21 holding the dark viewing glasses over my camera lens. It was noticeably darker outside at the peak, but not as much as we had expected. That tiny 1% sliver throws off a surprising amount of light. The temperature dropped 7 or 8 degrees which was eerie. At the peak it was dead quiet...everyone stopped doing what they were doing, cars were off the road...except for dogs barking and howling. I guess the darkness bothered them. Our lab was anxious and whining as the light dimmed.
We live close to the totality zone but decided to not drive up (normally 20 mins) due to the massive amount of traffic on all the roads in central Oregon. It was quite an event, and added badly needed $millions to the local economy.
Scott Vroom
I started with absolutely nothing. Now, thanks to years of hard work, careful planning, and perseverance, I find I still have most of it left.
I didn't even bother to go outside for this. A local weatherman and astronomer drove from Minneapolis to Grand Island, Nebraska for the eclipse and then drove back Monday getting in at 2 am due to all the traffic. That is simply nuts to me.
Tennessee was not like that, at least those I heard from. We live outside the totality so my wife drove to a spot about 20 miles away and got a good look without fighting any traffic. I drove almost 2 hours to a good friend's house but not because I had too but just to hang out. With all the media warnings of traffic insanity we worried about the traffic and left early. There was no need - I-40 traffic was light as normal and there were no traffic issues off the interstate either. All the motels, hotels and campgrounds were sold out in advance so that might have been a problem for last-minute travelers.
JKJ
We went to Hopkinsville, KY and the viewing was great. We had one small cloud pass by during the 30% partial phase, but then it was completely clear. At totality I took this photo.
IMG_2106-s.jpg
As it started getting dark the Cicadas started calling and then quit when it got dark. As it started getting light again they started calling again. When it was completely dark we had several bats start flying around. We didn't notice any birds and the dogs near us didn't seem to care. There were about 2,000 people near us and they all cheered when it went to totality. The temperature did drop about 7 degrees as it got close to totality and then went up again as the light came back.
We had no traffic problems around Hopkinsville. We left shortly after the total part and it took us maybe 15 minutes to leave the Fairgrounds and get on the highway. We had moderate traffic between Hopkinsville and I-24 and light traffic on I -24 headed back to Tennessee. Going North past Louisville and Cincinnati traffic was heavy, but we hit both places during their normal rush hour and there was a major detour on I-71 north due to the bridge closing across the Ohio river at Cincinnati.
Last edited by Lee Schierer; 08-24-2017 at 8:05 AM.
Lee Schierer
USNA '71
Go Navy!
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We drove from VA, spent Sunday night in Knoxville and drove to Sweetwater, TN about 9 AM, traffic was not bad, took 1 hour to get there (about 45 miles)...
Had a great experience for my daughter, grandson, great-grand-daughter.. perfect weather and clear sky...
When we left Sweetwater, it took 5 1/2 hours to get back to a motel in Knoxville !!!!!!!!!!!!!! Absurd... Police would only allow only so many cars to head north on I-75 and we were forced to go south for 8 miles then turn around to get on I-75 north !!!
This is a photo of what we saw using a small scope with solar filters..
Solar Eclipse with flares....jpg
If you can see the little red spots, they are solar flares at the time this was taken..
It was a headache traffic wise, but worth it for the kids to see / experience it...
Great shot! That was exactly what I saw through my big scope. But I suspect that shot was taken with the filter removed from the scope - the image was so dim during totality that I had to take the filter off to see the corona and red solar prominences. Could look at it with bare eyes then, through the unfiltered binoculars, and telescope.
That was the first time my my long life I've ever seen solar prominences except in photographs or video. Incredible.
Did you see the sunspots too? I set up the scope and filters on the binoculars and saw sunspots near the center two days before. On Monday those had moved significantly and a few more were visible coming around the limb.
JKJ
My 17 YO granddaughter really got into the eclipse spirit when she raided her makeup stash.
NOW you tell me...
We watched on TV. I look at lunar eclipses, not solar.