What are your eclipse plans?

I don't have any plans, in fact if I'm busy at that time, I might miss it entirely.

6' 1" - oh, my.
How time flies!

A tower sound goods if it would be a nice one..

It is. If you go see the totality it will be one of the most amazing things that you've ever seen. On the other hand, no totality = ho hum.



That's a mistake. If you go see the totality you will not regret it.



I'm going to go around Lake Michigan (the northern way around) and then make my way across Wisconsin to Interstate 90. From there I will drive to Buffalo WY where I have a hotel room reserved the night before the eclipse. On the morning of the eclipse I will get up very early and drive down to Casper. From there I will either drive up the Wind River Valley (first choice), stay put at Casper (second choice), or drive over to Alliance Nebraska (third choice). If the weather starts looking really bad for Wyoming as I'm making my way along I-90 I'll modify my plans and head south into whatever part of Nebraska looks best.

NASA will indeed take better photos than you could. But what you see with your own eyes and store in your memories will be far better than any NASA photo of the eclipse could ever be.

^
What he said.

Im counting on someone to take some really good pictures so we can see the coronal activity in a 20000 mgapixel playback

"For the Citizen CATE (Continental-America Telescopic Eclipse) Experiment, scientists, students and volunteers will track the Sun using 68 identical telescopes, software and instrument packages spaced along the 2,500 mile path of totality. Each site will produce more than 1,000 images. This celestial event will begin with a partial solar eclipse and culminate in about 2 minutes of totality. As the Moon's shadow passes from west to east, each telescope in the Citizen CATE constellation will be ready to take up the observation as the shadow appears on the horizon. The resulting dataset will consist of an unprecedented 90 minutes of continuous, high-resolution, and rapid-cadence images detailing the Sun’s inner corona -- a region of the solar atmosphere typically very challenging to image."

http://eclipse2017.nso.edu/citizen-cate/

Totality will vary from place to place (Im still a bit vague on the WHY). But the place in the US where totality lasts longest is near the town of Makanda Ill, where totality will last slightly over 3 minutes.

It has to do with the tilt of the planet and the sun's incident rays but Im not sure I get it, so Im just calling what I read.
ANYONE doing a gravity proof of Einsteins GR.?

Let one of those T.V. commercial flashlights represent the sun.
Let a tennis ball represent the moon.
Let a basketball represent Earth.
Let the tennis ball pass between the flashlight and the basketball.
Let one of the lines around the basketball represent the path of the shadow of the tennis ball on the basketball.
The diameters of the sun and the moon, in combination with the distances between the Earth/sun/moon are such that only in the direct path of the shadow of the moon ( the center of the line ) will the moon totally block the surface of the sun. If I hold this phone between the T.V., at a certain distance from my eyes, it will totally block the T.V. screen. If I move my head slightly, (representing a slightly different view-point on Earth ) part of the screen will become visible.
Oh man! I just answered the wrong question. Maybe it will help someone.
As far as totality lasting longer in Mikanda, I think it has to do with the Earth rotating so that that town "rides along" with the shadow. I don't know. What do you think I am ? ! A rocket surgeon ! ? Sorry. This ain't the rant forum.

I figgered it out. Ill see ifn I cant set up a spread sheet. It has to do with the angle of the suns incident rays as defined by that arc subtended by the distance between , say Makanda and Oregon.
The reason S Carolina isnt the longest totality point is because that arc subtended is steeper because until Makanda, the earth is tilted slightly less TOWARD the sun and as totlity heds west , the arc is subtended more steeply because its later in the day and the sun is more steeply presenting its incident rays.

Now that should be easy to set up an algebraic expression on Excel.

It's almost here. I'm getting excited. We leave for Nashville in two days. I've been planning this since the last one I saw in 1998 (in Aruba). The only variable left is the weather and I can't do much about that except try to drive out from under any puffy clouds.

It's not the same. Unfortunately it's not even close.

I understand. Im up to my neck in work and want to take off in Sept (all month). I cant afford any time. Ysee Im retired

Maybe you should quit retirement and start working again.

Nashville isn't the best region for clear skies.

If you have to hunt around for a break in the clouds, the Sequatchie and Appalachian Valleys often eat clouds. Note this map:



I believe I-75 crosses the path of the eclipse in the Appalachian Valley, and there are a couple exits with small towns in that spot. I forget the name of the towns though. (I did some preliminary research on the area last year when I was choosing which region to travel to.)

That dip in cloud cover is also labeled as the Tennessee Valley in this graph:

adiabatic cloud cover would mean that you should keep an eye on the weather repts and try to pick your sites on the lee side of the weather near the appalachians. Rising air carries the moisture n clouds. descending air, (on the lee side of the mtn tops is drier. just like Tuckermans,

I have no idea why Im not all excited like ros and oral. I did see a total eclipse in Argentina in 1989 or '90(memory is the first thing to go)
It was late summer(Maybe March) and we hadda get to the Atacama (where there were hundreds of others all set up with news and TV ). It was kinda neat and I made many film hots with a company Hasselblad. (The resolution of which , even today, till outpunches digital resolution) (Except maybe for those 20K megapixel jobbies.-which Id still have to visually compare to be convinced) . I remember down there the animals like coyotes began singing and ground owls .

I think I would drive into the totality if I were somewhere in middle America. The news here is just so worrisome. Traffic is already a disaster. Every rental car is taken -- the last ones renting for over $1,000 a day. It's madness. People are renting out camp sites in their fields for hundreds of dollars. I honestly just don't think I can deal with it.

I've been watching gas prices creep up here over the last few days. I filled up all the cars today.

The hospitals here have cancelled all elective surgeries to restaff the ER.

I might try to make it into work -- a great spot with a great view of Mt. Hood but it's already an hour from home and I don't know if it will be passable.

Oh, Ponderer. I'm sorry about your kitty. A death in the family colors any occasion.

If I were near, I drag you outside.