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The most accurate map for August 21’s total solar eclipse

nasaviz.gsfc.nasa.gov

51–60 of 176 posts

Re: The most accurate map for August 21’s total solar eclipse

#51

If you've never seen a total eclipse before and you live in the US, make every effort to see this one! It's not something that you can get the feel of by viewing photos or video. Watching the sun get eaten by a black void activates something deep inside the animal brain. Don't settle for a partial eclipse, do what it takes to get in the path of totality. If you have seen a total eclipse before, then you don't need an…

> Watching the sun get eaten by a black void activates something deep inside the animal brain.

I was planning to have my 5 year old son see it. But now I wonder whether it will have any traumatic effect on him.

Re: The most accurate map for August 21’s total solar eclipse

#52

If you want to experience the greatest duration plan a trip to Southern Illinois (more info about duration here: https://www.greatamericaneclipse.com/illinois/ ). As a bonus a friend of mine's family winery has booked Ozzy to "bark at the moon" during the eclipse: http://loudwire.com/ozzy-osbourne-headlining-moonstock-solar...

Most of the Carbondale area was booked solid months ago. There may be some campsites open but not much else.

I'm staying in St Louis the night before and then picking a direction to drive based on weather. I don't think it's worth all the hassle to get to southern Illinois just to get 3 more seconds of totality.

This map will show you how much totality you can experience, unlike the NASA charts.

http://xjubier.free.fr/en/site_pages/solar_eclipses/TSE_2017...

Re: The most accurate map for August 21’s total solar eclipse

#53
post #36
post #8

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I think Oregon is a bad spot to view it. The weather (yes, even in summer) is too unpredictable and it's too close to populated coastal areas. Wyoming is the way to go, or western Nebraska. Don't expect to get hotels, but camping on a rancher's land is easy, and the arid climate in the summer minimizes chances of cloud cover.

Camping on a rancher's land with permission is easy. But given the expected crowds, friends in e.g. Glendo (population ~200) plan to be out enforcing their property rights against the anticipated tens-of-thousands of out-of-towners. So be smart, camp on public land. Otherwise you'll likely get shot.

If you check out things ahead of time, you'll find that many landowners plan on cashing in by allowing paid dry camping.

Re: The most accurate map for August 21’s total solar eclipse

#54

Can someone explain why the claimed shadow of the moon is vastly more bumpy than it ever appears in the night sky? Or how to square this with the fact that altitude of the highest and lowest points on the Moon differ by less than 20km, or less than 1% of the diameter? The shadow looks like it has bumps of about 5-10% of the diameter.

The diameter of the path of totality is only about 100 miles, because it's only the umbra of the shadow. This is 20x smaller than the moon diameter. But, a 1km moon bump is a 1km bump on the umbra as well, magnifying it's effect by the mentioned 20x and leading to a much different appearance.

[deleted]

Re: The most accurate map for August 21’s total solar eclipse

#55

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I'm in New York. I'm more than 1.5 hours away from the totality, so I'm going to have to head south and hope - although, I'm in the somewhat enviable position of just being able to sleep in a car... as long as someone cracks the window and leaves me a bowl of water. On the other hand, the totality will pass in the very early afternoon, so I can probably just head back once it's over.

Are you thinking Greenville? Columbia? Somewhere off I-95?

Yeah, I was looking at Georgia and South Carolina - seems like the most reasonable destination.

A train is going to take me 16 hours, minimum - and a car will take 12. I might just go ahead and book a flight, but then I still need a car.

Re: The most accurate map for August 21’s total solar eclipse

#56
post #51

If you've never seen a total eclipse before and you live in the US, make every effort to see this one! It's not something that you can get the feel of by viewing photos or video. Watching the sun get eaten by a black void activates something deep inside the animal brain. Don't settle for a partial eclipse, do what it takes to get in the path of totality. If you have seen a total eclipse before, then you don't need an…

> Watching the sun get eaten by a black void activates something deep inside the animal brain. I was planning to have my 5 year old son see it. But now I wonder whether it will have any traumatic effect on him.

I was five when I saw my first; only thing traumatic about it was the smell inside the welder's helmet we were passing around to watch it.

Re: The most accurate map for August 21’s total solar eclipse

#58
post #2

I heard from a co-worker who plans to travel to Oregon that some of the hotel rooms in the path of the umbra are sometimes > 2-3k USD for the night(s) prior to the eclipse.

Can confirm: The company I work for just opened a hotel in Oregon and the nightly rates we are getting that weekend are very high.
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