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

nasaviz.gsfc.nasa.gov

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

#101

Post by ant6n »

jasode wrote: post #15
JPKab wrote: 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.

>, or western Nebraska. I'll be in eastern Nebraska (Omaha) and will drive south on I-80 towards the eclipse path and hopefully pull off to the side and park somewhere. What's hard to plan for is whether too many other Nebraskans will have the exact same idea which means I have to camp out a ridiculous 12 hours before the event to secure a spot -- or give up entirely.

I'm planning to drive up north from Denver, the day of. Kind of concerned about how many people will have the same idea, and how early I should start...

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

#104

Post by J5892 »

pcl wrote: post #99
gmiller123456 wrote: post #74

Best advice I've accumulated so far: 1. Don't plan to drive anywhere on eclipse day (90% of the US lives within an 8hr drive of totality, so traffic will be horrible) 2. A 600-800mm lens is optimal for photography. Anything short of 200mm is useless. 3. Don't make any solid plans until 3-4 days before. Most places only have about 40% chance of it being clear. 4. If you're photographing the partial phases. Stop and ch…

The annular eclipse in California in 2012 really didn't draw much in the way of crowds. Some friends and I drove up to near Mt Lassen and found a field with no real traffic or crowds to contend with. There were others in the field we ended up in, but it was really pretty straightforward. It seems like there's a lot more hype around this one; I'm not sure why. Maybe 'total' vs 'annular'? Personally, I think they're bo…

Probably more hype because this one covers the entire country in the middle of the day.

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

#105

Post by barcoder »

gmiller123456 wrote: post #74

Best advice I've accumulated so far: 1. Don't plan to drive anywhere on eclipse day (90% of the US lives within an 8hr drive of totality, so traffic will be horrible) 2. A 600-800mm lens is optimal for photography. Anything short of 200mm is useless. 3. Don't make any solid plans until 3-4 days before. Most places only have about 40% chance of it being clear. 4. If you're photographing the partial phases. Stop and ch…

My coolest memory of a total eclipse was standing high on a cliff edge over looking the sea. As the sun went totally dark I the moon's shadow move quickly along the beach covering everything in darkness.

Really good points that you made, but I personally think it's good to find a high location with a view so you can take in more than just the sun/moon.

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

#106

Post by mudil »

gmiller123456 wrote: post #74

Best advice I've accumulated so far: 1. Don't plan to drive anywhere on eclipse day (90% of the US lives within an 8hr drive of totality, so traffic will be horrible) 2. A 600-800mm lens is optimal for photography. Anything short of 200mm is useless. 3. Don't make any solid plans until 3-4 days before. Most places only have about 40% chance of it being clear. 4. If you're photographing the partial phases. Stop and ch…

Frankly, I find most of the comment by gmiller123456 ridiculous.

There's more to eclipse than looking at the sun. Horizon is also very important, especially the unobtrusive western horizon, where the shadow is coming from, and where you can see dancing light rays from beyond the shadow.

Photography is really not recommended, unless for science, since you have really two minutes of the greatest spectacle of nature, and photography doesn't really do justice to its grandeur.

Drive, and try to get there!

http://www.eclipse2017.org/2017/what_you_see.htm

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

#107

Post by brewdad »

So what will be the practical difference between 99.4% (at my home) and 100% about 35 miles away. Is it worth the effort to travel to the true totality zone? I do unfortunately have a commitment that day, that I cannot avoid, about 2 hours before the max obscuration passes by.

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

#108

Post by woodson »

DamnYuppie wrote: post #6
wyldfire wrote: 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.

I am on a project in Bend, OR and the city is booked solid for that week. The camp grounds are booked as well. Your best bet would be to rent an RV and boondock out on the BLM land around town. Yes the hotel prices are very high, but I hadn't seen any that high.

I'm thinking of driving south from Hood River towards Madras; OR-26 between Government Camp and Madras is probably going to be backed up, though (or so I imagine).

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

#109

Post by LeifCarrotson »

brewdad wrote: post #107

So what will be the practical difference between 99.4% (at my home) and 100% about 35 miles away. Is it worth the effort to travel to the true totality zone? I do unfortunately have a commitment that day, that I cannot avoid, about 2 hours before the max obscuration passes by.

35 miles seems small enough to not worry about it - it's just a half hour drive! It's still months away, I'd hope you could reschedule that conflict.

I have several hundred miles if I wanted to go to the totality zone. But I'm still curious what it will look like in the difference of 100% vs 82% at my home.

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

#110

Post by tzs »

gmiller123456 wrote: post #74

Best advice I've accumulated so far: 1. Don't plan to drive anywhere on eclipse day (90% of the US lives within an 8hr drive of totality, so traffic will be horrible) 2. A 600-800mm lens is optimal for photography. Anything short of 200mm is useless. 3. Don't make any solid plans until 3-4 days before. Most places only have about 40% chance of it being clear. 4. If you're photographing the partial phases. Stop and ch…

> Don't plan to drive anywhere on eclipse day (90% of the US lives within an 8hr drive of totality, so traffic will be horrible).

Speaking of driving, anyone from the Seattle area have any thoughts on the best approach?

The first one that comes to mind is to take 5 down to the path of totality.

The second thing that comes to mind is heading east toward Spokane, and turn south at Yakima and head on down 84 to somewhere in totality.

I've driven the 5 route a few times going between Seattle and California, so I know the roads are reasonable. The big unknown will be traffic. It will have a lot of people from Washington heading down plus the Portland crowd.

I've never headed east from Seattle past, I think, North Bend, so nearly everything on the second route is completely unknown to me.

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