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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

#121

Post by PhantomGremlin »

Florin_Andrei wrote: post #26
learc83 wrote: post #13

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I don't see the point of booking something without knowing the weather unless you don't care about throwing it away and going somewhere else. My initial plan was to book several hotels in different areas, but it seems like every hotel inside the path of totality requires a 2 week notice to cancel (and this was months ago). Since I'm about 1.5 hours from the path of totality in Georgia, my current plan is to drive out…

Book it months in advance, and then the price is normal. That's what I did. I'll be in Salem.

Are you sure you still have a reservation???

There were some big news stories here in Oregon about this. People made reservations literally a year in advance, only to have the hotels cancel them once they figured out why people were booking!

The only good news is some hotels may have done people a favor. Those were on the Oregon coast, in the Lincoln City and Newport areas, where, even in the middle of August, there's a good chance of overcast skies (marine air).

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

#122

Post by mkempe »

maxxxxx wrote: post #37
JPKab wrote: post #27

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The Grand Tetons/Yellowstone are super packed on normal summer days. Jackson Hole is super expensive on normal summer days. Probably gonna have a hard time.

I have a campsite reserved in Yellowstone and would drive South. I guess a good plan would be to pick a trail and go there at night so you are already on thew trail before the crowds come. Not sure about the weather though.

I scouted the same area. The weather should be perfect by mid-day. Plan to drive v.early-morning a couple of hours East or West (across a mountain range in either direction) depending on a bad weather forecast. You'll know the night before.

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

#123

Post by pchristensen »

tzs wrote: post #110
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 somewher…

I reserved a campsite at a garden outside of Salem with a friend for Fri-Mon. The Oregon State Parks links to a page with a list of events and venues that are taking reservations.

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

#124

Post by bigiain »

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…

I'll strongly second point 5. I saw the 2002 Eclipse from central Australia and it was kinda primal, I regret the time I spent getting a few crappy photos and wish I'd just soaked in the experience without doing that. Other people took and shared _way_ better photos than mine. I won't make that error again. (I don't think I'll make it to the US for this one, but if I do I wont waste time with a camera...)

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

#125

Post by sulam »

ngokevin wrote: post #76
qwerunf wrote: post #31

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It's "relatively" easily accessible for those living in the United States and covers a huge swath of the country. Many total solar eclipses happen over the middle of the ocean, or at the poles, or in a location that is not as easily accessible. The next eclipse (after this one) to pass through the United States is in 2024.

For other people's information, it will cut through Mexico, Texas (incl. Dallas), Arkansas, New York (Buffalo), Maine.

Err, what will? Partial? Totality cuts from Oregon to South Carolina and gets nowhere near Mexico or Maine.

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

#126

Post by bigiain »

mnm1 wrote: post #96
baursak wrote: post #51

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> 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.

You would seriously let your son miss this because of some hypothetical traumatic event that might happen? I feel really bad for him if that's the case.

I don't think you worded this very well (which is probably why you're getting down votes), but I agree with your sentiment. This is 100% not something you should shield children from in my opinion - it's a very rare opportunity to see something quite magical - even when you know exactly what's going on.

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

#127

Post by bigiain »

Stratoscope wrote: post #100

Here are my viewing tips, based on my experience in the 1979 eclipse in Oregon. You can photograph the eclipse, but you will have a much grander experience if you don't try. Photography is just a distraction from the awesome spectacle of the eclipse, including the phenomena that happen on the ground. There will be plenty of other people taking great photos, so enjoy those after the eclipse. A total eclipse, viewed di…

This is all the advice I wish I'd had (but to be honest with myself, probably would have ignored) when I saw the 2002 Eclipse from central Australia.

"A total eclipse, viewed directly with your own eyes, is truly an experience of a lifetime. No photograph comes close."

This is _so_ true.

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

#128

Post by overdunk »

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…

  90% of the US lives within an 8hr drive of totality, so traffic will be horrible
Oh, come on. Less than 5% of America actually cares enough about astronomical events to drive 30 minutes to see something. Much less book a hotel stay.

August 21st is a Monday afternoon, so how many employed Americans are going to ask for the day off, to drive 8 hours, with a 200mm telephoto lens or telescope?

If totality is the size of several counties, and lasts even ten minutes, how many people will be on the road within an hour of the event? Lunchtime (or even all day long) traffic is probably nothing even terrible in 40 out of 50 states. In totality states, traffic won't even compare to a sporting event.

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

#129

Post by rootbear »

BatFastard wrote: post #81

Why would they use a tif format for the downloadable map? I haven't seen a tif format in 10 years.

I used to work in the group that produced that animation and I can tell you that the TIFF format is alive and well in the 3D graphics world. It is supported by most high-end graphics software, has an open, extensible spec, and can be losslessly compressed if desired. It's also popular in Earth Sciences work due to the GEOTIFF format that adds georeferencing data tags.

PNG is a reasonable alternative, usually, but TIFF is entrenched. TIFF had legal issues in the past with respect to the LZW compression, which is a shame. PNG might never have been needed if TIFF had been free of patent encumbrances.

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

#130

Post by rootbear »

leblancfg wrote: post #43
dekhn wrote: post #12

Earlier quoted context omitted.

it's projection geometry. You create a geometry object with the earth's surface shape. Another with the moon's surface shape. Then, a light source that emits from a sun's shape. All objects are placed at the appropriate distances, and made to rotate and translate through space according to normal orbits. Then, you project the light from the sun onto the earth, with the moon in-between. This creates the 2D shape on th…

Thanks dehhn. From the LRO picture in the article, you can see that they're actually taking high-precision elevation maps of both the Moon and Earth into consideration, which sounds like something rather computationally intensive. I might be wrong, but I don't think they used Blender to handle that. I would be curious to hear what tool they actually use, their pipeline, etc.

To the best of my knowledge, it was animated in Maya and rendered with Pixar's Renderman. When I was in that group, we used IDL to do any elaborate calculations needed, and then imported the data into Maya/Renderman. This is exactly what Hollywood does when they have to render a scene that requires a lot of simulation. I can ask Ernie if he used anything special for this production.
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