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Catching the Great American Eclipse at 35,000 Feet

blog.alaskaair.com

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Re: Catching the Great American Eclipse at 35,000 Feet

#83

I was on this flight, and it was incredible! AMA

What was it like EXITING totality? Was it like God said, let there be light?

It was pretty incredible. The "diamond ring" really bursts out over the edge of the moon, and then it's glasses on or look away, because the sun's back.

Re: Catching the Great American Eclipse at 35,000 Feet

#86

Here is a picture I took after messing with the aperture and having quite a long lense https://i.stack.imgur.com/YvyJB.jpg from Robinsville NC. I swear you can see stars in there but could be wrong.

Mercury was visible to the naked eye, but I didn’t see much else. Was not really looking for stars though. Nice shot, btw.

Where I was watching (the "day tripper" area at Solartown in Madras, Oregon) there was one bright point source reasonably near the Sun which I assume was Mercury [1]. Overall the sky was brighter than I expected, and if there were stars visible there were not many of them.

There was also some idiot's drone buzzing above us, with red lights on two of its opposite arms and green lights on the other two arms.

[1] or rather, I assume it was the same planet you saw.

Re: Catching the Great American Eclipse at 35,000 Feet

#87
post #66

Earlier quoted context omitted.

That's just not factually true, as well - I fly on Alaska all the time and pick a seat each flight. Usually you get your choice from a restricted list on purchase and then can pick from a more open list on check-in.

Except... it happened to me. Maybe because I bought through American Airlines, since it was AA operated by Alaska.

For future reference, you can look up Alaska iterinary by AA e-ticket number and change seats directly on Alaskas website. I've done it a number of times

Re: Catching the Great American Eclipse at 35,000 Feet

#88
post #86

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Mercury was visible to the naked eye, but I didn’t see much else. Was not really looking for stars though. Nice shot, btw.

Where I was watching (the "day tripper" area at Solartown in Madras, Oregon) there was one bright point source reasonably near the Sun which I assume was Mercury [1]. Overall the sky was brighter than I expected, and if there were stars visible there were not many of them. There was also some idiot's drone buzzing above us, with red lights on two of its opposite arms and green lights on the other two arms. [1] or rat…

That was Venus. not Mercury.

Re: Catching the Great American Eclipse at 35,000 Feet

#89

Here is a picture I took after messing with the aperture and having quite a long lense https://i.stack.imgur.com/YvyJB.jpg from Robinsville NC. I swear you can see stars in there but could be wrong.

Mercury was visible to the naked eye, but I didn’t see much else. Was not really looking for stars though. Nice shot, btw.

Venus was the only planet (or star) that stood out.

Re: Catching the Great American Eclipse at 35,000 Feet

#90

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Alaska is a great airline. I fly about 70k miles per year on them and am very rarely disappointed.

What do you like about them?

They're like McDonalds. Not fancy but consistent in getting you there, OK service and no attitude.
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