Solar Eclipse, are you going to try to see it?

[fumei]

Originally Posted by CFW

interesting angle from CNN..

Im curious about Oregon as well. I drive through central Oregon a few times a year going from Eastern WA to San Francisco, and drive past Madras. A very quiet farm town...

That town is apparently going to be swamped with people...

Farms east of Madras are opening for campsites, 7 night minimum, $600 a site.

nuts.

If I do head south to sit in the shadow, I believe I'm headed for National Forest areas...

I think even the National Forest areas are going to be packed. Remember, the path is only ~70 miles wide in Oregon and you MUST be in that zone to get totality. The number of roads are limited, and a lot of them are north/south, and north/south moves you AWAY from the center line - see paragraph below. Unless of course you have full off-road capability.

The drop off in duration is very steep. 20 miles off center line (i.e north/south) , yes you will get totality, but the duration is cut by almost 20% (80% of center line). 30 miles off center and you still get totality, but it is only about 50% of the duration at center line. 35 miles off and you are down to only 30% of the duration at center line. (N.B. things do get a bit wider the farther you go east.)

Still, National Forest areas are definitely an option, although the best spots are already allocated. The Oregon Star Party would have been an excellent choice, but alas, it was all sold out before I got to book there.

[Otterhound]

Recent events have almost assured me the chance to view this eclipse in it's full glory .

[HHP]

Is there still time to build a pyramid?

[Irish Pennant]

The latest weather forecast has it being partly cloudy. This is Oregon and the forecaster can't even get yesterdays weather correct. Going camping anyways.

[dragon1952]

Originally Posted by Irish Pennant

The latest weather forecast has it being partly cloudy. This is Oregon and the forecaster can't even get yesterdays weather correct. Going camping anyways.

Here on the coast it's been socked in for a solid week. There's possibly going to be a pissed off horde of visitors it looks like.

[CFW]

Originally Posted by fumei

Unless of course you have full off-road capability.

I'm going solo, bringing my '81 Honda XL 250 in the back of my truck, a couple tripods and a backpack full of camera gear. I'm hoping to find open space somewhere.


Totality Awesome

[Rockysdad]

Originally Posted by HHP

Is there still time to build a pyramid?

Depends, how big?

[HHP]

Originally Posted by Rockysdad

Depends, how big?

Things are pretty good right now so we probably don't need to sacrifice more than 50-60. I'd say medium size.

[fumei]

Originally Posted by HHP

Things are pretty good right now so we probably don't need to sacrifice more than 50-60. I'd say medium size.

Considering the potential for massive traffic jams, 100,000 would be nice. Just kidding!

[GTRGUY005]

I'll be watching from New York City. The sun will be 70% blocked here. I have a telescope and solar filter so I'll be out letting people look.

[ras1500]

eehhh! If you've seen one eclipse, you've seen 'em all.

Back in 1963 a solar eclipse occurred over the New England states. I lived in Connecticut at that time and saw about 88% of total. It was interesting at that time, but I wouldn't go out of my way to see it again.

[TBman]

My neighbor is pretty excited about it and frowned when I said it wasn't that big of a deal, he said something to the effect of it being the last eclipse you can see here for another 500 years. I told him to put his thumb up, blot the sun out, close your eyes, there's your eclipse.

I've always enjoyed casual astronomy, space missions, etc since the Mercury days, but an eclipse is just like two cars passing on the highway, not a big attraction for me.

[murrmac123]

The last large solar eclipse in the UK, which was around 90% in Edinburgh, was quite impressive, but our next total eclipse is in September 2090, and I have my doubts as to whether I will still be around to see it.

I do however (DV) intend to go to Spain in August 2026 to see my first total eclipse ... hopefully the Spanish traffic problems will have been sorted by then.

[jhmulkey]

Originally Posted by TBman

My neighbor is pretty excited about it and frowned when I said it wasn't that big of a deal, he said something to the effect of it being the last eclipse you can see here for another 500 years. I told him to put his thumb up, blot the sun out, close your eyes, there's your eclipse.

I've always enjoyed casual astronomy, space missions, etc since the Mercury days, but an eclipse is just like two cars passing on the highway, not a big attraction for me.

Get back to me when your thumb is 2,159 miles wide orbiting the earth from 238,900 miles away in space perfectly lining up with a "small" star that is 864,575.9 miles wide and 92.96 million miles away from earth so as to block it from our view

I think we don't remember how small we are as often as we need to and we lose that childhood wonder we once had at the vastness of this universe. I think these kinds of events are good for a perspective check.