August 21st, 2017 eclipse in the US

BAAA RAM EWE

Eclipse Across America: Series 1
On August 21st 2017, a once-in-a-lifetime total solar eclipse trail will blaze across the continental United States. Watch exclusive details with expert scientists, secret viewing spots and an advanced look with cutting edge animation in this special 4-part series.

1) Coast to Coast: Part 1
Join life-long eclipse hunters for a unique guided tour along the path of totality; showcasing the best viewing spots for the eclipse from central Oregon to the banks of the Mississippi River. Along the way, see how small towns and communities in the path are preparing for this thrilling event.

2) Coast to Coast: Part 2
The eclipse journey continues from St. Louis' Gateway Arch to the coast of South Carolina, where the path of totality leaves the continental U.S. A top data scientists from NASA explains how the strange geometry of the moon's shadow helps pinpoint the exact path and what viewers can expect to see.

3) Eclipse Planet
Earth is the vantage point from which to see the grandest eclipses in our solar system, and during an eclipse we get a glimpse of the sun's mysterious corona. Learn the science behind eclipses, and how scientists are using them to discover new exoplanets.

4) Witnessing the Eclipse
Millions of cameras will be rolling on August 21st , But capturing the stunning celestial phenomenon takes a combination of technology, experience and a healthy dose of luck. Learn the incredible lengths scientists and others will go to record the event - and how to best witness it yourself.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=f7yKTwg1R64

LashingLady

ThunderCat wrote: »

Getting excited for this now. I'm just try to gauge how early I'll have to leave Portland that morning to get far enough south in time for the eclipse. It's an hours drive under normal conditions to the point where I plan on viewing it but I think to be safe I'll leave the hotel between 4 and 5am. I'd imagine the whole area will be bedlam but hopefully I get a handle on how bad the traffic will be when I arrive in Portland the night before. Think I read online somewhere that Oregon are expecting a million extra people in the state for this.

Very excited aswell, but thinking the same thing! We're travelling with our two children age 7 and 9. Will be staying in Portland on the Sunday night planning to drive to Salem OR in the morning. We have tickets to a Science Fair event in the State exhibition centre in Salem. I got an email from the organisers one day last week to say that trains were being put on from Portland--> Salem in the morning and tickets were on sale. Got an email that same day to say they were all sold out :eek:


I'll be dragging the family out of bed at 4am I would say!

jfSDAS

Hi all,

Fitzgeralds have a spot at the very back of the pub reserved for us on Saturday evening at 6pm.

Look out for the eclipsed sun sign :-) or else a normal reserved sign with my name (John Flannery).

See you there!

John

ThunderCat

LashingLady wrote: »

Very excited aswell, but thinking the same thing! We're travelling with our two children age 7 and 9. Will be staying in Portland on the Sunday night planning to drive to Salem OR in the morning. We have tickets to a Science Fair event in the State exhibition centre in Salem. I got an email from the organisers one day last week to say that trains were being put on from Portland--> Salem in the morning and tickets were on sale. Got an email that same day to say they were all sold out :eek:


I'll be dragging the family out of bed at 4am I would say!

I posted on the Oregon subsection of the website Reddit just enquiring about what time to leave Portland that morning and one of the locals advised me to take the 99E road rather than the I5 motorway. He said it should be moving more freely than the I5 which by all accounts is expected to be a car park that morning. The 99E route will apply to you too as it ends in Salem.


Salem will be a good place to view as you will get 1 min 56 seconds of totality.


The good news also is that you only need to get to halfway between Portland and Salem to see the eclipse, but the nearer to Salem you get the longer the totality will last for. That point half way between Portland and Salem will only show the totality for 20 seconds so the nearer towards Salem the better as far as you are concerned.

markfinn

Good to meet folks there. Sorry I had to leave so early. The curse of a 24-hour work environment.
Looking forward to the after-party.

mickmackey1

ThunderCat wrote: »

I posted on the Oregon subsection of the website Reddit just enquiring about what time to leave Portland that morning and one of the locals advised me to take the 99E road rather than the I5 motorway. He said it should be moving more freely than the I5 which by all accounts is expected to be a car park that morning. The 99E route will apply to you too as it ends in Salem.

I'd imagine the weather forecast 24 hrs before the event will be influential, could be traffic chaos.

jfSDAS

Cheers Mark, good to meet you last night. Definitely will meet up after the event. Clear skies on the day! I'll PM you some info gleaned online on what to look for during totality.

I see Easons have the Sky & Telescope special on the eclipse in stock - just
picked up a copy in Liffey Valley (there's a couple left).

John

BAAA RAM EWE

A solar eclipse is coming to America. Here’s what you’ll see where you live.

SonOfPerdition

Thunderf00t is scouting out areas for eclipse viewing, specifically so he can see the shadow approaching.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oiSCEVGVGq0

his point about moving 30% off the centerline to avoid crowds is something I never considered.

jfSDAS

Hope everyone's plans are coming together. We aim to leave Portland for Madras around 6:30am on the Saturday morning (have camping pitches booked in the County Fairgrounds) - it's more to be in place a couple of days before the eclipse and enjoy the buildup/Festival.

Best of luck with the various trips you have organised, clear skies on the day, and look forward to hearing about your experiences on the forum! Clear skies to anyone staying local in Ireland on the 21st for the partial - despite being only about 4% covered, the setting sun could look dramatic.

I probably won't get a chance check back on the forum as I'm heading off next week and am not back until Sept 5th.

John

ps200306

Is anyone heading for the eastern half of the US for the eclipse? I stuck a pin in the map just yesterday and chose Atlanta, GA as the best combination of easy access (Delta from Dublin or BA from LHR) and proximity and good road access to the eclipse track. I'm expecting it to be a lot less congested than the hotspots in Oregon etc, plus it gets 30 seconds longer duration of totality than Oregon and is at a more civilised time of day for a layabed like me. Probably planning to view from Sweetwater, TN. Chances of clear weather are lower than out west, but still probably >50% chance and at least it's on the west side of the Smokey Mountains / Appalachians which I'd expect to be dicier. It's still a few days away from availability of a long range weather forecast. If necessary, I'm ready to drive a long way north west to find a clear spot, and it is possible to stay on or close to the eclipse track for over 300 miles on I-24.

On a totally different subject, and in keeping with my mad dash last minute approach, I need to make myself a solar filter for a Canon camera. Anyone from Ktec telescopes on here, or anyone bought or used their Baader Astrosolar safety film? Looks pretty straightforward. I presume at some point in the eclipse, and certainly at totality, you need a different kind of filter or none at all. Any tips anyone? I have zero experience of this (but a fast learner, I hope :eek: ). In any case, I'm going for the experience, not the photography.

jfSDAS

Hi ps200306,

Great to hear you are travelling to see the eclipse. It'll be an awesome experience!

The Astronomy Ireland group are going to Tennessee as far as I know, as are a couple of IAS members. Info on where AI are going is at http://www.astronomy.ie/eclipse2017/

markfinn (on this forum) is going to South Carolina. Most of the rest of the people I know are viewing the eclipse from Wyoming or Illinois.

Give Stephen Kershaw in Ktec a shout and he should be able to sort out the filter film. I picked up a €1.50 camera phone tripod in Dealz to maybe try just record a 5-minute clip centred on the eclipsE. It is just to capture a wideish-angle view of our group and the sights & sounds. I installed the NightCap Pro app for low-light.

Check out the dedicated eclipse forum on www.cloudynights.com as there are threads on photography and travel. Also, I think the Sky and Telescope site has info on eclipse photography as does Canon's own site.

Jerry Lodriguss (www.astropix.com) has a huge amount of info - click the "What's New" link on his site. I won't bother with Eclipse Orchestrator as that's if planning a serious imaging session. Better to just take general shots.

Fred Espenak's page at https://eclipse.gsfc.nasa.gov/SEhelp/eclipsePhoto.html has a ton of info too.

Enjoy!

John

ps200306

Thanks for the heads-up jf. Looks like the AI folks will be fairly nearby. I'll keep their location as one of my options, plus I see they are spending a night in Atlanta right next door to me, however I'll be gone by then. Weather permitting, I think I prefer my own choice of small village with the locals rather than up near Nashville with the tourists. And I definitely prefer my own air-conditioned SUV to sitting on a bus, even with "Ireland's best known astronomer" :rolleyes:, especially if a bit of eclipse chasing is necessary. But their visit to the Huntsville rocket center looks like a good idea I might imitate. :pac:

ThunderCat

ps200306 wrote: »

Is anyone heading for the eastern half of the US for the eclipse? I stuck a pin in the map just yesterday and chose Atlanta, GA as the best combination of easy access (Delta from Dublin or BA from LHR) and proximity and good road access to the eclipse track. I'm expecting it to be a lot less congested than the hotspots in Oregon etc, plus it gets 30 seconds longer duration of totality than Oregon and is at a more civilised time of day for a layabed like me. Probably planning to view from Sweetwater, TN. Chances of clear weather are lower than out west, but still probably >50% chance and at least it's on the west side of the Smokey Mountains / Appalachians which I'd expect to be dicier. It's still a few days away from availability of a long range weather forecast. If necessary, I'm ready to drive a long way north west to find a clear spot, and it is possible to stay on or close to the eclipse track for over 300 miles on I-24.

On a totally different subject, and in keeping with my mad dash last minute approach, I need to make myself a solar filter for a Canon camera. Anyone from Ktec telescopes on here, or anyone bought or used their Baader Astrosolar safety film? Looks pretty straightforward. I presume at some point in the eclipse, and certainly at totality, you need a different kind of filter or none at all. Any tips anyone? I have zero experience of this (but a fast learner, I hope :eek: ). In any case, I'm going for the experience, not the photography.

I saw a video recently from a fella who goes to eclipses all over the world and during totality he said the settings he uses on his camera are ISO 800, 1/125, F2-F2.8 and no filter. Hope this helps.

ThunderCat

jfSDAS wrote: »

Hope everyone's plans are coming together. We aim to leave Portland for Madras around 6:30am on the Saturday morning (have camping pitches booked in the County Fairgrounds) - it's more to be in place a couple of days before the eclipse and enjoy the buildup/Festival.

Best of luck with the various trips you have organised, clear skies on the day, and look forward to hearing about your experiences on the forum! Clear skies to anyone staying local in Ireland on the 21st for the partial - despite being only about 4% covered, the setting sun could look dramatic.

I probably won't get a chance check back on the forum as I'm heading off next week and am not back until Sept 5th.

John

Have a great time John. Fingers crossed for clear skies where you are too. Enjoy.

ps200306

ThunderCat wrote: »

I saw a video recently from a fella who goes to eclipses all over the world and during totality he said the settings he uses on his camera are ISO 800, 1/125, F2-F2.8 and no filter. Hope this helps.

Ta for that. I suppose there's no way of practising in advance, so it's all down to that last two minutes or so. And since you don't want to waste it fiddling with the camera, it's good to know some settings.

mickmackey1

I'm not sure if Baily's beads are safe to view directly, or if you have to wait until actual totality.

jfSDAS

Cheers for those camera settings! I'll have the DSLR with the Canon kit lens and may try one or two shots with the intervalometer running a very short sequence. The main plan is to enjoy it visually with my 10 year old nephew. I'll have him on a road trip for 4 days. "Sorry Jack, you know the way you thought we were going to Legoland ..." ��

The Diamond Ring is just the last vestiges of Baily's Beads before totality. You'll probably see a few blobs of light just prior to the Ring. They can be seen with the unaided eye as the Sun slips from view but the duration varies slightly depending on the Moon's limb profile. I've witnessed them linger seemingly a few moments longer than expected at one eclipse (2006). Using Coronado Binomite solar binoculars at an annular (2012) the beads were very distinctive as the Moon's trailing edge moved fully onto the solar disk.Only use suitably filter binoculars/scopes to keep watch for the beads - the naked eye sightings were just as the Sun winked out.

As well as seeing the Moon's shadow receding, block the Sun with a couple of fingers and you'll notice the corona for a few minutes even after totality is over. The 2006 total was the first time I tried that following a note in Sky & Telescope by Stephen J O'Meara. Every eclipse you learn something new and tune into a different facet of the experience. I probably spent more timing being wowed by the horizon colours at the 2006 eclipse than totality itself. The corona at the 1999 event showed an astonishing loop structure in binoculars and detached prominence.

ps200306

jf, what are the horizon colours you mentioned? Also, how prominent are stars and planets during totality? I see Jupiter and Mars will be in the sky and Regulus will be just over a degree away from the moon. I presume the latter would be washed out by the corona. What would/might a camera pick up?

mickmackey1

Thanks JF. I hear there's a heatwave in Oregon at the moment with smoke from forest fires but hopefully all will be clear on the 21st!

jfSDAS

jf, what are the horizon colours you mentioned? Also, how prominent are stars and planets during totality? I see Jupiter and Mars will be in the sky and Regulus will be just over a degree away from the moon. I presume the latter would be washed out by the corona. What would/might a camera pick up?

I've never looked for stars during totality - eclipses are just too short to be doing that. However, they can be picked up and with this eclipse you might spot Regulus in binoculars near the Sun. Venus will be seen maybe 15 minutes before totality. Jupiter will pop out closer to totality but is about 40 degrees from the Sun. Maybe to fix its position relative to the Sun on a mid-eclipse Sky chart will let you spot it ... but again, those 2 minutes of totality are precious.

There's a recent thread on wide-angle photography in the dedicated eclipse forum on www.cloudynights.com where they mention the brightness of Mercury and Mars. Both can be classed as too faint to pick up with a quick glance - certainly Mercury is, with Mars possible ... but again, the priority is the Sun. It's a thread worth checking out for hints on how easy the planets might be picked up with imaging as well as what wide-angle lens to use.

A glance at the skyline during totality reveals colours like that post-sunset right around the horizon. It's due to sunlight leaking in from regions outside the path of totality. You'll see salmon and saffron tints - the effect was enhanced in 2006 by a ring of cumulus around the horizon that were painted an extraordinary palette of orange-yellows. The sky itself goes a deep cobalt colour, with faces a few feet away hard to make out in the dramatic gloom that descends.

The shape of the corona varies between solar maximum and minimum - since we are now in the latter then the coronal streamers will be more extended along the solar equator. In binoculars, look for polar brushes - thin and short streamers following magnetic field lines at the Sun's North and South poles. Binoculars will show any prominences at the Sun's limb during totality - you'll see the covered on one side and revealed at the Moon's trailing edge as it moves across the Sun in those couple of minutes. I've only once seen a prominence - re - prominent enough to see with the naked eye.

Saw the fire and smoke info also Mick ... hopefully it won't get too serious to affect travel plans and viewing the event. Main priority is people are safe and everyone who visits Oregon from near and far has an enjoyable and memorable trip.

John

jfSDAS

Sky at totality at different locations is charted at http://www.skyandtelescope.com/astronomy-news/observing-news/total-solar-eclipse-all-sky-maps/ - I see Jupiter is not visible from Madras. Going to the main S & T site there's an item about the predicted shape of the corona.

ps200306

I made my own map for Sweetwater, Tennessee. I dialled it down to objects with magnitude below 3.5 as I read that is the limiting magnitude for an eclipse. I wouldn't expect to see anything like this in reality. I imagine one of the problems is that even under ideal circumstances the totality is not long enough to get your eyes adjusted to the gloom, so the camera would fare better.

ps200306

First long range weather forecasts for Tennessee predict sunshine for the AI guys in Nashville, and mostly sunny for me in Sweetwater. Plenty could still go wrong, but encouraging, especially given that all next week is cloudy and muggy.

murrayp4

Guys this is slightly off-topic but I'm arriving in Nashville on the 20th for the eclipse but will be looking for somewhere to watch the All Ireland semi final (Mayo man). Anyone have any info on where it would be on at 09:30am???

eclipsechaser

mickmackey1 wrote: »

I'm not sure if Baily's beads are safe to view directly, or if you have to wait until actual totality.

Baily's beads are fine to view with the naked eye. I have seen them through a large lens but I wouldn't recommend you use any magnification to view them.

If people are looking for camera settings, several of my photos have Exif settings intact. You can figure out what settings to use to get the type of photos you want. I strongly suggest you bracket your photos and shoot RAW.

https://www.flickr.com/photos/eclipsechaser/albums/72157606229799193

Someone also asked if they should take their filter off for totality. Absolutely you should. The diamond ring and totality need the filter off entirely if they are to be photographed or seen. Like Baily's beads, I don't recommend looking at the diamond ring with magnification. It's fine for the naked eye though. Some eclipse-chasers don't look at the first diamond ring because they like to be dark adapted for the corona. They watch the 2nd diamond ring on the way out.

I'll be in Lincoln, Nebraska. I wanted maximum mobility for outrunning the clouds. I can get to Casper and Alliance if the roads aren't chaos.

ps200306

Updates I am reading about the Sweetwater, TN eclipse gathering are saying that available parking is almost all fully prebooked. That makes me more nervous about possible traffic chaos. My theory is that the interstates should keep moving no problem but there might be congestion at exits. I'm leaning toward going for an even smaller place -- Niota TN is no more than a village and even closer to the eclipse track, only a mile from its centre. Though small, it's still having an eclipse gathering, which gives some hope they may remember to disable what little street lighting there is. I'm also considering staying in Knoxville instead of Atlanta the night before, which reduces the travel time by half, allowing for an early morning arrival to sit around and do some leisurely reading.

ps200306

murrayp4 wrote: »

Guys this is slightly off-topic but I'm arriving in Nashville on the 20th for the eclipse but will be looking for somewhere to watch the All Ireland semi final (Mayo man). Anyone have any info on where it would be on at 09:30am???

You've doubtless already thought of this but try Googling, emailing and phoning Irish pubs. Also check this tripadvisor post, also from a Mayoman:

https://www.tripadvisor.ie/ShowTopic-g55229-i154-k763518-Where_can_i_watch_the_All_Ireland_Football_Final_in_Nashvill-Nashville_Davidson_County_Tenness.html

I imagine your chances are slim.

ThunderCat

murrayp4 wrote: »

Guys this is slightly off-topic but I'm arriving in Nashville on the 20th for the eclipse but will be looking for somewhere to watch the All Ireland semi final (Mayo man). Anyone have any info on where it would be on at 09:30am???

If no Irish pub has it then at worst you can watch it on your phone or tablet using the app Mobdro. That has RTE on it but as far as I know the app is only available for android and not apple. It's not in the playstore by the way so you download it by googling it.

jfSDAS

I'll have my Tipperary flag flying outside the tent in Madras - though it will be at half mast after last weekend Also have a small Child of Prague statue packed which will be set up all weekend in the hope of perfect skies across the US for everyone.

Good luck to all on their travels and for the 21st! Best of luck to Mayo also :-)

John