Anyone traveling to see the eclipse?

[iNow]

Lucky enough to live in the path of totality? Traveling?

Bringing special gear? Cool telescopes or lenses?

Any pinhole colanders or manually cut out shapes for crescent shaped shadows?

Convinced it’ll be cloudy, overcast, and raining?  🤣 ☀️ 🌙 

[MigL]

Was supposed to be clear skies in the Niagara Region allowing for three to four minutes viewing time, and the city of Niagara Falls has practically called a state of emergency due to the number of eclipse chasers/tourists expected.
But now we're looking at better than even odds for cloudy skies.
Then again, not like the weather forecasters haven't been wrong before.
Keeping my fingers crossed.

[iNow]

5 hours ago, MigL said:

Keeping my fingers crossed.

Me too. Was overcast when I drove my very young children to see the 2017 one. 

[swansont]

I just moved, and am a few hours outside the totality region, but was too occupied to arrange to get inside the zone. And am too wiped out to contemplate travel at this point.

[Janus]

12 hours ago, MigL said:

Was supposed to be clear skies in the Niagara Region allowing for three to four minutes viewing time, and the city of Niagara Falls has practically called a state of emergency due to the number of eclipse chasers/tourists expected.
But now we're looking at better than even odds for cloudy skies.
Then again, not like the weather forecasters haven't been wrong before.
Keeping my fingers crossed.

I also heard about at least one hotel in the path of totality pulling the same stunt that some pulled during the last eclipse, canceling reservations that had been made well in advance once they realized how much people were willing to pay for a place to stay in the eclipse path.  In this particular case, it was a travel agency that had been booking "Eclipse packages", and had been making arrangements with this hotel starting 2 years ago.  Suddenly, and just recently, the hotel informed them that they were canceling the contract.

I missed the '79 eclipse due to clouds(even though I lived in the path of totality), and almost missed the one in '17 due to fog/low clouds(we had a lucky encounter with a sanitation worker who told us that by driving up a certain street and up a hill, we could get a clear view.)

[toucana]

On 4/6/2024 at 3:11 AM, iNow said:

Lucky enough to live in the path of totality? Traveling?

Bringing special gear? Cool telescopes or lenses?

Any pinhole colanders or manually cut out shapes for crescent shaped shadows?

Convinced it’ll be cloudy, overcast, and raining?  🤣 ☀️ 🌙 

According to your friendly neighbourhood conspiracy theorists, the solar eclipse on Monday 8 April will also mark the end of the world, and it will all start in Carbondale illinois.

https://news.sky.com/story/armageddon-in-illinois-nefarious-scientists-warning-signs-from-god-marjorie-taylor-greene-alex-jones-and-influencers-peddle-conspiracy-theories-about-solar-eclipse-13110035

Why there you may ask ? Well it’s quite simple. The predicted path of the solar eclipse will pass over at least six places called Nineveh (modern day Mosul in Iraq), which is an ancient city mentioned in the bible where the prophet Jonah once preached against the wickedness of its inhabitants, and called for its total destruction.

When combined with the path of the US eclipse in 2017, the path of totality on Monday will form a cross with its centre located on Carbondale Illinois -  so If you live in Carbondale, that means you will be lucky enough to see the full eclipse twice in seven years. According to influencers on TikTok, it also means doomsday starts in your city - quite obvious really.

[TheVat]

49 minutes ago, toucana said:

According to your friendly neighbourhood conspiracy theorists, the solar eclipse on Monday 8 April will also mark the end of the world, and it will all start in Carbondale illinois.

I've driven through Carbondale, had a friend who went there for two years.  For some years, the town was notorious for its Halloween riots, when drunken revelers would try to at least partially end the world.  IIRC, the town council eventually closed down the bars every Halloween.  Might not hurt to take the same precaution this Monday.  

[Janus]

1 hour ago, toucana said:

Why there you may ask ? Well it’s quite simple. The predicted path of the solar eclipse will pass over at least six places called Nineveh (modern day Mosul in Iraq), which is an ancient city mentioned in the bible where the prophet Jonah once preached against the wickedness of its inhabitants, and called for its total destruction.

 

  Someone else fact-checked this, and determined it was actually only 2 (of the 7 in the US). So maybe the world only has a 2 in 7 chance of ending tomorrow.

[MigL]

5 hours ago, toucana said:

According to your friendly neighbourhood conspiracy theorists, the solar eclipse on Monday 8 April will also mark the end of the world, and it will all start in Carbondale illinois.

Yeah.
The people on the planet Lagash thought it was just the rantings of conspiracy theorists also ...

Nightfall (Asimov novelette and novel) - Wikipedia

[zapatos]

In 2017 my house was in the path of totality and we had clear skies. This year we'll be at our cabin which is about 90 minutes away from home.  it is in the path of totality and it seems likely we'll have clear skies again. We'll only get about 1 1/2 minutes of totality but the comfort of being at our own place means we won't be driving the extra 20 minutes for more time sans sun. Since totality is relatively short we are going to have to cut back on the pagan rituals a bit. Don't really have time to slaughter a goat and bathe in its blood this year.

[MigL]

Goats ???

I was thinking sacrificing virgins ...

[TheVat]

The last goat we ordered was so small, we  could only take sponge baths.  And Ishtar wasn't too happy, either.

[iNow]

14 hours ago, toucana said:

the solar eclipse on Monday 8 April will also mark the end of the world

I think the last end of the world was scheduled on a Friday so thankfully expected attire was just business casual that day. 
 

On 4/6/2024 at 11:07 AM, Janus said:

once they realized how much people were willing to pay for a place to stay in the eclipse path

There are apparently 2300 cities in North America along the path of totality. This animation shows how many short-term rentals have been booked in those cities through Airbnb and Vrbo in the days leading up to tomorrow.

Gouge pricing and unscrupulous ignoring of valid contracts are sure to be rampant. Thankfully the lady renting us our space did not (in fact, she left a great 11x16 poster about totality in her state on the table for us as a gift to take home and potentially frame)

 

 

Edited April 8 by iNow

[toucana]

 

7 hours ago, MigL said:

Goats ???

I was thinking sacrificing virgins ...

Not to be outdone by Nineveh and Carbondale Illinois, Sarah Huckabee Sanders, the embattled MAGA Governor of Arizona has declared a 14 day state of emergency in Arizona on account of the total solar eclipse today 8 April 2024, and has released $100,000 from the state’s emergency Response & Recovery funds to ensure that the 2m of darkness during the totality doesn’t cause a collapse of Arizona’s transportation system.

https://www.arkansasonline.com/news/2024/apr/05/sanders-declares-state-of-emergency-in-arkansas/

Quote

Sanders' executive order declaring the emergency cites the expected influx of visitors and the "backlog of deliveries by commercial vehicles transporting essential items of commerce" that could result. Out of an abundance of caution, I've directed funds to be released from the Response and Recovery Fund ahead of the Great American Eclipse," Sanders said in a news release Friday night.

$100,000 would also be enough to cover the costs of another 5  ‘Lecterns’ should the former WH press secretary find herself running short during the eclipse.

https://www.nytimes.com/2023/10/10/us/sarah-huckabee-sanders-arkansas-lectern.html

[TheVat]

4 hours ago, toucana said:

Not to be outdone by Nineveh and Carbondale Illinois, Sarah Huckabee Sanders, the embattled MAGA Governor of Arizona has declared a 14 day state of emergency in Arizona on account of the total solar eclipse today 8 April 2024, and has released $100,000 from the state’s emergency Response & Recovery funds to ensure that the 2m of darkness during the totality doesn’t cause a collapse of Arizona’s transportation system.

Arkansas.   

I found this interactive map website handy for finding the times and percent obscuration where the eclipse is partial.

http://xjubier.free.fr/en/site_pages/solar_eclipses/TSE_2024_GoogleMapFull.html

We have heavy overcast til late afternoon, so not much to see here.  58% obscured so maybe a slight increase in the gloom.  

[MigL]

Rooms are going for up to $800 in Niagara Falls.
Sky is gray and overcast with occasional drizzle at noon.
Not much chance of clearing up for 3 pm.
Some people are in for a huge, and expensive, let down.

You know, you can see an eclipse every day; all you need is a cardboard cut-out of a circle the same apparent size as the Sun, and hold it in front of your eyes ...
( might not work for you guys with binocular vision unless you hold it far away; 'luckily', I only see with one eye )

[toucana]

Clear skies and excellent  viewing in Dallas atm  -  (I'm watching live coverage on Sky/NBC)

Welp - Carbondale Illinois has been and gone, and we're still here. Guess they must have meant the next one ?- in 129 years !

[swansont]

Clouded over - nothing but a diffuse bright blob, at best, and it got kinda dark for a while. 

[MigL]

Real let down.
Couldn't even see the sun through the clouds. But it did get real dark at 3:15.
I didn't think it would get that dark  ( cars needed headlights, streetlights came on ) because I'm off at the western edge of the swept path which was going directly over Buffalo, NY.
Cloudy/overcast until 3:45, then the Sun came out , and been clear and sunny the rest of the afternoon.
Almost like it was done on purpose ...
 

[TheVat]

AFAICT, a sun behind solid overcast is indistinguishable from a 58% obscured sun behind solid overcast.  As has been discussed in another thread, the human visual system does poorly at perceiving diminution of brightness.  An analogy I offered my spouse was a small room in a house illuminated by an 800 watt bulb.  Extremely bright.  Leave the room and come back after a while, after it's been replaced with a 400 watt bulb.  Still extremely bright.  You would be hard put to correctly identity the illumination as being halved.  

[zapatos]

We had a perfectly clear sky. The whole event was pretty cool but totality was in a class of its own. Feel very lucky to have witnessed it.

 

[Mordred]

Only had 30 percent eclipse at my neck of the woods but still looked cool. Least we had clear skies for once.

[Ken Fabian]

I'll wait until one happens where I am - 2030 looks good for here. The last time I was where a full eclipse happened (suburban Sydney) the hush that descended was a surprise - most people headed inside (to watch on TV?) and the traffic mostly stopped. It seemed like some people were spooked (and fearful for children) as much as they were interested and the park we headed to was nearly empty, only one person with a telescope. Didn't have the gear ourselves to view directly - but did the pinhole thing and saw the impression. Mostly we observed the effects, like the sharpening shadows as it became a crescent, saw stars and watching/listening to birds, some doing their morning calls as the light came back.

Edited April 10 by Ken Fabian

[Endy0816]

5 hours ago, Ken Fabian said:

I'll wait until one happens where I am - 2030 looks good for here. The last time I was where a full eclipse happened (suburban Sydney) the hush that descended was a surprise - most people headed inside (to watch on TV?) and the traffic mostly stopped. It seemed like some people were spooked (and fearful for children) as much as they were interested and the park we headed to was nearly empty, only one person with a telescope. Didn't have the gear ourselves to view directly - but did the pinhole thing and saw the impression. Mostly we observed the effects, like the sharpening shadows as it became a crescent, saw stars and watching/listening to birds, some doing their morning calls as the light came back.

Same here. We have one passing over in 2045.

[toucana]

Media coverage of Monday’s total solar eclipse took an unexpected and distinctly X-rated turn when a Spanish language Mexican TV station RCG incautiously began broadcasting video clips of the event that had been sent in by their viewers during the live coverage of the totality.

https://metro.co.uk/2024/04/10/news-channel-accidentally-airs-testicles-instead-eclipse-live-tv-20619945/

The RCG production team apparently didn’t examine the videos too closely, and succeeded in broadcasting one clip sent in by a prankster which shows the sun being eclipsed by a descending pair of testicles.