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

311 points by cyanbane 9y ago

wyldfire 9y ago
I heard from a co-worker who plans to travel to Oregon that some of the hotel rooms in the path of the umbra are sometimes > 2-3k USD for the night(s) prior to the eclipse.
- irrational 9y ago
  Washington or Oregon? Why would you stay in Washington? The roads into the area of totality in Oregon on that day will be horrendous. It would probably be faster to walk. Fortunately our church has a camp almost smack on the totality line so we are staying at a cabin there for a few days around the event to avoid the traffic.
- Amorymeltzer 9y ago
  Gimlet's Every Little Thing podcast did a bit on the eclipse a month or two ago — there were towns booked solid then, I imagine it's only tougher now.
- DamnYuppie 9y ago
  I am on a project in Bend, OR and the city is booked solid for that week. The camp grounds are booked as well. Your best bet would be to rent an RV and boondock out on the BLM land around town. Yes the hotel prices are very high, but I hadn't seen any that high.
  - sixQuarks 9y ago
    I actually have an RV and live in Portland. Where do you recommend boondocking close to Portland?
    - DamnYuppie 9y ago
      Anywhere along 20 before Millican. Or along SW George Millican HWY which is a connector between 20 and Prineville.
      - sixQuarks 9y ago
        thanks
  - woodson 9y ago
    I'm thinking of driving south from Hood River towards Madras; OR-26 between Government Camp and Madras is probably going to be backed up, though (or so I imagine).
- JPKab 9y ago
  I think Oregon is a bad spot to view it. The weather (yes, even in summer) is too unpredictable and it's too close to populated coastal areas. Wyoming is the way to go, or western Nebraska. Don't expect to get hotels, but camping on a rancher's land is easy, and the arid climate in the summer minimizes chances of cloud cover.
  - jasode 9y ago
    >, or western Nebraska. I'll be in eastern Nebraska (Omaha) and will drive south on I-80 towards the eclipse path and hopefully pull off to the side and park somewhere. What's hard to plan for is whether too many other Nebraskans will have the exact same idea which means I have to camp out a ridiculous 12 hours before the event to secure a spot -- or give up entirely.
    - Retric 9y ago
      The ideal location is 70 miles wide and 2100 miles long. I don't think viewing space is going to be much of an issue. PS: Sure, the closer to the center the longer the total eclipse lasts. But, you still end up seeing the same thing.
      - jasode 9y ago
        >The ideal location is 70 miles wide True but I was trying to minimize the distance from Omaha airport since I have to catch a flight 5 hours later. It will be interesting to see how many of the ~500,000 Omaha residents will be on that stretch of I-80!
        camiller 9y ago
        from I-80 (in Lincoln) take highway 77 south towards Beatrice. The closer you get to Beatrice the longer the totality. Lincoln will get about 1 min, Beatrice gets 2:35.
        eclipsePrepper 9y ago
        I highly recommend rescheduling your flight.. seriously. Right before and right after the eclipse roads will be slammed! One article from Missouri said to expect Florida hurricane evacuation level traffic. If you still want to try to fly, bring LOTS of water in case you are stuck in traffic for hours.
- metalliqaz 9y ago
  That's a lot to bet on good weather.
- pklausler 9y ago
  OPB says that Oregon expects a million visitors for the eclipse. If you don't already have solid bookings, don't even try. I have to drive about 15 miles south from my house to get deep into the totality, and I know all the back roads, and I still expect epic gridlock.
  - BarkMore 9y ago
    A high school graduation at the Expo center in Redmond is enough to cause 97 to backup. The eclipse backup will indeed be epic.
- learc83 9y ago
  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 at like 3AM (before the roads have a chance to get packed) and just stay in the area. If it looks like the weather isn't going to cooperate, I'm going to leave a day earlier. Get a hotel outside of the path of totality, and do the same thing I was planning to do at home (leave at 3AM to drive into it).
  - pavel_lishin 9y ago
    I'm in New York. I'm more than 1.5 hours away from the totality, so I'm going to have to head south and hope - although, I'm in the somewhat enviable position of just being able to sleep in a car... as long as someone cracks the window and leaves me a bowl of water. On the other hand, the totality will pass in the very early afternoon, so I can probably just head back once it's over.
    - bradleyjg 9y ago
      Are you thinking Greenville? Columbia? Somewhere off I-95?
      - pavel_lishin 9y ago
        Yeah, I was looking at Georgia and South Carolina - seems like the most reasonable destination. A train is going to take me 16 hours, minimum - and a car will take 12. I might just go ahead and book a flight, but then I still need a car.
  - Florin_Andrei 9y ago
    Book it months in advance, and then the price is normal. That's what I did. I'll be in Salem.
- jzawodn 9y ago
  Yeah, it's crazy. I waited too long to plan and we're flying (ourselves) up to Idaho Falls and paying like $700/night. Selection was really bad and virtually every other town I tried had zero availability at any price!
  - Crisco 9y ago
    Yeah, I'm from Idaho Falls and know someone that is renting out their house for $8k a night. I tried to convince my parents that they should do the same thing with their house, but they'd rather stay in house and not worry about traffic those days. Most of the town is going to close down for a few days around the eclipse because of all the visitors.
    - aaroninsf 9y ago
      Say, many friends and I are all converging to camp just outside Pocatello with the intention to drive up first thing that morning, either up 15, to 33, or over to Rexburg/Idaho Falls area... ...would you have any advice on where you think we might want to go (assuming we're not fighting clouds)? We could only get our campground on the night of the 20th, so don't have time to do reconnaissance as we would have wished; the main thing is just to make sure we get somewhere with a view of some kind. (I lived in Utah as a kid and came up through the area many times but can't correlate my ancient memories with places...) All ears!
      - Crisco 9y ago
        I'm not sure how busy they'll be, but the Menan Butte and the Rexburg Bench could both provide some good views. Of course the Butte is in the desert and will be pretty hot and isolated, but if you bring your own shade and are wary of snakes you should be fine. It'll be right in the center of the path (or as close as you can get eyeballing it) so you'd get about as much time possible. My grandparents live a two minute drive from the base of the Butte, so that's probably where I'll go.
- digitalsushi 9y ago
  We're some New Hampshire tech bumpkins who got a hotel in Charleston SC for 15% of that. We're going to leave our phones and cameras inside, and just hang out by the pool with some cold beverages and experience the eclipse as it unfurls. Granted, it's not quite in the center, but I think it should be close enough to make the trip worth making. I suppose in a panic, we could drive about 40 miles north. Should we?
  - ralfd 9y ago
    At the pool? Go to the beach!
- d-sc 9y ago
  Can confirm: The company I work for just opened a hotel in Oregon and the nightly rates we are getting that weekend are very high.
- jen729w 9y ago
  We're travelling all the way from Australia for this (thanks to my epic girlfriend). Got a roadside motel in Pleasant View, ~50 miles from maximum totality (Hopkinsville), for <$200. Only booked it the other week. Not expecting it to be anything flash, but there's stuff out there. Don't be put off!
rbritton 9y ago
Some tips for photographing it: http://www.nikonusa.com/en/learn-and-explore/a/tips-and-techniques/how-to-photograph-a-solar-eclipse.html http://www.nikonusa.com/en/learn-and-explore/a/tips-and-tech... Solar filters: https://www.bhphotovideo.com/c/buy/solar-photography-filters/ci/34576/N/3537148334 https://www.bhphotovideo.com/c/buy/solar-photography-filters...
- hellbanner 9y ago
  Won't it just be.. black?
  - frandroid 9y ago
    http://cdn-7.nikon-cdn.com/Images/Learn-Explore/Photography-Techniques/2017/Aug-21-Solar-Eclipse-path/Media/Fred-Espenak-Solar-Eclipse-2016.low.jpg http://cdn-7.nikon-cdn.com/Images/Learn-Explore/Photography-...
  - scott_s 9y ago
    See ErrantAstro's excellent post in this thread, the "second factor": https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=14547178 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=14547178
  - geerlingguy 9y ago
    It will if you don't pop off the solar filter during the totality! I'm planning on practicing with the solar timer app mentioned by Smarter Every Day; I'm not moving anywhere since I'm in the path of totality (for 1:16!), so I want to make sure I have all the timing down for the little transitional bits, so I can gun off a dozen or so pictures at any of those moments. I'll also have a timelapse camera set up on a wider angle (incorporating my yard, some trees, the sky, etc.) using pi-timelapse[1] [1] https://github.com/geerlingguy/pi-timelapse https://github.com/geerlingguy/pi-timelapse
leblancfg 9y ago
Would love to hear how they generated the shadow contours from the Moon to the Earth's surface!
- dekhn 9y ago
  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 the earth's surface corresponding to the shadow. I've set up something very similar to this in Blender, although its floating point precision was too low, so I had to fudge things a bit.
  - leblancfg 9y ago
    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.
    - rootbear 9y ago
      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.
      - leblancfg 9y ago
        That's amazing, thanks so much. Ernie, if you're reading this, great job :)
dugmartin 9y ago
If you want to experience the greatest duration plan a trip to Southern Illinois (more info about duration here: https://www.greatamericaneclipse.com/illinois/ https://www.greatamericaneclipse.com/illinois/). As a bonus a friend of mine's family winery has booked Ozzy to "bark at the moon" during the eclipse: http://loudwire.com/ozzy-osbourne-headlining-moonstock-solar-eclipse-festival/ http://loudwire.com/ozzy-osbourne-headlining-moonstock-solar...
- joezydeco 9y ago
  Most of the Carbondale area was booked solid months ago. There may be some campsites open but not much else. I'm staying in St Louis the night before and then picking a direction to drive based on weather. I don't think it's worth all the hassle to get to southern Illinois just to get 3 more seconds of totality. This map will show you how much totality you can experience, unlike the NASA charts. http://xjubier.free.fr/en/site_pages/solar_eclipses/TSE_2017_GoogleMapFull.html http://xjubier.free.fr/en/site_pages/solar_eclipses/TSE_2017...
  - dionidium 9y ago
    I'll be in St. Louis for this, too. I'm thinking about viewing it from here: https://mostateparks.com/event/64121/solar-eclipse-showdown https://mostateparks.com/event/64121/solar-eclipse-showdown
    - joezydeco 9y ago
      I've been trying to scout out some open areas away from civilization, mostly to avoid ambient light but also to avoid huge traffic in and out of any park or freeway interchange. I fully anticipate traffic to be screwed up for hours afterward.
      - dionidium 9y ago
        I could be totally wrong, but I just don't see it, at least not down there in Jefferson County. That's not a densely populated area. It's over an hour's drive from Downtown St. Louis. [0] I have to say, though, I'll probably leave earlier that morning than I'd originally planned, because of the comments in this thread. [0] https://goo.gl/maps/bJRKJndLnQG2 https://goo.gl/maps/bJRKJndLnQG2
idlewords 9y ago
If you've never seen a total eclipse before and you live in the US, make every effort to see this one! It's not something that you can get the feel of by viewing photos or video. Watching the sun get eaten by a black void activates something deep inside the animal brain. Don't settle for a partial eclipse, do what it takes to get in the path of totality. If you have seen a total eclipse before, then you don't need any convincing.
- nicholas73 9y ago
  Is there something special about this total eclipse over others?
  - qwerunf 9y ago
    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.
    - ngokevin 9y ago
      For other people's information, it will cut through Mexico, Texas (incl. Dallas), Arkansas, New York (Buffalo), Maine.
      - sulam 9y ago
        Err, what will? Partial? Totality cuts from Oregon to South Carolina and gets nowhere near Mexico or Maine.
        afterburner 9y ago
        He's talking about the 2024 eclipse.
gagabity 9y ago
What about the rest of the world!!
- deleted 9y ago
  [deleted]
- pcl 9y ago
  This eclipse will only be visible in totality within the US. Here's a broader-scale map: http://xjubier.free.fr/en/site_pages/solar_eclipses/TSE_2017_GoogleMapFull.html http://xjubier.free.fr/en/site_pages/solar_eclipses/TSE_2017...
  - joezydeco 9y ago
    This map is way more useful than NASA's. Highly recommended.
- f_allwein 9y ago
  There's a total solar eclipse somewhere on earth every year or two. See if there's one coming up near you: https://www.timeanddate.com/eclipse/list-total-solar.html https://www.timeanddate.com/eclipse/list-total-solar.html It is an amazing spectacle (provided there are no clouds), and certainly worth some travelling to see it.
jessriedel 9y ago
Can someone explain why the claimed shadow of the moon is vastly more bumpy than it ever appears in the night sky? Or how to square this with the fact that altitude of the highest and lowest points on the Moon differ by less than 20km, or less than 1% of the diameter? The shadow looks like it has bumps of about 5-10% of the diameter.
- 21 9y ago
  The effect was probably exaggerated, otherwise you would just see a smooth circle.
- ErrantAstro 9y ago
  There are two principal factors at work here. The first is the eccentricity of the lunar orbit - 0.0549 which means that depending on where in the lunar orbit the eclipse occurs, the moon is closer or further away meaning the apparent size ratio between the Sun and Moon varies. In fact - it's even possible to have an eclipse where the Sun's limb is visible around the edge of the Moon at totality - this is called an annular eclipse. [1] The second factor is that the Moon is lumpy! The depressions caused by craters and valleys means that totality, as defined as when the Moon completely occults the Sun's disc, varies according to where in the path of totality you are. Parallax effects move the Sun with respect to the observed position of the Moon, so the Sun will peek through the valleys/craters earlier or later depending on your latitude. This lumpiness actually creates one of the most spectacular features of a total solar eclipse, the "diamond ring" effect - I had the rare privilege of seeing this in the 1999 eclipse that crossed south-west England and northern France - a mere teenager but the image is burned into my brain. [2] Other minor factors come into play which add to why the shape of the polygon changes across the track - the Earth is a spheroid, not a flat plane so the ratio of Sun:Moon coverage varies along the track; also the Moon is still gently turning as it orbits in a manner called libration - while tidally locked to face the Earth, the Moon still rotates marginally faster or slower along its orbit. [3] The effects of the compensation for totality variation are shown in the second half of the video past ~1:20. [1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Solar_eclipse#/media/File:Annular_Eclipse._Taken_from_Middlegate,_Nevada_on_May_20,_2012.jpg https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Solar_eclipse#/media/File:Annu... [2] https://youtu.be/WBIyYCdwX1k?t=254 https://youtu.be/WBIyYCdwX1k?t=254 [3] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Libration#Lunar_libration https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Libration#Lunar_libration
spcelzrd 9y ago
My first thought: how will this affect traffic. I've been in Atlanta too long.
- matthewmcg 9y ago
  Me too. We were going to make a weekend trip out of this. But we realized the chances of bad weather are pretty high at our planned viewing site in Western North Carolina and that it would be better to stay in Atlanta closer to an Interstate Highway so we can quickly drive to an alternate site.
  - eclipsePrepper 9y ago
    It might be difficult to predict a clear sky. Because of hot, summer humidity, The eastern US has a pretty good chance of afternoon thunderstorms during the time of the eclipse.
corpMaverick 9y ago
When was the last time an eclipse like this happened in the US ?
- DougN7 9y ago
  I remember seeing one around 1975 (I was in Kindergarten). Not missing this one!
- cjensen 9y ago
  It depends what you mean by "like this." The last US West Coast to US East Coast eclipse was 1918. The last time the totality was entirely within the current US borders and never over land elsewhere was 1257. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Solar_eclipse_of_August_21,_2017 https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Solar_eclipse_of_August_21,_20...
jayess 9y ago
Times in UTC would be more helpful.
- ComputerGuru 9y ago
  Not for an event where the total eclipse will only be visible in the continental US. The map in TFA changes timezones so that local time is always used. It's the same as flight schedules where takeoff and ETA are always represented in local time.
hellbanner 9y ago
What do the black circles mean?
hellbanner 9y ago
Are these safe to view? I thought these would be black. Another link talks about "getting eye protection"?
- Symbiote 9y ago
  Eye protection is essential. There was a total eclipse in Britain when I was a child [1], and everyone bought special protective glasses to wear. Mine were like the paper red-green "3d" glasses you used to get, but with a black film that was close to opaque. They worked fine. [1] http://xjubier.free.fr/en/site_pages/solar_eclipses/TSE_1999_GoogleMapFull.html http://xjubier.free.fr/en/site_pages/solar_eclipses/TSE_1999... ("Britain" is exaggerating, but we were in Cornwall on holiday.)
- geerlingguy 9y ago
  Before and after the totality, same rules apply as always—if you don't have solar filter glasses (and lens filters on any cameras), don't look at the sun. But once the totality starts in your location, you can pop off the filters/shades and look with the naked eye. Just be sure to put them back on once totality is just about over!
gmiller123456 9y ago
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 check everything (batteries, memory card, focus, etc) about 5 min before totality. 5. If you have any technological issues during totality, just sit back and enjoy watching it. 6. On eclipse day, if you're in a place that has 2 min or more of totality, just stay there. There's not a lot to be gained by risking moving. 7. All across the US, the sun will be high in the sky, good horizons aren't necessary.
- anth1988 9y ago
  > Don't plan to drive anywhere on eclipse day > Don't make any solid plans until 3-4 days before. Most places only have about 40% chance of it being clear. If you haven't made plans already, you are probably driving. Best I could do was get a room in portland the night before. Gonna have to get up stupid early and try to make it. 3-4 days before is gonna be tough.
  - brewdad 9y ago
    If you can get east of the Cascades from Portland, that would be your surest bet. Even if the weather is expected to be clear in the Willamette Valley on the 21st, there is a risk that the marine layer could settle in and not clear by the time of the eclipse. The risk is less in August than now, in June, but it could happen.
- jrwiegand 9y ago
  These are really great tips. I was thinking about driving into the path of totality on the day. After thinking about it more and the hype that is surrounding this thing I am probably not going to. The highways are going to be jam packed (I-95). Reserving a place to stay or something similar in an area is also probably out of the question.
- abruzzi 9y ago
teeray 9y ago
If you want a laugh, mute the audio track of the video on that page and play the Game of Thrones Main Title instead.
smnscu 9y ago
Smarter Every Day just posted a great video related to this: > HOW TO WATCH THE ECLIPSE (AND SHADOW SNAKES) - Smarter Every Day 171 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qc7MfcKF1-s https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qc7MfcKF1-s
- ythn 9y ago
  I'm hoping the masses take to capturing high definition footage of the shadow snakes. Someone, somewhere will be able to get decent footage hopefully.
brightball 9y ago
Pretty cool that it's going to pass directly over Clemson, SC. Literally almost dead center. (2:53 mark of the path video).
BatFastard 9y ago
Why would they use a tif format for the downloadable map? I haven't seen a tif format in 10 years.
- bhandziuk 9y ago
  lossless format (potentially) that everyone can open?
  - BatFastard 9y ago
    After looking at the map, I can't imagine why a lossless format is required. I just exported in as a jpg, and it would take a magnifying glass to see the difference. And the jpg was 16/7% the size (at 90%). Waste of government bandwidth.
    - ceejayoz 9y ago
      I'd imagine NASA's more concerned with pixel perfect reproductions than your average government agency, given the sort of imagery they're often working with.
  - tspike 9y ago
    PNG?
    - BatFastard 9y ago
      No need for PNG since there is no transparency. JPG uses 24 bit color depth vs 32 on a PNG.
  - tropo 9y ago
    Nope. This is in fact why TIFF is pretty much dead. The format is very extensible. It was originally specified to have 5 ways to encode data: uncompressed, LZW, fax, RLE, and JPEG. The use of proprietary encodings is normal however, along with several non-proprietary encodings. Data can be lossless or not. Data can be bitmap or vector. There are even two different ways to store JPEG data, with many tools supporting only the original style and many other tools only supporting the newer style. Now consider trying to view a TIFF that you have received. You have a several TIFF-capable image viewers. No two of them handle the same set of encodings. The most recently installed viewer is associated with the file extension, and as a normal user you are thus unable to use the other viewers. If you install another TIFF-capable viewer, you gain the ability to view some TIFF images while losing the ability to view some other images. PNG just works. JFIF and EXIF JPEG do too, because nobody creates 12-bit or arithmetic-encoded files. GIF just works.
gravypod 9y ago
Hello everyone. I'm currently working with a group who plans to do some experimental sounding of the effects of the eclipse on the ionosphere. If you want to learn more about this project please check out our website http://hamsci.org/ http://hamsci.org/. We are pushing a number of fun ways to get involved with collecting very useful data for scientific analysis. I'd like to ask anyone who lives on the midwest or east coast to consider helping these projects: 1. EclipseMob: http://hamsci.org/node/148 http://hamsci.org/node/148 This project will ship you a set of ICs and a breadboard that will make up a VLF receiver. No soldering is required. It's a great kit to put together with children. After you build up the kit you plug it into your phone's microphone jack and run an app that agregates radio signal information (I/Q data I think) to the EclipseMob organizers. After the eclipse is over you'll still be in possession of a fully capable VLF receiver kit. You can use it to listen to VLF signals that are interesting. This may include human generated traffic or whistlers. 2. Total Eclipse SEQP: http://hamsci.org/seqp http://hamsci.org/seqp If you have an amateur radio license and want to help participate in a contest you can hop on the air and operate during the eclipse. The more people on the air the better dataset we have. 3. Setup a Reverse Beacon Network receiver. The main dataset we use is the Reverse Beacon Network. It's a set of automated receivers that listen to short-wave Morse code and RTTY communications. If you have a few bucks burning a hole in your pocket and want to set up a we have a page that talks about how to do this: http://hamsci.org/cw-reverse-beacon-network-how-guide http://hamsci.org/cw-reverse-beacon-network-how-guide Using these data sources we would like to generate a very high resolution picture of the effects of a solar eclipse. As it turns out we don't exactly have the best understanding of what goes on during an eclipse. We have a few other projects in the works that I'm not very familiar with. One idea is recording I/Q data from JT65 bands and building a data set via Zenodo so that everyone who contributes to the data set gets their name as a reference on papers that use it. If you're interested and want to hear more about this you can reply to this post or send me an email to my "work" email. My email username is jk369 and my university's mail address is njit.edu.
BatFastard 9y ago
Do you get the full eclipse effect anywhere inside of the green line? Is there an advantage to being at the red line?
- bradleyjg 9y ago
  The closer to the red line the longer you'll get totality. But anywhere in the green lines you'll have some period of totality. The interactive map: https://eclipse2017.nasa.gov/sites/default/files/interactive_map/index.html https://eclipse2017.nasa.gov/sites/default/files/interactive... will tell you exactly when and for how long you'll get totality anywhere along the route.
  - BatFastard 9y ago
    Thanks! That is a much better map than original article.
Stratoscope 9y ago
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 directly with your own eyes, is truly an experience of a lifetime. No photograph comes close. Contrary to one or two other comments, eye protection is not necessary during totality and will prevent you from seeing the full beauty of the corona. It is perfectly safe to view the total eclipse with the naked eye, or even with binoculars. Only the partial phases need eye protection (and they definitely do). [1] [2] [3] In fact, on the hillside we ended up at, something interesting happened. Most of the people wore dark sunglasses and faced away from the sun during the first partial phase, in order to get their eyes a bit acclimated to the dark. The partial eclipse isn't very interesting compared to totality, and the fun stuff at that point is happening on the ground: there are ripples of light dancing on the ground like you see on the bottom of a shallow stream. And you may get to see the shadow rushing toward you at 10,000 miles an hour! The moment it reached totality, there were shouts of "it's total!" up and down the hill. Everyone took off their sunglasses and looked directly at the total eclipse. Many of us brought binoculars and viewed the corona with them. The danger is that it is tempting to keep looking at the end of totality, when the string of beads starts to appear at the edge of the moon (where the sun is starting to peek through the moon's valleys), and finally the "diamond ring" where a larger part of the sun appears through the deepest valley. If you bring proper eye protection, switch to it the moment the string of beads appear, and definitely before the diamond ring appears! I recommend doing this after totality and not before, so you don't interfere with your eyes' dark adaptation before totality. [1] https://eclipse.gsfc.nasa.gov/SEhelp/safety.html https://eclipse.gsfc.nasa.gov/SEhelp/safety.html [2] https://eclipse.aas.org/resources/telescopes-binoculars https://eclipse.aas.org/resources/telescopes-binoculars [3] http://www.eclipse2017.org/2017/what_you_see.htm http://www.eclipse2017.org/2017/what_you_see.htm
- bigiain 9y ago
  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.
martinald 9y ago
What affect is this going to have on solar power? California has a load of solar going on, and this may cause a complete collapse in solar output very suddenly (way more suddenly than the evening). Can peaker plants come up quickly enough?
- eclipsePrepper 9y ago
  On a hot August summer day, LOTS of power will be lost. It's recommended to turn off your A.C. to help prevent blackouts and the prevent use of more expensive natural gas power. https://qz.com/973684/california-will-lose-enough-solar-energy-to-power-los-angeles-during-the-eclipse-on-aug-21/ https://qz.com/973684/california-will-lose-enough-solar-ener...
deleted 9y ago
[deleted]
brewdad 9y ago
So what will be the practical difference between 99.4% (at my home) and 100% about 35 miles away. Is it worth the effort to travel to the true totality zone? I do unfortunately have a commitment that day, that I cannot avoid, about 2 hours before the max obscuration passes by.
- LeifCarrotson 9y ago
  35 miles seems small enough to not worry about it - it's just a half hour drive! It's still months away, I'd hope you could reschedule that conflict. I have several hundred miles if I wanted to go to the totality zone. But I'm still curious what it will look like in the difference of 100% vs 82% at my home.
  - tzs 9y ago
    Well, one difference is that if you go to where there is totality you can look with the naked eye once totality is achieved. If you are in a place where it is only partial, most experts recommend only looking through filters or via pinhole projection.
- eclipsePrepper 9y ago
  The difference between totality and 99 percent is estimated to be brightness of 10000x brighter! In a clear sky, a total eclipse will let you see 4 planets and lots of stars! It's a once in a lifetime event--- at the least an EPIC adventure! Make sure to bring LOTS of water, in case you are stuck in traffic forever. (Before and after the eclipse)
marvin 9y ago
Regarding weather, places that have clouds due to convection have a chance of clearing up during the eclipse. I experienced this in China in 2009 - completely overcast two hours before totality, clearing up just in time due to lower solar insolation and less convection. You shouldn't count on this, try positioning for good weather in advance regardless, but just keep it in mind so you don't crash your car heading for better weather if things look poor.
skbohra123 9y ago
Just wondering, how much is this going to cost into the loss of electricity generation from the Solar plants across US.
- campers 9y ago
  You should find this article interesting! https://qz.com/973684/california-will-lose-enough-solar-energy-to-power-los-angeles-during-the-eclipse-on-aug-21/ https://qz.com/973684/california-will-lose-enough-solar-ener...
teekert 9y ago
* The most accurate map for Aug 21, 2017's total solar eclipse for north America (nasa.gov)
alkonaut 9y ago
I don't want to travel to this one if I can avoid it, and there seems to be none in Europe in my life time. Will the April 2024 one be as good as this one? I suppose one drawback of that one is that april is probably(?) much larger risk of clouds in a lot of the US, than august? https://www.timeanddate.com/eclipse/list-total-solar.html https://www.timeanddate.com/eclipse/list-total-solar.html
Merad 9y ago
Question for those who know more than I do about this. According to [0] the sun will be about 97% obscured at my house. Is it worth traveling for that last 3%? 0: http://xjubier.free.fr/en/site_pages/solar_eclipses/TSE_2017_GoogleMapFull.html http://xjubier.free.fr/en/site_pages/solar_eclipses/TSE_2017...
- ytNumbers 9y ago
  I'm no expert, but YES!! Drive the miles to get to 100%. There is absolutely no comparison between 99% and 100%. They're just totally different beasts.

311 points by cyanbane 9y ago

I heard from a co-worker who plans to travel to Oregon that some of the hotel rooms in the path of the umbra are sometimes > 2-3k USD for the night(s) prior to the eclipse.

irrational 9y ago
Washington or Oregon? Why would you stay in Washington? The roads into the area of totality in Oregon on that day will be horrendous. It would probably be faster to walk. Fortunately our church has a camp almost smack on the totality line so we are staying at a cabin there for a few days around the event to avoid the traffic.
Amorymeltzer 9y ago
Gimlet's Every Little Thing podcast did a bit on the eclipse a month or two ago — there were towns booked solid then, I imagine it's only tougher now.
DamnYuppie 9y ago
I am on a project in Bend, OR and the city is booked solid for that week. The camp grounds are booked as well. Your best bet would be to rent an RV and boondock out on the BLM land around town. Yes the hotel prices are very high, but I hadn't seen any that high.
- sixQuarks 9y ago
  I actually have an RV and live in Portland. Where do you recommend boondocking close to Portland?
  - DamnYuppie 9y ago
    Anywhere along 20 before Millican. Or along SW George Millican HWY which is a connector between 20 and Prineville.
    - sixQuarks 9y ago
      thanks
- woodson 9y ago
  I'm thinking of driving south from Hood River towards Madras; OR-26 between Government Camp and Madras is probably going to be backed up, though (or so I imagine).
JPKab 9y ago
I think Oregon is a bad spot to view it. The weather (yes, even in summer) is too unpredictable and it's too close to populated coastal areas. Wyoming is the way to go, or western Nebraska. Don't expect to get hotels, but camping on a rancher's land is easy, and the arid climate in the summer minimizes chances of cloud cover.
- jasode 9y ago
  >, or western Nebraska. I'll be in eastern Nebraska (Omaha) and will drive south on I-80 towards the eclipse path and hopefully pull off to the side and park somewhere. What's hard to plan for is whether too many other Nebraskans will have the exact same idea which means I have to camp out a ridiculous 12 hours before the event to secure a spot -- or give up entirely.
  - Retric 9y ago
    The ideal location is 70 miles wide and 2100 miles long. I don't think viewing space is going to be much of an issue. PS: Sure, the closer to the center the longer the total eclipse lasts. But, you still end up seeing the same thing.
    - jasode 9y ago
      >The ideal location is 70 miles wide True but I was trying to minimize the distance from Omaha airport since I have to catch a flight 5 hours later. It will be interesting to see how many of the ~500,000 Omaha residents will be on that stretch of I-80!
      - camiller 9y ago
        from I-80 (in Lincoln) take highway 77 south towards Beatrice. The closer you get to Beatrice the longer the totality. Lincoln will get about 1 min, Beatrice gets 2:35.
      - eclipsePrepper 9y ago
        I highly recommend rescheduling your flight.. seriously. Right before and right after the eclipse roads will be slammed! One article from Missouri said to expect Florida hurricane evacuation level traffic. If you still want to try to fly, bring LOTS of water in case you are stuck in traffic for hours.
metalliqaz 9y ago
That's a lot to bet on good weather.
pklausler 9y ago
OPB says that Oregon expects a million visitors for the eclipse. If you don't already have solid bookings, don't even try. I have to drive about 15 miles south from my house to get deep into the totality, and I know all the back roads, and I still expect epic gridlock.
- BarkMore 9y ago
  A high school graduation at the Expo center in Redmond is enough to cause 97 to backup. The eclipse backup will indeed be epic.
learc83 9y ago
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 at like 3AM (before the roads have a chance to get packed) and just stay in the area. If it looks like the weather isn't going to cooperate, I'm going to leave a day earlier. Get a hotel outside of the path of totality, and do the same thing I was planning to do at home (leave at 3AM to drive into it).
- pavel_lishin 9y ago
  I'm in New York. I'm more than 1.5 hours away from the totality, so I'm going to have to head south and hope - although, I'm in the somewhat enviable position of just being able to sleep in a car... as long as someone cracks the window and leaves me a bowl of water. On the other hand, the totality will pass in the very early afternoon, so I can probably just head back once it's over.
  - bradleyjg 9y ago
    Are you thinking Greenville? Columbia? Somewhere off I-95?
    - pavel_lishin 9y ago
      Yeah, I was looking at Georgia and South Carolina - seems like the most reasonable destination. A train is going to take me 16 hours, minimum - and a car will take 12. I might just go ahead and book a flight, but then I still need a car.
- Florin_Andrei 9y ago
  Book it months in advance, and then the price is normal. That's what I did. I'll be in Salem.
jzawodn 9y ago
Yeah, it's crazy. I waited too long to plan and we're flying (ourselves) up to Idaho Falls and paying like $700/night. Selection was really bad and virtually every other town I tried had zero availability at any price!
- Crisco 9y ago
  Yeah, I'm from Idaho Falls and know someone that is renting out their house for $8k a night. I tried to convince my parents that they should do the same thing with their house, but they'd rather stay in house and not worry about traffic those days. Most of the town is going to close down for a few days around the eclipse because of all the visitors.
  - aaroninsf 9y ago
    Say, many friends and I are all converging to camp just outside Pocatello with the intention to drive up first thing that morning, either up 15, to 33, or over to Rexburg/Idaho Falls area... ...would you have any advice on where you think we might want to go (assuming we're not fighting clouds)? We could only get our campground on the night of the 20th, so don't have time to do reconnaissance as we would have wished; the main thing is just to make sure we get somewhere with a view of some kind. (I lived in Utah as a kid and came up through the area many times but can't correlate my ancient memories with places...) All ears!
    - Crisco 9y ago
      I'm not sure how busy they'll be, but the Menan Butte and the Rexburg Bench could both provide some good views. Of course the Butte is in the desert and will be pretty hot and isolated, but if you bring your own shade and are wary of snakes you should be fine. It'll be right in the center of the path (or as close as you can get eyeballing it) so you'd get about as much time possible. My grandparents live a two minute drive from the base of the Butte, so that's probably where I'll go.
digitalsushi 9y ago
We're some New Hampshire tech bumpkins who got a hotel in Charleston SC for 15% of that. We're going to leave our phones and cameras inside, and just hang out by the pool with some cold beverages and experience the eclipse as it unfurls. Granted, it's not quite in the center, but I think it should be close enough to make the trip worth making. I suppose in a panic, we could drive about 40 miles north. Should we?
- ralfd 9y ago
  At the pool? Go to the beach!
d-sc 9y ago
Can confirm: The company I work for just opened a hotel in Oregon and the nightly rates we are getting that weekend are very high.
jen729w 9y ago
We're travelling all the way from Australia for this (thanks to my epic girlfriend). Got a roadside motel in Pleasant View, ~50 miles from maximum totality (Hopkinsville), for <$200. Only booked it the other week. Not expecting it to be anything flash, but there's stuff out there. Don't be put off!

rbritton 9y ago

Some tips for photographing it: http://www.nikonusa.com/en/learn-and-explore/a/tips-and-techniques/how-to-photograph-a-solar-eclipse.html http://www.nikonusa.com/en/learn-and-explore/a/tips-and-tech... Solar filters: https://www.bhphotovideo.com/c/buy/solar-photography-filters/ci/34576/N/3537148334 https://www.bhphotovideo.com/c/buy/solar-photography-filters...

hellbanner 9y ago
Won't it just be.. black?
- frandroid 9y ago
  http://cdn-7.nikon-cdn.com/Images/Learn-Explore/Photography-Techniques/2017/Aug-21-Solar-Eclipse-path/Media/Fred-Espenak-Solar-Eclipse-2016.low.jpg http://cdn-7.nikon-cdn.com/Images/Learn-Explore/Photography-...
- scott_s 9y ago
  See ErrantAstro's excellent post in this thread, the "second factor": https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=14547178 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=14547178
- geerlingguy 9y ago
  It will if you don't pop off the solar filter during the totality! I'm planning on practicing with the solar timer app mentioned by Smarter Every Day; I'm not moving anywhere since I'm in the path of totality (for 1:16!), so I want to make sure I have all the timing down for the little transitional bits, so I can gun off a dozen or so pictures at any of those moments. I'll also have a timelapse camera set up on a wider angle (incorporating my yard, some trees, the sky, etc.) using pi-timelapse[1] [1] https://github.com/geerlingguy/pi-timelapse https://github.com/geerlingguy/pi-timelapse

leblancfg 9y ago

Would love to hear how they generated the shadow contours from the Moon to the Earth's surface!

dekhn 9y ago
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 the earth's surface corresponding to the shadow. I've set up something very similar to this in Blender, although its floating point precision was too low, so I had to fudge things a bit.
- leblancfg 9y ago
  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.
  - rootbear 9y ago
    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.
    - leblancfg 9y ago
      That's amazing, thanks so much. Ernie, if you're reading this, great job :)

dugmartin 9y ago

If you want to experience the greatest duration plan a trip to Southern Illinois (more info about duration here: https://www.greatamericaneclipse.com/illinois/ https://www.greatamericaneclipse.com/illinois/). As a bonus a friend of mine's family winery has booked Ozzy to "bark at the moon" during the eclipse: http://loudwire.com/ozzy-osbourne-headlining-moonstock-solar-eclipse-festival/ http://loudwire.com/ozzy-osbourne-headlining-moonstock-solar...

joezydeco 9y ago
Most of the Carbondale area was booked solid months ago. There may be some campsites open but not much else. I'm staying in St Louis the night before and then picking a direction to drive based on weather. I don't think it's worth all the hassle to get to southern Illinois just to get 3 more seconds of totality. This map will show you how much totality you can experience, unlike the NASA charts. http://xjubier.free.fr/en/site_pages/solar_eclipses/TSE_2017_GoogleMapFull.html http://xjubier.free.fr/en/site_pages/solar_eclipses/TSE_2017...
- dionidium 9y ago
  I'll be in St. Louis for this, too. I'm thinking about viewing it from here: https://mostateparks.com/event/64121/solar-eclipse-showdown https://mostateparks.com/event/64121/solar-eclipse-showdown
  - joezydeco 9y ago
    I've been trying to scout out some open areas away from civilization, mostly to avoid ambient light but also to avoid huge traffic in and out of any park or freeway interchange. I fully anticipate traffic to be screwed up for hours afterward.
    - dionidium 9y ago
      I could be totally wrong, but I just don't see it, at least not down there in Jefferson County. That's not a densely populated area. It's over an hour's drive from Downtown St. Louis. [0] I have to say, though, I'll probably leave earlier that morning than I'd originally planned, because of the comments in this thread. [0] https://goo.gl/maps/bJRKJndLnQG2 https://goo.gl/maps/bJRKJndLnQG2

idlewords 9y ago

If you've never seen a total eclipse before and you live in the US, make every effort to see this one! It's not something that you can get the feel of by viewing photos or video. Watching the sun get eaten by a black void activates something deep inside the animal brain. Don't settle for a partial eclipse, do what it takes to get in the path of totality. If you have seen a total eclipse before, then you don't need any convincing.

nicholas73 9y ago
Is there something special about this total eclipse over others?
- qwerunf 9y ago
  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.
  - ngokevin 9y ago
    For other people's information, it will cut through Mexico, Texas (incl. Dallas), Arkansas, New York (Buffalo), Maine.
    - sulam 9y ago
      Err, what will? Partial? Totality cuts from Oregon to South Carolina and gets nowhere near Mexico or Maine.
      - afterburner 9y ago
        He's talking about the 2024 eclipse.

gagabity 9y ago

What about the rest of the world!!

deleted 9y ago
[deleted]
pcl 9y ago
This eclipse will only be visible in totality within the US. Here's a broader-scale map: http://xjubier.free.fr/en/site_pages/solar_eclipses/TSE_2017_GoogleMapFull.html http://xjubier.free.fr/en/site_pages/solar_eclipses/TSE_2017...
- joezydeco 9y ago
  This map is way more useful than NASA's. Highly recommended.
f_allwein 9y ago
There's a total solar eclipse somewhere on earth every year or two. See if there's one coming up near you: https://www.timeanddate.com/eclipse/list-total-solar.html https://www.timeanddate.com/eclipse/list-total-solar.html It is an amazing spectacle (provided there are no clouds), and certainly worth some travelling to see it.

jessriedel 9y ago

Can someone explain why the claimed shadow of the moon is vastly more bumpy than it ever appears in the night sky? Or how to square this with the fact that altitude of the highest and lowest points on the Moon differ by less than 20km, or less than 1% of the diameter? The shadow looks like it has bumps of about 5-10% of the diameter.

21 9y ago
The effect was probably exaggerated, otherwise you would just see a smooth circle.
ErrantAstro 9y ago
There are two principal factors at work here. The first is the eccentricity of the lunar orbit - 0.0549 which means that depending on where in the lunar orbit the eclipse occurs, the moon is closer or further away meaning the apparent size ratio between the Sun and Moon varies. In fact - it's even possible to have an eclipse where the Sun's limb is visible around the edge of the Moon at totality - this is called an annular eclipse. [1] The second factor is that the Moon is lumpy! The depressions caused by craters and valleys means that totality, as defined as when the Moon completely occults the Sun's disc, varies according to where in the path of totality you are. Parallax effects move the Sun with respect to the observed position of the Moon, so the Sun will peek through the valleys/craters earlier or later depending on your latitude. This lumpiness actually creates one of the most spectacular features of a total solar eclipse, the "diamond ring" effect - I had the rare privilege of seeing this in the 1999 eclipse that crossed south-west England and northern France - a mere teenager but the image is burned into my brain. [2] Other minor factors come into play which add to why the shape of the polygon changes across the track - the Earth is a spheroid, not a flat plane so the ratio of Sun:Moon coverage varies along the track; also the Moon is still gently turning as it orbits in a manner called libration - while tidally locked to face the Earth, the Moon still rotates marginally faster or slower along its orbit. [3] The effects of the compensation for totality variation are shown in the second half of the video past ~1:20. [1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Solar_eclipse#/media/File:Annular_Eclipse._Taken_from_Middlegate,_Nevada_on_May_20,_2012.jpg https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Solar_eclipse#/media/File:Annu... [2] https://youtu.be/WBIyYCdwX1k?t=254 https://youtu.be/WBIyYCdwX1k?t=254 [3] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Libration#Lunar_libration https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Libration#Lunar_libration

spcelzrd 9y ago

My first thought: how will this affect traffic. I've been in Atlanta too long.

matthewmcg 9y ago
Me too. We were going to make a weekend trip out of this. But we realized the chances of bad weather are pretty high at our planned viewing site in Western North Carolina and that it would be better to stay in Atlanta closer to an Interstate Highway so we can quickly drive to an alternate site.
- eclipsePrepper 9y ago
  It might be difficult to predict a clear sky. Because of hot, summer humidity, The eastern US has a pretty good chance of afternoon thunderstorms during the time of the eclipse.

corpMaverick 9y ago

When was the last time an eclipse like this happened in the US ?

DougN7 9y ago
I remember seeing one around 1975 (I was in Kindergarten). Not missing this one!
cjensen 9y ago
It depends what you mean by "like this." The last US West Coast to US East Coast eclipse was 1918. The last time the totality was entirely within the current US borders and never over land elsewhere was 1257. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Solar_eclipse_of_August_21,_2017 https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Solar_eclipse_of_August_21,_20...

jayess 9y ago

Times in UTC would be more helpful.

ComputerGuru 9y ago
Not for an event where the total eclipse will only be visible in the continental US. The map in TFA changes timezones so that local time is always used. It's the same as flight schedules where takeoff and ETA are always represented in local time.

hellbanner 9y ago

What do the black circles mean?

hellbanner 9y ago

Are these safe to view? I thought these would be black. Another link talks about "getting eye protection"?

Symbiote 9y ago
Eye protection is essential. There was a total eclipse in Britain when I was a child [1], and everyone bought special protective glasses to wear. Mine were like the paper red-green "3d" glasses you used to get, but with a black film that was close to opaque. They worked fine. [1] http://xjubier.free.fr/en/site_pages/solar_eclipses/TSE_1999_GoogleMapFull.html http://xjubier.free.fr/en/site_pages/solar_eclipses/TSE_1999... ("Britain" is exaggerating, but we were in Cornwall on holiday.)
geerlingguy 9y ago
Before and after the totality, same rules apply as always—if you don't have solar filter glasses (and lens filters on any cameras), don't look at the sun. But once the totality starts in your location, you can pop off the filters/shades and look with the naked eye. Just be sure to put them back on once totality is just about over!

gmiller123456 9y ago

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 check everything (batteries, memory card, focus, etc) about 5 min before totality. 5. If you have any technological issues during totality, just sit back and enjoy watching it. 6. On eclipse day, if you're in a place that has 2 min or more of totality, just stay there. There's not a lot to be gained by risking moving. 7. All across the US, the sun will be high in the sky, good horizons aren't necessary.

anth1988 9y ago
> Don't plan to drive anywhere on eclipse day > Don't make any solid plans until 3-4 days before. Most places only have about 40% chance of it being clear. If you haven't made plans already, you are probably driving. Best I could do was get a room in portland the night before. Gonna have to get up stupid early and try to make it. 3-4 days before is gonna be tough.
- brewdad 9y ago
  If you can get east of the Cascades from Portland, that would be your surest bet. Even if the weather is expected to be clear in the Willamette Valley on the 21st, there is a risk that the marine layer could settle in and not clear by the time of the eclipse. The risk is less in August than now, in June, but it could happen.
jrwiegand 9y ago
These are really great tips. I was thinking about driving into the path of totality on the day. After thinking about it more and the hype that is surrounding this thing I am probably not going to. The highways are going to be jam packed (I-95). Reserving a place to stay or something similar in an area is also probably out of the question.
abruzzi 9y ago

teeray 9y ago

If you want a laugh, mute the audio track of the video on that page and play the Game of Thrones Main Title instead.

smnscu 9y ago

Smarter Every Day just posted a great video related to this: > HOW TO WATCH THE ECLIPSE (AND SHADOW SNAKES) - Smarter Every Day 171 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qc7MfcKF1-s https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qc7MfcKF1-s

ythn 9y ago
I'm hoping the masses take to capturing high definition footage of the shadow snakes. Someone, somewhere will be able to get decent footage hopefully.

brightball 9y ago

Pretty cool that it's going to pass directly over Clemson, SC. Literally almost dead center. (2:53 mark of the path video).

BatFastard 9y ago

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

bhandziuk 9y ago
lossless format (potentially) that everyone can open?
- BatFastard 9y ago
  After looking at the map, I can't imagine why a lossless format is required. I just exported in as a jpg, and it would take a magnifying glass to see the difference. And the jpg was 16/7% the size (at 90%). Waste of government bandwidth.
  - ceejayoz 9y ago
    I'd imagine NASA's more concerned with pixel perfect reproductions than your average government agency, given the sort of imagery they're often working with.
- tspike 9y ago
  PNG?
  - BatFastard 9y ago
    No need for PNG since there is no transparency. JPG uses 24 bit color depth vs 32 on a PNG.
- tropo 9y ago
  Nope. This is in fact why TIFF is pretty much dead. The format is very extensible. It was originally specified to have 5 ways to encode data: uncompressed, LZW, fax, RLE, and JPEG. The use of proprietary encodings is normal however, along with several non-proprietary encodings. Data can be lossless or not. Data can be bitmap or vector. There are even two different ways to store JPEG data, with many tools supporting only the original style and many other tools only supporting the newer style. Now consider trying to view a TIFF that you have received. You have a several TIFF-capable image viewers. No two of them handle the same set of encodings. The most recently installed viewer is associated with the file extension, and as a normal user you are thus unable to use the other viewers. If you install another TIFF-capable viewer, you gain the ability to view some TIFF images while losing the ability to view some other images. PNG just works. JFIF and EXIF JPEG do too, because nobody creates 12-bit or arithmetic-encoded files. GIF just works.

gravypod 9y ago

Hello everyone. I'm currently working with a group who plans to do some experimental sounding of the effects of the eclipse on the ionosphere. If you want to learn more about this project please check out our website http://hamsci.org/ http://hamsci.org/. We are pushing a number of fun ways to get involved with collecting very useful data for scientific analysis. I'd like to ask anyone who lives on the midwest or east coast to consider helping these projects: 1. EclipseMob: http://hamsci.org/node/148 http://hamsci.org/node/148 This project will ship you a set of ICs and a breadboard that will make up a VLF receiver. No soldering is required. It's a great kit to put together with children. After you build up the kit you plug it into your phone's microphone jack and run an app that agregates radio signal information (I/Q data I think) to the EclipseMob organizers. After the eclipse is over you'll still be in possession of a fully capable VLF receiver kit. You can use it to listen to VLF signals that are interesting. This may include human generated traffic or whistlers. 2. Total Eclipse SEQP: http://hamsci.org/seqp http://hamsci.org/seqp If you have an amateur radio license and want to help participate in a contest you can hop on the air and operate during the eclipse. The more people on the air the better dataset we have. 3. Setup a Reverse Beacon Network receiver. The main dataset we use is the Reverse Beacon Network. It's a set of automated receivers that listen to short-wave Morse code and RTTY communications. If you have a few bucks burning a hole in your pocket and want to set up a we have a page that talks about how to do this: http://hamsci.org/cw-reverse-beacon-network-how-guide http://hamsci.org/cw-reverse-beacon-network-how-guide Using these data sources we would like to generate a very high resolution picture of the effects of a solar eclipse. As it turns out we don't exactly have the best understanding of what goes on during an eclipse. We have a few other projects in the works that I'm not very familiar with. One idea is recording I/Q data from JT65 bands and building a data set via Zenodo so that everyone who contributes to the data set gets their name as a reference on papers that use it. If you're interested and want to hear more about this you can reply to this post or send me an email to my "work" email. My email username is jk369 and my university's mail address is njit.edu.

BatFastard 9y ago

Do you get the full eclipse effect anywhere inside of the green line? Is there an advantage to being at the red line?

bradleyjg 9y ago
The closer to the red line the longer you'll get totality. But anywhere in the green lines you'll have some period of totality. The interactive map: https://eclipse2017.nasa.gov/sites/default/files/interactive_map/index.html https://eclipse2017.nasa.gov/sites/default/files/interactive... will tell you exactly when and for how long you'll get totality anywhere along the route.
- BatFastard 9y ago
  Thanks! That is a much better map than original article.

Stratoscope 9y ago

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 directly with your own eyes, is truly an experience of a lifetime. No photograph comes close. Contrary to one or two other comments, eye protection is not necessary during totality and will prevent you from seeing the full beauty of the corona. It is perfectly safe to view the total eclipse with the naked eye, or even with binoculars. Only the partial phases need eye protection (and they definitely do). [1] [2] [3] In fact, on the hillside we ended up at, something interesting happened. Most of the people wore dark sunglasses and faced away from the sun during the first partial phase, in order to get their eyes a bit acclimated to the dark. The partial eclipse isn't very interesting compared to totality, and the fun stuff at that point is happening on the ground: there are ripples of light dancing on the ground like you see on the bottom of a shallow stream. And you may get to see the shadow rushing toward you at 10,000 miles an hour! The moment it reached totality, there were shouts of "it's total!" up and down the hill. Everyone took off their sunglasses and looked directly at the total eclipse. Many of us brought binoculars and viewed the corona with them. The danger is that it is tempting to keep looking at the end of totality, when the string of beads starts to appear at the edge of the moon (where the sun is starting to peek through the moon's valleys), and finally the "diamond ring" where a larger part of the sun appears through the deepest valley. If you bring proper eye protection, switch to it the moment the string of beads appear, and definitely before the diamond ring appears! I recommend doing this after totality and not before, so you don't interfere with your eyes' dark adaptation before totality. [1] https://eclipse.gsfc.nasa.gov/SEhelp/safety.html https://eclipse.gsfc.nasa.gov/SEhelp/safety.html [2] https://eclipse.aas.org/resources/telescopes-binoculars https://eclipse.aas.org/resources/telescopes-binoculars [3] http://www.eclipse2017.org/2017/what_you_see.htm http://www.eclipse2017.org/2017/what_you_see.htm

bigiain 9y ago
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.

martinald 9y ago

What affect is this going to have on solar power? California has a load of solar going on, and this may cause a complete collapse in solar output very suddenly (way more suddenly than the evening). Can peaker plants come up quickly enough?

eclipsePrepper 9y ago
On a hot August summer day, LOTS of power will be lost. It's recommended to turn off your A.C. to help prevent blackouts and the prevent use of more expensive natural gas power. https://qz.com/973684/california-will-lose-enough-solar-energy-to-power-los-angeles-during-the-eclipse-on-aug-21/ https://qz.com/973684/california-will-lose-enough-solar-ener...

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brewdad 9y ago

So what will be the practical difference between 99.4% (at my home) and 100% about 35 miles away. Is it worth the effort to travel to the true totality zone? I do unfortunately have a commitment that day, that I cannot avoid, about 2 hours before the max obscuration passes by.

LeifCarrotson 9y ago
35 miles seems small enough to not worry about it - it's just a half hour drive! It's still months away, I'd hope you could reschedule that conflict. I have several hundred miles if I wanted to go to the totality zone. But I'm still curious what it will look like in the difference of 100% vs 82% at my home.
- tzs 9y ago
  Well, one difference is that if you go to where there is totality you can look with the naked eye once totality is achieved. If you are in a place where it is only partial, most experts recommend only looking through filters or via pinhole projection.
eclipsePrepper 9y ago
The difference between totality and 99 percent is estimated to be brightness of 10000x brighter! In a clear sky, a total eclipse will let you see 4 planets and lots of stars! It's a once in a lifetime event--- at the least an EPIC adventure! Make sure to bring LOTS of water, in case you are stuck in traffic forever. (Before and after the eclipse)

marvin 9y ago

Regarding weather, places that have clouds due to convection have a chance of clearing up during the eclipse. I experienced this in China in 2009 - completely overcast two hours before totality, clearing up just in time due to lower solar insolation and less convection. You shouldn't count on this, try positioning for good weather in advance regardless, but just keep it in mind so you don't crash your car heading for better weather if things look poor.

skbohra123 9y ago

Just wondering, how much is this going to cost into the loss of electricity generation from the Solar plants across US.

campers 9y ago
You should find this article interesting! https://qz.com/973684/california-will-lose-enough-solar-energy-to-power-los-angeles-during-the-eclipse-on-aug-21/ https://qz.com/973684/california-will-lose-enough-solar-ener...

teekert 9y ago

* The most accurate map for Aug 21, 2017's total solar eclipse for north America (nasa.gov)

alkonaut 9y ago

I don't want to travel to this one if I can avoid it, and there seems to be none in Europe in my life time. Will the April 2024 one be as good as this one? I suppose one drawback of that one is that april is probably(?) much larger risk of clouds in a lot of the US, than august? https://www.timeanddate.com/eclipse/list-total-solar.html https://www.timeanddate.com/eclipse/list-total-solar.html

Merad 9y ago

Question for those who know more than I do about this. According to [0] the sun will be about 97% obscured at my house. Is it worth traveling for that last 3%? 0: http://xjubier.free.fr/en/site_pages/solar_eclipses/TSE_2017_GoogleMapFull.html http://xjubier.free.fr/en/site_pages/solar_eclipses/TSE_2017...

ytNumbers 9y ago
I'm no expert, but YES!! Drive the miles to get to 100%. There is absolutely no comparison between 99% and 100%. They're just totally different beasts.