2024 Solar Eclipse

[The Chronicler]

Next Monday will be the day of a total solar eclipse that will pass through much of North America, from central Mexico, through the eastern United States, and up to the Atlantic region of Canada.

If you'd like to know how much of the eclipse you'll get to see from where you are, here's an interactive map I came across:
http://xjubier.free.fr/en/site_pages/solar_eclipses/TSE_2024_GoogleMapFull.html
Just click on any point on the map and a box will come up showing exact times (UTC) to the second for that specific location when the eclipse begins, reaches maximum, and ends (as well as when totality begins and ends for locations within the path of totality).

My family and I happen to be lucky enough to live within the path of totality for this eclipse, but since we would like to gather in one place for the rare event, we have decided we will watch the eclipse from my brother's home rather than where I live, because he lives a little further north and will get three minutes of totality instead of just two minutes where I live. Even though it's typically only a half-hour drive and the eclipse won't happen until mid afternoon, we're planing to leave early in the morning so we won't have to worry too much about traffic. Best of all, the weather forecast for that day in our area is currently looking very favorable for clear skies, so let's hope that doesn't change.

[Mumbling]

Enjoy the eclipse, folks! I won't be in America for it, sadly. Perhaps next time in Alaska

Be safe!

[f-22 "raptor" ace]

not in an area where it'll be visible really.

[The Chronicler]

Well, looks like my family has a slight change of plans. My sister and her boyfriend were initially not going to join us because they had work on that day (they live too far south outside the path of totality). Well, turns out they will be able to visit on that day, but my place is as far north as they're willing to go to avoid getting into too much traffic on their way back after the eclipse ends.

So now I find myself with a choice to make. Do I go with my parents (and some other relatives) to my brother's house and risk getting stuck in traffic just to experience an additional minute of totality? Or should I just stay where I am, where my sister and her boyfriend will be, and take the opportunity to watch a total solar eclipse from literally my own backyard? Going with the first option means I get to experience this special moment with much of my family, while going with the second option means I get to experience this special moment from the house where I've lived for practically my entire life. Both have their advantages and disadvantages, so I'll really need to think about this choice over the next few days.

[Serris]

I am driving up to northern New York either Saturday or Sunday to see the eclipse.

I have the filters, a tripod and an SD card to capture the pictures.

[f-22 "raptor" ace]

apparently all of the airbnb's in the path are filled up

[rhombus]

The family and I are planning on going to the same winery we went to for the 2017 eclipse. We had a good experience there and were able to talk to visitors from all around the world. I am not looking forward to the traffic though. 

[The Chronicler]

Well, looks like my plans are now finalized. My family and I will not be traveling anywhere, and will instead be watching the solar eclipse tomorrow from our home. My brother and his family will be staying where they are, but everyone else who wanted to join us will be gathering at my house rather than my brother's house. While this means we'll get to see the total eclipse for only two minutes instead of three, at least I'll have the literally once in a lifetime opportunity to watch this event from my own backyard.

Tomorrow's weather forecast for this area is expecting to be mostly clear with some clouds rolling in later in the afternoon, so I'll be holding out hope that those clouds stay away just long enough to allow us to personally observe the eclipse when it reaches totality.

[The Chronicler]

The eclipse has come and gone today, and I will say there's nothing like witnessing such an incredible celestial event from your own backyard.

During the partial eclipse leading up to (and following after) totality, I definitely used the solar eclipse glasses from the ten-pack I had gotten a few months ago to observe how much of the sun was covered up. I also used a pair of binoculars to project an image of the sun down onto a white paper plate so that I could take pictures of the partially eclipsed sun.

During the two minutes of totality, I took three pictures of the eclipsed sun, along with Venus that was visible to the lower right, but only the last of those three also included Jupiter to the upper left because I forgot about it in the prior attempts and essentially ended up rushing to get that last one taken before totality ended (the second picture ultimately came out the best, albeit hardly professional, while the third one in my effort to include Jupiter was unfortunately slightly blurred). Between taking those photos, I used the binoculars to get a better look at the sun's corona, and I was able to see a bright pink spot on the lower edge, which I later learned was a solar prominence, a special bonus I had really hoped I would get to see thanks to solar activity currently nearing the peak of its eleven year cycle.

As for the environment around me, we definitely heard several birds making a lot of noise in the minutes leading up to totality (including an owl). During totality and in the minutes following it, one rather unpleasant experience was so many mosquitos suddenly becoming active, so at least I'm glad I always wear a jacket whenever I'm outdoors. Also, we have a large tree in our backyard, but this early in spring means there's no leaves on it yet, so not only did it not obscure our view of the eclipse, it also gave us the opportunity to witness how funky the shadows of those bare branches on our deck got in the minutes before and after totality.

As much as I sure wished I could've gotten an extra minute to experience totality, I definitely enjoyed the once in a lifetime privilege to witness a total solar eclipse from my lifelong home, and I'm sure there were plenty of other people in the neighborhood who enjoyed it as well. I will now look forward to hearing from others both here and on other sites on what their experiences were like.

[The Chronicler]

One more thing from yesterday's eclipse that I forgot to mention.

Just before totality, we heard an airplane fly overhead, and shortly after totality, we saw someone descending via parachute from the sky over us. We later found out that, apparently, some adrenaline junkies had decided to observe the total solar eclipse while skydiving, and it seems one of them happened to be right over our home town. Kind of strange, but so long as they followed all safety procedures (both the skydiving itself and the observation of the eclipse), more power to them.

[RainbowFaceProtege]

[The Chronicler]

@RainbowFaceProtege While I do have the pictures saved on my computer, I honestly have no idea how I could share them here (at least not without needing to make an account on some photo sharing site, which I absolutely refuse to do). Besides, like I said, those photos aren't exactly the best, especially the last one taken during totality as I rushed to include Jupiter (successful, but blurry).

By the way, where approximately did you travel to view the eclipse? I happen to live in Vermont near Lake Champlain, so I was lucky enough that I didn't need to travel at all (although as I said earlier in this topic, I had considered visiting my brother who lives a little further north for the opportunity to get three minutes of totality rather than two).

[RainbowFaceProtege]

[The Chronicler]

@RainbowFaceProtege Believe me, I was tempted to go to my brother's house to experience three minutes of totality, which is close to the longest duration there was going to be anywhere in Vermont. In fact, my grandmother happens to live a little south from my house, practically right on the edge of the path of totality, so she would've seen only a few seconds of totality if she hadn't traveled ten miles north to my place, while my brother's home is about twenty miles to the north. Ten miles for two minutes, twenty miles for one more minute, in hindsight, I feel like staying at my home was a fair balance. As I had mentioned earlier in this topic, my sister and her boyfriend didn't want to go any further north than where I live, so given the option, I decided seeing an eclipse from my own backyard was a one-off opportunity I just had to take.

Since the center of totality offered up to four minutes in some places, I believe you could've been able to experience two minutes rather than just one if you had traveled just a few more miles (totality duration increases quickly from the edge of the path, but not so much once you get closer to the center, so like I just said, there's a fair balance you could reach depending on what you're willing to tolerate). To put it into perspective, the center of totality for the 2017 eclipse was only two minutes, while some of the longest duration total solar eclipses expected for this century are just over six minutes, one of which will be the next coast-to-coast eclipse across the US in 2045 (I personally am hoping I could possibly visit Florida to see that eclipse, so I've got 21 years to make such a plan).

[Flathead770]

I had seen the 2017 eclipse by taking a 2 day drive down from Alberta to Idaho with my brothers, which was my first eclipse viewing. It was an incredible experience, and that trip was what got me into photography. After that I knew of the 2020 eclipse in Southern Argentina and the next US one in 2024.

In a way, things happened to line up perfectly for viewing this one. I happened to be on a break from my Mechanical Engineering degree that I started back in 2020, where I'm basically working as an intern for various jobs for a year before going back to finish my 4th year. One of my brothers also happened to be living in Texas and was right on the edge of totality.

The weather on the day of the eclipse was quite sketchy in Texas, with cloud coverage basically stretching across the whole path of totality, so we didn't plan where to go to see it until the morning of the event. Thankfully we found a decent spot on a quiet hill in a small town and had 4 minutes of totality with mostly clear skies.

I currently have my eyes on a possibility of checking out the 2026 eclipse in Iceland and northern Spain, as I will have graduated by then. There's also various eclipses in the 2030s in Australia and New Zealand that I might want to check out, seeing as I will be 54 when the next eclipse passes over North America in 2044, where it will pass over much of Alberta.

[The Chronicler]

@Flathead770 Glad to hear you got lucky with not only the opportunity to visit the path of totality but also that you caught enough of a break in the weather to observe the eclipse. For me, I'm actually astonished that the best weather we got here in Vermont for over a month just so happened to occur right around the day of the eclipse (we had snowfall just a few days prior, heavy rainfall just a few days following, and practically every other day before and since has been a full cloudy sky). I hope you'll be just as fortunate in 2044, because take it from me, there is no experience like witnessing a total solar eclipse from a place as familiar as your home neighborhood.

I also looked up some other upcoming total solar eclipses that interest me, despite how unlikely I am to actually travel just to observe them...

2027 will have one of the longest eclipses of this century, and while the path of totality stretches from Gibraltar to Mecca, I can imagine one of the most popular destinations will be the location of longest duration (over six minutes) near Luxor, Egypt.

2028, the first of four eclipses across Australia over a ten year period, the city of Sydney will be within the path of totality, so that might be a tempting destination for those who might not be willing to venture deep into the outback.

2033 has a brief one across northwestern Alaska, which includes places like Nome and Barrow, so it'll be interesting to see just how many people are willing to travel to such a remote area with limited infrastructure.

And of course, I have long term hopes of visiting Florida to witness the 2045 eclipse (and from what little I've been able to study, it seems my desire to witness possibly up to six minutes of totality will probably require going to some place near Orlando).