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April 8th eclipse

susano

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Jun 29, 2007
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Even if you're not in the direct path (totality) you'll experience it in the US. I'm a couple of hundred miles away and will get about 90%. Remember not to look at it unless you have the special glasses and know they're the real deal (there are fake ones out there). A simple way to view it is by poking a pin hole in a piece of paper, holding the paper so the sky is above and when you look down at the ground you'll see the eclipse shine through the tiny hole.

Map of path and showing showing some percentages on how much you'll experience:

https://www.greatamericaneclipse.com/april-8-2024
 
Even if you're not in the direct path (totality) you'll experience it in the US. I'm a couple of hundred miles away and will get about 90%. Remember not to look at it unless you have the special glasses and know they're the real deal (there are fake ones out there). A simple way to view it is by poking a pin hole in a piece of paper, holding the paper so the sky is above and when you look down at the ground you'll see the eclipse shine through the tiny hole.

Map of path and showing showing some percentages on how much you'll experience:

https://www.greatamericaneclipse.com/april-8-2024

A welding shield works great. I forgot which lens you need to have but you can web search it. If you're not in the path of totality, you won't be able to look directly at the eclipse without a welding lens or pinhole. If you're on the path of totality, you will be able to look directly at the corona while it is fully eclipsed. I know that for a fact because I was in the path of totality for the 2017 eclipse and watched it. What is crazy is how little of the solar disc needs to show in order for it to be too bright to look at... basically, one speck of solar disc is enough, which is the part of the eclipse that is sometimes called the "diamond ring".

This photo makes it seem like you could look at the solar disc because everything seems to be "black" but this is already 50+% daylight, and you can't look directly at that bright spot...

image.png
 
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My first total eclipse: What I am looking forward to
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dsdg2d6OTUk
{Sabine Hossenfelder | 07 April 2024}

On April 8th, a total solar eclipse will cast its shadow across Mexico, the United States and Canada. This solar eclipse is quite special for a number of reasons. Let’s have a look at why this solar eclipse is so special and some things you should be on the lookout for.

 
Even though I was 94.6% in the eclipse, it was underwhelming. Each of those tenth of a percentage points makes a huge difference, I guess. Got a little darker, with that weird grayish light and that was about it.
 
Even though I was 94.6% in the eclipse, it was underwhelming. Each of those tenth of a percentage points makes a huge difference, I guess. Got a little darker, with that weird grayish light and that was about it.

I was close to the center of the path of totality (it reached magnitude 1.014 out of the 1.057 maximum). It got dark as evening after sunset, and the transition from "almost total" to totality was significant and abrupt (like someone twisting a dimmer switch). I was able to look directly at it for a brief while, when it was just a thin ring of light around a pitch-black circle. It was pretty impressive.
 
Even though I was 94.6% in the eclipse, it was underwhelming. Each of those tenth of a percentage points makes a huge difference, I guess. Got a little darker, with that weird grayish light and that was about it.

Yeah, partial eclipses are a nothing burger. You've probably experienced light dimming, temperature change and wind from a cloud suddenly blocking the sun. I've never seen a total eclipse, but I'll take everyone who has seen one at their word, and believe that is a totally different thing.
 
I was close to the center of the path of totality (it reached magnitude 1.014 out of the 1.057 maximum). It got dark as evening after sunset, and the transition from "almost total" to totality was significant and abrupt (like someone twisting a dimmer switch). I was able to look directly at it for a brief while, when it was just a thin ring of light around a pitch-black circle. It was pretty impressive.

Oh, that's awesome! I thought being 94.6% in that we'd get more but it was about like 1994 which was a similar path.
 
Yeah, partial eclipses are a nothing burger. You've probably experienced light dimming, temperature change and wind from a cloud suddenly blocking the sun. I've never seen a total eclipse, but I'll take everyone who has seen one at their word, and believe that is a totally different thing.

Yes, me too, and I can see why those motivated to drive to see totality did it.
 
I was close to the center of the path of totality (it reached magnitude 1.014 out of the 1.057 maximum). It got dark as evening after sunset, and the transition from "almost total" to totality was significant and abrupt (like someone twisting a dimmer switch). I was able to look directly at it for a brief while, when it was just a thin ring of light around a pitch-black circle. It was pretty impressive.

Cool. Did you spontaneously start crying or speaking in tongues? :D
 
Yeah, partial eclipses are a nothing burger. You've probably experienced light dimming, temperature change and wind from a cloud suddenly blocking the sun. I've never seen a total eclipse, but I'll take everyone who has seen one at their word, and believe that is a totally different thing.
Totally agree (partials are nothingburgers). I got a good look at the 2017 partial, and it was very ho-hum.

This one was totally amazing. Really a once in a lifetime. I'm in Dallas, 100% totality for 4 minutes.

A good reminder that we really are just a tiny spec of dust whipping around in the Universe with a bunch of atomic-sized beings killing each other all the damn time.

When totality began I wanted to do the "Close Encounters" 5-note sequence thingy and see if anyone would join in but I chickened out LOL

It was a neat communal experience. I was at a park with a couple hundred people. Everybody applauded during totality.
 
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