Will you "Black Out" on Monday?

[Thisguyisnew 114]

Warning! A shade 14 welding lens is the only lens adequate for viewing the eclipse. Take care

[Big_Red_Fred 1,547]

@ACman Did some one ask for a problem to show up , i'm Here

[rmaynard 15,461]

Okay Richard. How's the party going? Got a break in the clouds and got to see a small sliver gone. Going out in about 30 minutes to check progress. And no, my automatic welding helmet is not doing a thing. Got a pair of those cheap glasses they were handing out at the library. They are great for the grandkids and their grandpa.

[rmaynard 15,461]

This is the extent of what we saw in the Baltimore area 

 

But what was more interesting was the leaves on the trees made a kind of pin-hole viewer, displaying hundreds of images of the sun/moon in the ground.

Edited August 21, 2017 by rmaynard

[19richie66 17,508]

Well I didn't see anything here. Went out and put on the welding goggles, looked up and didn't see a thing. But now when I close my eyes I can see all those circles you guys keep talking about. 

[Ed Kennell 38,178]

Not much of a blackout here North of the Mason Dixon.    The partial coverage did drop the temp. around 10 degrees.

 

             Best seat in town.

   1:45

 

2:15

2:45

 

 

[stevasaurus 22,741]

Tried using my digital camera with different filters...not what I thought I could get.  We actually had just a sliver of sun across the top that kept it from being total.  Pretty cool...we had some light cloud cover, but the eclipse shown through.  I took some pictures with different lenses and here they are.  they do not really show the eclipse as such, but they show the solar fares...wrong filters.  Check these out, and remember we were at about 90% total when these were taken.   They do not show the sun as missing, but it was.  These shots just had a slight crescent across the top of the sun.

 

This is my favorite...look at the flares.  Sun is actually blacked out here.

 

 

 

[Racinbob 11,081]

I was a bit disappointed. At almost 90% I expected it to get darker but it did get eerie. Our daughter stopped by to get the baby and brought some viewing glasses they used at the school. It was almost over but they sure did work good. 

[pfrederi 17,739]

Used my hobart auto helmet set at 13 (paper said 14 but mine only goes to 13).  Worked just fine....  Wife and neighbor shared it with me.  Saw the last one will not be around for the next....

[ClassicTractorProfessor 5,314]

Missed it here...had total cloud cover and light rain 

[WHX?? 48,815]

Missed it here... I got abducted by aliens....they saw some guy sitting on a tractor staring at them through some strange mask ... they figured we was too weird a species and they kicked me off their ship. ...

[Big_Red_Fred 1,547]

@WHX12 & me have some thing in common ! i was sitting on my snap on stool, hoping for  darkness so i could steal a nap, saw a small bright light across shop , And it was my young helper playn tricks on the old man, thought they were coming to get me

[stevasaurus 22,741]

We were supposed to be like 86%, but I have to tell ya...it was just a sliver across the top (and I mean a sliver) that kept it from being a total eclipse.  Fantastic watching for sure...watched on the 52" screen TV and also on the 24" live stream computer screen.  Can't wait to see what ends up on YouTube. 

[Big_Red_Fred 1,547]

I had no time to look up at sky today, every truck driver had a issue all day, maybe the Eclipse had some thing to do with it ? Half of them had low rider jeans on, i should have been selling Suspenders, Could of bought a 520H from Ericj then LOL

[953 nut 55,243]

We set up the lawn chairs in the shade of the walnut tree about 1:00 PM and from time to time went out to check the progress until 2:30 when it darkened remarkably, then move the chairs out. The wife used the auto-darkening helmet set at 13 and it worked fine until just prior to totality, as expected it didn't have enough light at that point. At that point she switched over to one of my old standby # 12 hoods. I was using another # 12 hood the whole time. They worked just fine. The all to short 2 1/2 minute total eclipse was well worth the wait. A light cloud drifted across the sun as it was approaching total coverage which added some movement, but it was past by time totality came. My wife took a couple of pictures but they weren't worth showing.  

I use a Verizon hot spot for internet access and with so many extra people in town there was no service from mid morning until after 6:00 PM. 

Edited August 21, 2017 by 953 nut

[JPWH 6,034]

Totally cool to see. It sure got eerie looking but not dark. A co-worker had a pair of the cheap glasses and we just passed them around to take a look.

[T-Mo-(Moderator) 4,496]

1:18 PM today.

 

Dusk to dawn light came on, cars going by with head lights on, and sun totally eclipsed by the moon.  And the second photo, the camera's flash came on.

[AMC RULES 37,130]

  My Mrs Rules was able to catch some of those crescents...

Jeff(ACman) was talking about, coming through the trees at work today.

 

  Plus, this one...through the little hole on her work ID badge. 

 

 

 

 

Edited August 22, 2017 by AMC RULES

[AMC RULES 37,130]

Well, I'll be dipped.  

My little antique Govt issued flip phone actually captured it as it slipped behind the clouds today. 

 Picture of a picture here...

as you can download anything from it either. 

[wh500special 2,184]

My home in O’Fallon, IL was just outside the band of totality, so we decided to head just bit south to Baldwin, IL to watch the event.  I had been planning to take a vacation day for almost two years for this.

 

I know different people have different opinions and feelings about things, but this was by far the most impressive thing I have ever seen in my life.

 

Where we were, totality came seconds after T-MO saw it in Bonne Terre at 1:18 (CDT).  A couple of minutes before and after total coverage the daylight shifted from being a nice, warm light to seeming like a wavelength was missing or something.  Like the blue colors were missing perhaps.  It was still quite bright, but the coloring was a bit off.  And the cicadas and crickets started singing in the middle of the afternoon.

 

At the moment totality commenced, it got dark VERY quickly.  This wasn’t like the sun going down, it was almost like flipping a switch.  The stars became visible and a few planets shared the same portion of sky as the moon and sun.  Clouds had been threatening to shroud the show all morning, but when the climax came we had a crystal clear sky where it mattered most.  The sky and clouds in every direction off to the horizons was glowing the colors of an evening sunset.  Remarkable.

 

It was breathtakingly beautiful and quite an emotional experience. The corona around the sun and the “bailey’s beads” and “diamond ring” were amazing.  Watching the sun reemerge from behind the moon was such a sight to see and just the inverse of what had happened 2 minutes before.  Somebody flipped the switch again and the lights came back on as quickly as they were extinguished.

 

I had no prior appreciation for the rapidity of the transition from daylight to dark and back again.  After witnessing this, it makes you wonder how previous generations who didn’t know an eclipse was coming were able to cope.   You can imagine in less enlightened times how startling this rapid disappearance of the sun must have been….bright one second and moments later darkness falls and you’d look up to see a black spot in the sky with a ring of fire burning around it.

 

Makes you think of Mark Twain and his Connecticut Yankee.

 

My "Cosmos" loving 10-year old daughter has a deep interest in physics anyway, and I think this really made a mark on her.  Even my 13-year old son with Autism seemed to appreciate how unusual of a moment this was.  This wasn’t a life-changing event, but it was easily the most remarkable phenomenon I’ve ever seen or expect to see.

 

We were really blessed in southern Illinois to have up to 2 minutes and 42 seconds of totality.  And generally we had great weather across the bottom of the state and at least into Missouri too.  Had it occurred an hour later in the day it would have been raining!

 

We’ll be doubly blessed in April of 2024 when ANOTHER full eclipse returns to the area and sweeps through from its trip from Texas to Maine.  That one lasts 4 minutes!

 

https://www.timeanddate.com/eclipse/map/2024-april-8

 

The intersection of the path from yesterday’s event and the one 7 years from now happens around Carbondale, IL.  Consequently, Carbondale drew a large crowd of people who plan to watch TWO full eclipses from the same spot.

 

http://www.eclipse2017.org/2017/overlap.htm

 

Mark your calendars for April 8, 2024.  I already told my boss I’ll be out that day!

 

Steve

Edited August 22, 2017 by wh500special

[Racinbob 11,081]

I wasn't aware that it happened so quickly either until I saw it on TV. It will be only a 2 hour drive to totality in 2024. God willing if I'm still physically capable I want to take that little drive.

[Ed Kennell 38,178]

     For the excellent report Steve @wh500special.

[953 nut 55,243]

1 hour ago, wh500special said:

This wasn’t a life-changing event, but it was easily the most remarkable phenomenon I’ve ever seen or expect to see.

 I have seen a few partials, but this was an amazing blessing. Thanks for the links to the next one.

[WHX?? 48,815]

1 hour ago, Ed Kennell said:

     For the excellent report Steve @wh500special.

...and to think I missed it cause of an skinny old fart on weird looking tractor and an old school mask!

[stevasaurus 22,741]

And after all that...how many people still think the world is flat??  I'm thinking about 32%.