I’m sure many of our American members are aware of the forthcoming total solar eclipse due in 9 days. Click here for details 

https://science.nasa.gov/eclipses/future-eclipses/eclipse-2024/where-when/

You are so lucky that so many people will be able to see nature’s most magnificent event. I’m very jealous. Are any of you planning to travel into the eclipse path to witness it?

Hi Ray,
 

There was a total eclipse in Melbourne, Australia in 1976. I was 7 and I remember it to this day. The whole street went outside (it may have been a weekend or Easter or something as I remember everyone was home) and all the birds started going to bed and it was about 2 o’clock in the afternoon, Even our dog went into her Kennel! The darkness lasted about 10 minutes and then dawn broke and all the birds started tweeting again, It was literally pitch black and the stars were out. I have never seen anything like it since. If it is coming to America, well my friends, be apart of it as you will never forget it.
 

Mark

Mark, they are awe-inspiring. Until you’ve witnessed one you will never understand. Watching on TV just doesn’t work.

I was on the MS Monte Umbe for a 16 day cruise that included the second longest eclipse of the 20th century. Over 6 minutes of totality off the coast of Mauritania on 30 June 1973. Over 50 years later it’s still memorable. https://www.timeanddate.com/eclipse/solar/1973-june-30

Yours was on 23 October 1976. https://www.timeanddate.com/eclipse/solar/1976-october-23

My targets are the two Spanish total solar eclipses in August 2026 and August 2027.

7 hours ago, Ray Proudfoot said:

Are any of you planning to travel into the eclipse path to witness it?

There's no need for me to travel as I live directly under the moon's path. I will be involved with an emergency communications network. We are expecting over a million visitors in our neck of the woods!

6 minutes ago, n4gix said:

There's no need for me to travel as I live directly under the moon's path. I will be involved with an emergency communications network. We are expecting over a million visitors in our neck of the woods!

Fr Bill, if you’ve never witnessed one before it will take your breath away. Only temporarily of course. 🤣

"As real as it gets"? I wonder if any of the flight sims are modeled accurately enough that the eclipse could be followed in a flight?

Ted

7 hours ago, Christopher Low said:

My targets are the two Spanish total solar eclipses in August 2026 and August 2027.

The August 2026 eclipse passes right over the Balearics. Get a Ryanair flight to Palma the day before and kip down in the airport. Then the next flight home. 😁

https://www.timeanddate.com/eclipse/in/spain/balearic-islands?iso=20260812

For the 2027 one get to Gibraltar…

https://www.timeanddate.com/eclipse/in/gibraltar?iso=20270802

13 minutes ago, Ted Striker said:

"As real as it gets"? I wonder if any of the flight sims are modeled accurately enough that the eclipse could be followed in a flight?

Ted

I’ve seen it modelled in P3D v5 so I imagine so. Whilst the moon may obscure most of the sun I doubt any sim will model the corona.

20 hours ago, Ray Proudfoot said:

Mark, they are awe-inspiring. Until you’ve witnessed one you will never understand. Watching on TV just doesn’t work.

I was on the MS Monte Umbe for a 16 day cruise that included the second longest eclipse of the 20th century. Over 6 minutes of totality off the coast of Mauritania on 30 June 1973. Over 50 years later it’s still memorable. https://www.timeanddate.com/eclipse/solar/1973-june-30

Yours was on 23 October 1976. https://www.timeanddate.com/eclipse/solar/1976-october-23

Thanks for finding that Ray! So it was a Saturday, which is why I remember my Dad was home (we did not really see him during the week) and all the other parents were in the street. The times closely align to my memory, which just shows how impressive and memorable it was that I remember the details 48 years later 😀

My Dad is still with us, he’s 82 and a very competent e-mail and internet user, I will send him that link! Thank you. We were only  talking about it a month or so ago, as my parents have some polaroids (printed photos that spat out of a camera for the younger set) of it 😀

I have never seen the totally eclipsed Sun with my own eyes. I was hoping to do so in August 1999 in Cornwall, but unfortunately it was cloudy during totality However, experiencing the darkness during the middle of the day as the Moon's shadow swept over me was still breathtaking. I am hoping to see the "eye of God" in Spain in a couple of years.

I have witnessed a total solar eclipse in 1999 in Germany, but it was cloudy. I turned dark for 2 minutes, that was it. We have plans to go to New Brunswick for the upcoming eclipse, but only if the weather forecast is fine. We may try to take an image of the Sun through a telescope and see if we can verify the bending of light rays by the Sun  ( https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Eddington_experiment ). Unfortunately, we only have a 25% chance for the sky to be clear in early April there 😐.

Peter

Wow, that needs to be a precise experiment! If I remember correctly, the bending of light by the Sun's gravity is around 0.8 arc second.

2 hours ago, mwa05 said:

My Dad is still with us, he’s 82 and a very competent e-mail and internet user, I will send him that link! Thank you. We were only  talking about it a month or so ago, as my parents have some polaroids (printed photos that spat out of a camera for the younger set) of it 😀

That’s nice to hear. Seeing something as spectacular as that does tend to stick in the memory. I took photos every five minutes from first to last contact plus many during totality from 1/1000th sec to 1 second. On an anchored ship we were so lucky it was near calm. I’ll link to a couple later.

50 minutes ago, qqwertz said:

We have plans to go to New Brunswick for the upcoming eclipse, but only if the weather forecast is fine.

Please go irrespective of the weather. The experience of daylight turning to night in a few seconds is still very memorable. Also, the light changes as maximum coverage approaches. In March 2015 there was a large partial eclipse here in England. I drove from Cheshire to near Birmingham to get clear skies. With over 90% eclipsed it was still memorable.

The March 2015 solar eclipse was really nice. At maximum eclipse in my home town of Ulverston, around 90% of the Sun was obscured by the Moon. That was more than enough to notice the dimming, and produce those strange light effects that can be seen as totality approaches. I was lucky to see it that day. I was at work, and the weather was cloudy. However, the clouds thinned just enough as the eclipse progressed to enable me to see most of it. In fact, the cloud enabled me to look at the solar disc without having to wear any eye protection. It was a memorable sight

Edited March 31, 20242 yr by Christopher Low