Total Solar Eclipse - 8 April in the USA.

[qqwertz 789]

We will go to New Brunswick, forecast is perfect: clear and warm (+11C). We will bring a wide-view telescope with an attached camera to take high-precision photos. Plus binoculars and glasses.

Peter

[Ray Proudfoot 8,999]

Just a couple of hours to go before the Mexican city of Mazatlan is the first populated area to see totality. Skies clear there. Not looking great for Dallas or Niagara Falls

BBC TV are covering the event here. Hopefully available to all. I'll be following it during the early evening. Good luck to all making the journey. Hope the skies are clear for you.

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/live/science-environment-686942

[Mace 1,932]

53 minutes ago, Ray Proudfoot said:

Just a couple of hours to go before the Mexican city of Mazatlan is the first populated area to see totality. Skies clear there. Not looking great for Dallas or Niagara Falls

BBC TV are covering the event here. Hopefully available to all. I'll be following it during the early evening. Good luck to all making the journey. Hope the skies are clear for you.

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/live/science-environment-686942

Fairly clear skies here (KCGI) although a quite a bit of high cirrus today.

Right now (12:20 pm local) I don't notice any obvious darkening yet, although as I remember things from the last time (2017) it began "yellowing" or an overall yellow-ish tint to things some time before it got dark.   Totality is at 1:58 pm so about 1.5 hours from now.

[Christopher Low 5,368]

You will not notice any obvious darkening until the Moon obscures probably more than 70 per cent of the Sun. If totality is 1.5 hours away for you, then the eclipse will not have even started!!

Edited April 8 by Christopher Low

[Ray Proudfoot 8,999]

@Mace, we had a 90%+ partial here in 2015. As Christopher has said you won’t notice any lowering of the light until 70%+ is eclipsed. But thereafter the light adopts a very strange hue and will be very noticeable.

Around 25 mins before totality things will change significantly. Hope the cirrus clears.

[Ray Proudfoot 8,999]

Back in March 2015 I used a Gossen Lunasix light meter to record the light level as the eclipse progressed.

Each number on the left represent a halfing of the light level. You can see that when the eclipse reached it greatest point (around 94%) the light was just one sixteenth of what it was uneclipsed.

[Mace 1,932]

1 hour ago, Christopher Low said:

You will not notice any obvious darkening until the Moon obscures probably more than 70 per cent of the Sun. If totality is 1.5 hours away for you, then the eclipse will not have even started!!

It's started now, it's about 28 minutes from totality.  We will have over 4 minutes of totality.

The light is just now beginning to dim or take on a slightly tinted hue.

[Ray Proudfoot 8,999]

Mace, video the sequence from a minute before totality to just after. The light reduction is impressive. Zoo in Dallas during totality showed animals behaviour. 

[LHookins 3,104]

Ok, that was impressive.  Bonham (northeast of Dallas) had a good view, only a few clouds but no obscuration.  Got to see the diamond ring at the beginning and end, and totality for a few minutes.  It got DARK, the outside lights came on.  It got cooler and a bit of wind.  Animals didn't really react that we could tell.

Wife came out but wouldn't look directly at the sun, son and his wife went out during totality and enjoyed it but were at the back of the house rather than the front where we were.  Yes, we had eclipse glasses.

I feel very honored to get to watch a total eclipse from my front yard.  Next one in 20 years in case you missed this one.  Try not to miss the next. 😄 

Hook

Edited April 8 by LHookins

[martin-w 3,243]

 

2:12 for diamong ring

Edited April 8 by martin-w

[Mace 1,932]

Some people had a rooster in a cage, and he started crowing when it got dark.

I saw this 2024 eclipse from the same vantage point from which I saw the 2017 eclipse, and it was about the same.  Street lights came on.  A dog began barking.  At totality, there it was.  An endlessly black ball surrounded by an effervescent corona.   Venus on the right, Mercury just above.

This time, it was about 73 degF and I didn't notice any cooling effect.   in 2017, it was...I think more into summer, and it was hot that day, around 90 degF, and on that day the eclipse caused a noticeable cool-down.

Anyway, I have survived.  I was considering bequeathing my sim computer to one of you lucky chaps.  None of you get my sim rig after all.

[qqwertz 789]

We had almost perfect weather in New Brunswick. Only a single cloud, and guess where that cloud moved only seconds after totality started. Luckily, the cloud was not very thick, so we could still see corona and flares. Plus, we could see rainbow colours in that cloud shortly before and after totality. We couldn't see any stars near the Sun, though. It was a great experience. 

Peter

[TheFamilyMan 280]

We drove over four hours from San Antonio to Cleburne TX to watch the eclipse.  Our original plan was to be in Kerrville but the cloud cover forecast there was iffy at best.  We experienced the totality in a patch of clear blue sky, along with a handful of fellow observers at a local park.  It was one of the most beautiful sights I've ever beheald, seeing both diamond rings and the corona of the sun with a solar flare at 5:00, for a few precious minutes.  Definitely well worth the effort, coming from SF Bay area of California.  I easily recommend that if one has got a chance to see a full solar eclipse, definitely go for it.

Edited April 9 by TheFamilyMan

[n4gix 4,947]

I spent most of my day yesterday working as "Net Control" for our local club's "Eclipse Net." I did manage to step outside my cottage and view the total eclipse with my own eyes and enjoy the spectacle for the few minutes of totality. When it ended, I immediately stopped looking directly at the sun and returned to my desk and duties safely. It was an awesome experience!

The forecast was for high, wispy clouds here and that is precisely what we got. Not too long after the eclipse however, cloud cover moved in, and it rained all night long. 

[Christopher Low 5,368]

The next total solar eclipse is the one on 12th August 2026, and I intend to be in Spain on that day to see it