Eclipse watchers in America on April 8th.

[BrianHG]

Eclipse watchers in America on April 8th.

Anyone here lucky enough to be able to go see it?
Apparently, I have been told, where I'm located, near Montreal in Quebec, Canada, we're supposed to get 1 full minute of totality.

I like how most of the online maps have the path through the US, then suddenly as the border crosses over into Canada, the eclipse data vanishes...

Gotta find some protective glasses.  It's going to be my first time. 

[fourfathom]

Eclipse watchers in America on April 8th.

Anyone here lucky enough to be able to go see it?
Apparently, I have been told, where I'm located, near Montreal in Quebec, Canada, we're supposed to get 1 full minute of totality.

I like how most of the online maps have the path through the US, then suddenly as the border crosses over into Canada, the eclipse data vanishes...

Gotta find some protective glasses.  It's going to be my first time. 

I'm going to miss it, but a bunch of people along or near the path have already or will deploy radio gear I've built, in order to make ionosphere measurements.  FWIW, *all* the eclipse maps that pop up when I google it show the entire path over North America.  I've only seen partial ones, sorry to be missing a total.

[pqass]

Anyone here lucky enough to be able to go see it?
Apparently, I have been told, where I'm located, near Montreal in Quebec, Canada, we're supposed to get 1 full minute of totality.

I'm just out of totality so I won't be seeing the halo. 
See this zoomable map with lots of stats.

[jpanhalt]

Eclipse watchers in America on April 8th.

Anyone here lucky enough to be able to go see it?

My home is in Lorain County, OH.  It's pretty close to the center path of totality.  I'll have to walk out my front door, and past a large Tulip tree get a good view SW at about 3PM, EDT.  This will be the first time I have experienced totality in 80+ years. 

I have a couple of welding helmets, one is auto-dimming.  I will try to photograph through the non-auto-dimming lens.  I believe it's 11 shade (12 is being recommended for eye protection).  My camera is a Nikon Z30 I got early last year.  Will autofocus work?  Is there danger to the sensor turing totality?  I also have a much older CoolPix 900 that still works and could b sacrificed.

EDIT: Added snippet of my location .  Very slightly SE of Lorain and West of Obelin.

[nctnico]

Eclipse watchers in America on April 8th.

Anyone here lucky enough to be able to go see it?

My home is in Lorain County, OH.  It's pretty close to the center path of totality.  I'll have to walk out my front door, and past a large Tulip tree get a good view SW at about 3PM, EDT.  This will be the first time I have experienced totality in 80+ years.

Get one of those special eclipse glasses. A welding helmet is too dark. Back when we had a total eclipse, we used a CD to look through but good luck finding those nowadays. The eclipse itself is a bit weird. It gets dark during the day... The camera on my Samsung S-series mobile seems to have no problems with taking pictures when aimed into the sun. My strong advise is to enjoy the moment though and not get caught up in taking pictures. Lots of other people will take pretty pictures for you to watch.

[jpanhalt]

In the US, our "experts" have warned that welding helmets should be avoided, because they are often "not dark enough."  Mine happen to be shade 11 for small electrodes and less than 250A; the experts say at least a 12 is needed.  My store-bought eclipse glasses are a little darker than my helmets are.

My home is in the woods, and I do want to experience reactions of wildlife.  I experienced a near total eclipse in Baltimore city in the late 60's, birds and dogs responded with silence then barking.

[NiHaoMike]

Having tried eclipse glasses in the past, the view is kind of underwhelming. What worked a lot better is to use a small mirror to project the sun onto a wall.

[David Hess]

I lived in Missouri during the August 21, 2017 solar eclipse so got to see it from my backyard.

This time I am in New Hampshire and will be driving a little more than an hour to stay at a friend's the day before to avoid the expected massive traffic from Massachusetts and New York eclipse viewers.

[BrianHG]

Looks like I'll be in good luck.  Since I am on the top floor of my apartment, the sun will be almost directly above my front porch, un-obstructed.  Also, the weather forecast says there wont be a cloud in the sky tomorrow.  According to the eclipse map, I supposed to see 1min 40 sec of totality at my coordinates.

[iMo]

I was chasing the Eclipse in 1999 (mid Hungary), I tried to find midpoint by driving my car across the central Hungary and I was happy to find the cloud-less point exactly in the middle of the "shadow". I would highly recommend this event to everybody - it is a pretty strong experience you will certainly remember for your entire life..

[Gyro]

If I'd realized the next total eclipse in the UK is 2090, I'd have made more effort to join the rush to Cornwall in 1999.

[BrokenYugo]

In the US, our "experts" have warned that welding helmets should be avoided, because they are often "not dark enough."  Mine happen to be shade 11 for small electrodes and less than 250A; the experts say at least a 12 is needed.  My store-bought eclipse glasses are a little darker than my helmets are.

Yeah, I'd say 12-14 based on some halfass testing I did with an auto darkening helmet today. On a clear dry sunny day near noon #11 was blown out and would have you seeing a spot if you stared, 12 was marginal, 13 (max) was dim enough I could see some irregularity on the surface, probably about right.

[jbeng]

... the experts say at least a 12 is needed.

I have a #12 filter plate, which I find works pretty well; it makes the sun appear a monochrome gray.  I also have a piece of the standard solar film which makes the sun appear orange, as the viewer glasses do.  I don't really like using the orange filter though, as I've never been able to get a sharp image.  The edge of the solar disk always has a fuzzy appearance regardless of settings.

My setup is a Canon 7D body, a 250mm lens + 2x converter and the filter plate.  The settings I've used for a reasonably sharp image are: 1000 ISO, f25, 1/400th sec, manual focus.  I can easily see sunspots on the solar disk with those settings.

For the 2017 total eclipse in southern Illinois USA, I removed the filter during totality and was able to see red solar prominences embedded in the corona.  I'm hoping to see/shoot comet 12P/Pons-Brooks during totality as well; it should appear near Jupiter.

[Ground_Loop]

In the US, our "experts" have warned that welding helmets should be avoided, because they are often "not dark enough."

How did we ever survive without the phrase “experts say.”

[PwrElectronics]

 A person in my office that sits near in the cube farm took a couple vacation days and went to I think Arkansas to see it.  Will find out later this week how it was.

I don't even expect to see a partial here as its cloudy and rainy.  The last partial in 2017 it was clear skies so some effect could be seen.

[nctnico]

In the US, our "experts" have warned that welding helmets should be avoided, because they are often "not dark enough."  Mine happen to be shade 11 for small electrodes and less than 250A; the experts say at least a 12 is needed.  My store-bought eclipse glasses are a little darker than my helmets are.

Interesting. Because the sun gets covered during an eclipse, most of the bright light is also gone.

[Bud]

I made this pinhole telescope contraption out of a 3 feet plumbing pipe and couple juice cups, tested it yesterday in sunny weather hiding behind the patio umbrella and sticking this thing out, LoL. the sun image projected onto the screen made of piece of milky plastic was about 3/8 in diameter and quite sharp. But today it is heavily cloudy in  Toronto, likely cant use it which is a shame.

[rsjsouza]

I am in the Dallas area and will get it quite nicely at around 1:40PM today. Unfortunately the sky is overcast with a very thin layer of clouds, which I hope it will dissipate or at least have a break by the time of the Eclipse.

[soldar]

In the US, our "experts" have warned that welding helmets should be avoided, because they are often "not dark enough."  Mine happen to be shade 11 for small electrodes and less than 250A; the experts say at least a 12 is needed.  My store-bought eclipse glasses are a little darker than my helmets are.

Half the time "experts" are self appointed and know little or nothing. Then whatever they say is reported by some reporter who knows and understands nothing on the topic. Then the school principal reads it and tells the teachers to get the kids ready. And with this exercise of telegram the teachers end up telling the students something which makes no sense. "Tomorrow an unusual event will take place. If it is overcast you will form in the gym where the PE teacher will eclipse the Principal."

I have seen eclipses with welding glasses or lenses or shades and they were perfect. But, of course, they come in different grades and some may be too light and some may be too dark which makes such a general statement meaningless. If a bit too light it is easy enough to wear sunglasses.

My relatives in Dallas bought the shades from Amazon and report they find them a bit too dark and they liked the welding lens better.

On the other hand they just reported it is overcast there so the entire exercise might be moot if it does not clear up soon.

My 13 year old nephew needed his parents to sign an authorization to see the eclipse at school (!) and it seems some parents do not want their kids to view the eclipse in the yard and they will get to watch it on TV.

Being overcast it seems they will ALL get to see it on TV and without need for special shades or authorization.

[soldar]

In the US, our "experts" have warned that welding helmets should be avoided, because they are often "not dark enough."  Mine happen to be shade 11 for small electrodes and less than 250A; the experts say at least a 12 is needed.  My store-bought eclipse glasses are a little darker than my helmets are.

Interesting. Because the sun gets covered during an eclipse, most of the bright light is also gone.

It is extremely dangerous to look at the sun even if partially covered.

[soldar]

[mag_therm]

Ham HF txcvrs (2)  are running here for the HamSci eclipse data collection.
One is measuring the doppler shift of the signal from time signal CHU Ottawa 7850 kHz. Measurement is by FLDIGI in FMT mode.
Receiver is GPSDO clocked  and set USB mode 1000Hz below CHU, so the base signal to FLDIGI is 1000Hz.

The path  CHU to here is almost parallel with and ~ 80 km north of totality edge.
Distance to here in mid Michigan is 687 km, so 1 hop.
After the sunrise transients the signal so far today is steady with no offset and occasional transients of about 200 milliHertz.
If there is a good trace as the shadow passes,  I will put it up in this thread.

[BrianHG]

Noooooooooooo...... The clouds are rolling in.  It's become hazy and thick overcast, though you can still see the sun through it, it will completely ruin the eclipse.

~35min to totality where I'm located...

[sleepy2000]

A few minutes ago

[schmitt trigger]

No words required, it was quite a spectacle.
 



Joking aside, I am in Dallas and it was spectacular, even though there were some scattered clouds.