Advice for Upcoming Flight for Eclipse

Old Aug 21, 2017, 12:10 pm
  #106  
 
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Smile eclipse

Pilot was able to turn plane so both sides of plane could see totality. What a bonus.
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Old Aug 21, 2017, 12:24 pm
  #107  
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Originally Posted by steve12345
Pilot was able to turn plane so both sides of plane could see totality. What a bonus.
awesome ^
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Old Aug 21, 2017, 1:18 pm
  #108  
 
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Originally Posted by steve12345
Pilot was able to turn plane so both sides of plane could see totality. What a bonus.
Very cool!
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Old Aug 21, 2017, 1:38 pm
  #109  
 
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Well, how was it for everyone who traveled far and wide?

We stayed home in Eugene and I guess I underestimated the difference between 98 and 100% - it never got DARK here, just twilight dark, but we were able to watch the entire process of the passage and moving crescents from the comfort of our front yard.
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Old Aug 21, 2017, 4:06 pm
  #110  
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Originally Posted by Eujeanie
Well, how was it for everyone who traveled far and wide?

We stayed home in Eugene and I guess I underestimated the difference between 98 and 100% - it never got DARK here, just twilight dark, but we were able to watch the entire process of the passage and moving crescents from the comfort of our front yard.
It was every bit as incredible as I'd hoped for, maybe more, in Lebanon, TN.

Definitely worth seeking out the last few percentage points to experience totality.
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Old Aug 21, 2017, 4:16 pm
  #111  
 
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Definitely worth the drive for us to get from 98% to 100%. There was no more traffic than usual, although everyone was out of their house/car/job/school lined up to watch. The weather near Columbia SC was perfect for it, I hear the coast was cloudy.
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Old Aug 21, 2017, 4:48 pm
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To those of you in the 100% area - did it get dark, I mean really dark, nighttime dark where the crickets started chirping and the birds went to sleep and the temperatures dropped?

Maybe I was expecting too much, and I DID experience a total eclipse back on the east coast in the early 70's, back when there was no internet and no hype and we looked at it through a box with a hole in it...seriously..no dark glasses (although I did really love being able to look up at it today and see the crescents so clearly). But I really thought it would get darker.
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Old Aug 21, 2017, 5:12 pm
  #113  
 
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Originally Posted by Eujeanie
To those of you in the 100% area - did it get dark, I mean really dark, nighttime dark where the crickets started chirping and the birds went to sleep and the temperatures dropped?

Maybe I was expecting too much, and I DID experience a total eclipse back on the east coast in the early 70's, back when there was no internet and no hype and we looked at it through a box with a hole in it...seriously..no dark glasses (although I did really love being able to look up at it today and see the crescents so clearly). But I really thought it would get darker.
It got a bit twilight-ish in southwest Portland, with something like 99.4% maximum occlusion. But my friends shared videos from the totality path showing what looked like dusk from all sides. Given that traffic wound up not being nearly as bad as predicted--probably thanks to government and media harping about how bad it could be--I'm actually really regretting not heading down to Salem for the day.
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Old Aug 21, 2017, 5:33 pm
  #114  
 
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We drove down from Portland to Woodburn, and I'm really glad we did. From what I saw of pictures in Portland, there was a marked difference (and there was a difference between what seemed to be 99% and the full totality). It was very cool, and a great atmosphere (even in the Woodburn park and ride where we were) with people cheering when it happened.

Traffic was not bad at all getting down to Woodburn from Portland, just slightly slower than normal. Getting back was slow until Wilsonville, but it still wasn't bad at all (and certainly not as predicted). The traffic map at and around Salem, however, looked pretty bad, so I'm glad we didn't venture down there.
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Old Aug 21, 2017, 5:39 pm
  #115  
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Originally Posted by Eujeanie
To those of you in the 100% area - did it get dark, I mean really dark, nighttime dark where the crickets started chirping and the birds went to sleep and the temperatures dropped?

Maybe I was expecting too much, and I DID experience a total eclipse back on the east coast in the early 70's, back when there was no internet and no hype and we looked at it through a box with a hole in it...seriously..no dark glasses (although I did really love being able to look up at it today and see the crescents so clearly). But I really thought it would get darker.
Not pitch black, but dark enough to see a star or planet (venus?) in addition to the glowing hole in the sky.

An awesome 1 1/2 minutes for me. Was definitely worth making the effort to drive 30 mikes or so. We camped with friends in a remote part of a national forest and didn't have any crowds around.
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Old Aug 21, 2017, 5:42 pm
  #116  
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There is no comparison between 100 percent and anything less. Period. Surreal. Until the Alaska Lounge @ PDX. Now back to ghettoville.
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Old Aug 21, 2017, 5:44 pm
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Well, we screwed up. Next time .
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Old Aug 21, 2017, 5:48 pm
  #118  
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from Smiths Ferry ID (~60 mi north of BOI, in the middle of the band of totality)
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Old Aug 21, 2017, 5:56 pm
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That looks very similar to what we saw?

Did ANYONE have it get midnight pitch black dark??
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Old Aug 21, 2017, 6:17 pm
  #120  
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Originally Posted by Eujeanie
That looks very similar to what we saw?

Did ANYONE have it get midnight pitch black dark??
won't happen. totality looks the same everywhere along the path it's more of a "dusk" type thing than total darkness. quite a bit of light still makes it around the "edges" of the moon.

in the coverage on the NASA website from Nebraska, you could hear the crickets start chirping though and the announcer "claimed" that if a rooster was present, he would have crowed when the sun re-emerged.

in reality this totality was quite short. the 2024 eclipse will peak at nearly 5 minutes of totality in contrast to today's max of 2m30sec -ish. a longer totality will have more of an influence on animal behavior. i am hoping to fly fish on the white river in AR during the totality of 2024 and see if it results in an insect hatch which will send the trout into a feeding frenzy.
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