7166137's blog: "Eclipse 2017"

This blog has some cautions and warnings that people need to keep in mind, that they may not have thought of. If you see something that you think others might need to be aware of, feel free to share, copy, plagerize, whatever. Some of it I feel is very important.

Yes, I did get the two Happy Hours that will be during the time of this, and I will be running, so don't sweat that.

I first became aware of this total eclipse close to 40 years ago. It was in a magazine I think, Popular Science perhaps. There might have been a story about the total eclipse in 1979. The month and year I forget, but what I remember most was in that article, was a list of future solar eclipses, their dates, and the general path on small hand drawn maps. August 2017 I remember distinctly. I remember calculating my age, amazed that I would be more than 10 years older than my parents were at that time. I remember thinking 52, because I was much younger, I didn't factor that it would be a couple months before my birthday. I remember the general path and thought, that's quite a distance from where I live, so I wondered if I would be able to get to be in that path. Every now and then, there would be a story in the news about a solar or lunar eclipse that would remind me of this one, and since the dawn of the internet, it has become easier to determine things down to the second when they will happen.

My Navy career got me to within 5 hours drive of the closest point if I go there directly, but since I have already done a few cross country road trips, driving to any location along this path is not out of the question. I want to be in a place of 100% clear sky, who wouldn't want that? With 4 days to go, I am not ruling out driving to Missouri.

I am not bringing my telescope. It takes ten times longer to set up and take down than the time of totality, so I got a new tripod, a new SD card for my camera, and new batteries. I made 3 pin hole box viewers plus two using optical devices included with my telescope and have tested all of them. My photo album has these gadgets/contraptions. I also have ten eclipse style approved sun glasses. When I return home, I will be able to upload more photos.

I have seen my share of lunar eclipses, I remember my mother waking me up after midnight to observe one when we were kids, I don't know how young, maybe 10. I have observed one solar eclipse that being May 10, 1994, which was annular, meanind the moon did not completely block the sun, and along the center line, through a proper filter, a ring could be observed. My twin brother I just found out, was in that center line, he had the ability to make a filter, and he was able to see that ring briefly that day. No photos of that event.

I had somebody ask why there was so much hype about not looking at the sun when the eclipse is almost total. What I am about to explain is not mentioned in any of the stories, but this is kinda like a Bill Nye the Science Guy, but I learned this from another source before he became famous.

Think about a time you watched a sun set. You were able to look at the sun for whole time and didn't get any irritation, or eye damage. Why is that? What makes the sun appear reddish orangish? It has to do with the "thickness" of the atmosphere. When the sun is in mid day, as it will be during the eclipse, the atmosphere is roughly 50 miles or 80 kilometers. That distance makes the middle wavelength light waves come through most and the sun appears to be yellow.  That is not enough to block enough of the sun's dangerous rays, even when it's more than 95% total eclipse. The darker image is still a yellow fully bright sun, your eyes are able to stay open staring at it longer, an that is what will cause eye damage.

Meanwhile, at sunset, the sun's rays have to travel through around 200 miles or 320 kilometers of atmosphere. That works as both a filter and as a prism, changing the color to the longer wavelengths or orange and red.

While it is easy to explain that and be understood by adults, still many will not see the dangers, even people who really do know better. If you are with children, you really have to keep a real close eye on them. Ages 2-4 who can run around with other kids will be the hardest. They won't understand years later that part of their vision is messedup. If they are really young, and you have them in a stroller, they will not remember this at all, it's better to put a blanket over the whole thing. They don't need to grow up with eye problems for an event they never remembered. Besides, there are two more coming up they might be able to see, since they are young now. Taking a picture of a child in awe of what they are seeing might ultimately record the event that made them partially blind. It's not worth it. When totality is in place for those few minutes, hold your child and have someone take your photo with the eclipse behind you. That will be a better memory.

The vast majority of people watching will be good people. Be aware of your surroundings however. I don't want to see or hear any stories about child abductions that happen, but you won't be able to see your children, your children will not be able to see that a "friendly' face is not necessarily a friend. Same thing goes for robbery, pick pockets, muggings. I myself being disabled, have to be extra observant. I'm taking extra precautions, since I am traveling alone.

Now, for the youngsters out there, two total solar eclipses in the United States are in the future.

April 8, 2024 starts off the west coast of Mexico traveling northeast then curving to more eastward. In the United States, totality will be visible through the states of Texas (including San Antonio, Austin, Dallas, and Fort Worth), Arkansas (including Little Rock), Missouri, Illinois, Kentucky, Indiana (including Indianapolis), a very small area of Michigan, Ohio (including Toledo and Cleveland), Pennsylvania (including Erie), New York (including Buffalo, Rochester, Syracuse, the Adirondacks, and Plattsburgh), and northern Vermont and New Hampshire, then on to the Canadian Maritime provinces. Niagara Falls Canada isn't on the center line, but will have totality, which will be a most unique experience, weather permitting. An area around Cape Girardeau, MO, will have the both the 2017 and the 2024 eclipses in totality.

This image shows both paths. There's no point in adding details yet, it's almost seven years in the future.

Now for those of you who plan on being here 28 years from now, here's the grand-daddy of them all. This one is going to be along a similar path of the 2017 one, but a few hundred miles south. While the max eclipse will be off the coast of Florida, this one will still be much better, because this will happen when the moon is much closer to the earth, making totality last significantly longer. 2017 will be a little more than 3 minutes from Missouri toward the east, this one starts at 5 minutes on the west coast, and is more than SIX MINUTES in Alabama and east of there.

I hope this gets shared a lot, especially among those with children, and the disabled.

UPDATE:

It is Saturday, 8 PM Eastern, I have packed almost everything. One of the last things I'll do is spoil my cats with a can of the good stuff. Some of the things I'm bringing with me include, my phone with 3 charged battery packs, an overnight bag, a hand carry bag, a better than average camera with plenty of batteries and a new SD Card. A new tripod, 3 cardboard box pin-hole viewers (see my photos), 2 optical gadgets that might help view the shape of the sun, and a print road atlas from 2009, because they still are awesome. I will close this and update upon my return.