Heading to see the Solar Eclipse soon
Discussion
Steve Campbell said:
Yeah...but given we've been planning this holiday for 2 years.....I'd prefer it if my wife and son got to experience the full effect in terms of seeing stuff like the diamond ring effect etc. Anyway, it's only 2.5 mins of a 2 week holiday so we'll have fun no matter what.
Absolutely!.. I will be in Walland ,Tennessee and there is about a 40% chance of cloud;...but if you don't try, then you will certainly see nothing. If it does not happen ,so be it.Steve Campbell said:
Currently in Blue Ridge Georgia....watching all the weather channels and trying to decide whether to go NW towards Nashville TN or SE towards Columbia SC. decisions decisions ! :-)
The problem is that it can change in just a few minutes...I am going to stay put in Walland TN and just hope for the best. Nothing to be done..there will be so much traffic that I doubt that there is any benefit to chasing the thing around to get better sky. Good luck in your decision
I saw the eclipse of 1999 because I decided to go to France rather than Cornwall on the logical assumption that if it was cloudy at least I would come back with lots of French cheese, pork, wine and beer. No brainer. My mate who I wanted to come along went to Cornwall because of a girl .. more fool him.
The eclipse was epic and so was my journey. I had broken my back on a motorbike in 1996 and this was my first big trip out on my own, not walking very far and a dickie bladder. Had an automatic Tigra as it made me feel i was not disabled, at least for people looking on, they were sporty in those days ! Honest.
Went on the channel tunnel at midnight, down to Fecamp by 6am. It was so cloudy. Darn it. Had no sat nav of course just printed out a single page of A4 from a Shell website showing where their stations were on the autoroute. Decided to head north as less clouds. Out at sea the yachts seem to have no clouds, such is the influence of land on air.
I drove north, not really knowing where I was going until I found a field. Lots of French were parked up and and it was easy to park. I had a little digital camera with no zoom, it had to do though. At this point though things started to look up ( not literally ) as a man on a Ducati parked next to me. Like Clint Eastwood riding into town. My good fortune was that he was English and a total gentleman. I lent him some proper cardboard solar glasses and he later, when at home, sent me some photo's of the eclipse with a proper camera god bless him. Top bloke. Ducati, tripod and camera with zoom..... he had come prepared unlike me.
This is us two. I've just stuck the photo's taken on my work surface so pardon the blackberries etc...
http://www.zen141854.zen.co.uk/ec1.jpg
You can see how bad my legs were as holding onto the Tigra for stability !!! Then his bike fell over as the side stand sank into the mud. We both got it upright. Mainly him. Things were not good. The weather was getting more cloudy too. I felt we were doomed.
http://www.zen141854.zen.co.uk/ec2.jpg
There's a funny thing though. As the totality progressed the atmospherics changed. It got darker but clearer. As the totality ensued the temperature does drop, the clouds disappeared further.
The temperature drops and the local birds thought it was night time and stopped their twittering, it is true what they say about it. The bird noise was soon drowned out by French oohs and ahs though, such is the difference between folk and fowl
The totality
http://www.zen141854.zen.co.uk/ec3.jpg
Diamond ring and corona and Baileys beads, my new friend did me proud ! My photos looked like s
t
After it was all over I said goodbye and drove back to Fecamp from memory. Then up back to the channel tunnel after stopping off for the food and wine I wanted. I remember fist punching the air on the way back. Totally stoked to quote the expression. My friend with the Ducati had a more interesting time, just after midnight on the outside of the M25 the engine blew up due to the fall into the field earlier. What a hero.....
So, the eclipse is brilliant.
See it.
And make sure you have an adventure seeing it too. It is fecking amazing and humbling, no wonder people chase them. Science in action bigger than any science man has yet created. All for free
To the American PHers I Hope it's sunny . Buy wine and cheese no matter what, and send us your stories and photo's
The eclipse was epic and so was my journey. I had broken my back on a motorbike in 1996 and this was my first big trip out on my own, not walking very far and a dickie bladder. Had an automatic Tigra as it made me feel i was not disabled, at least for people looking on, they were sporty in those days ! Honest.
Went on the channel tunnel at midnight, down to Fecamp by 6am. It was so cloudy. Darn it. Had no sat nav of course just printed out a single page of A4 from a Shell website showing where their stations were on the autoroute. Decided to head north as less clouds. Out at sea the yachts seem to have no clouds, such is the influence of land on air.
I drove north, not really knowing where I was going until I found a field. Lots of French were parked up and and it was easy to park. I had a little digital camera with no zoom, it had to do though. At this point though things started to look up ( not literally
) as a man on a Ducati parked next to me. Like Clint Eastwood riding into town. My good fortune was that he was English and a total gentleman. I lent him some proper cardboard solar glasses and he later, when at home, sent me some photo's of the eclipse with a proper camera god bless him. Top bloke. Ducati, tripod and camera with zoom..... he had come prepared unlike me.This is us two. I've just stuck the photo's taken on my work surface so pardon the blackberries etc...
http://www.zen141854.zen.co.uk/ec1.jpg
You can see how bad my legs were as holding onto the Tigra for stability !!! Then his bike fell over as the side stand sank into the mud. We both got it upright. Mainly him. Things were not good. The weather was getting more cloudy too. I felt we were doomed.
http://www.zen141854.zen.co.uk/ec2.jpg
There's a funny thing though. As the totality progressed the atmospherics changed. It got darker but clearer. As the totality ensued the temperature does drop, the clouds disappeared further.
The temperature drops and the local birds thought it was night time and stopped their twittering, it is true what they say about it. The bird noise was soon drowned out by French oohs and ahs though, such is the difference between folk and fowl
The totality
http://www.zen141854.zen.co.uk/ec3.jpg
Diamond ring and corona and Baileys beads, my new friend did me proud ! My photos looked like s
t After it was all over I said goodbye and drove back to Fecamp from memory. Then up back to the channel tunnel after stopping off for the food and wine I wanted. I remember fist punching the air on the way back. Totally stoked to quote the expression. My friend with the Ducati had a more interesting time, just after midnight on the outside of the M25 the engine blew up due to the fall into the field earlier. What a hero.....
So, the eclipse is brilliant.
See it.
And make sure you have an adventure seeing it too. It is fecking amazing and humbling, no wonder people chase them. Science in action bigger than any science man has yet created. All for free
To the American PHers I Hope it's sunny . Buy wine and cheese no matter what, and send us your stories and photo's
Edited by Gandahar on Friday 18th August 18:48
Will hit the US border at 630am Sunday, near Detroit, down through Ohio, Kentucky into Tennessee.
Overnight in Knoxville TN and early in AM will get to destination, a place called Blackberry Farm, only 26 miles from Knoxville.
I do expect traffic so will keep from running low on gas; have water in vehicle. Although fiercest not great, have to try...
Overnight in Knoxville TN and early in AM will get to destination, a place called Blackberry Farm, only 26 miles from Knoxville.
I do expect traffic so will keep from running low on gas; have water in vehicle. Although fiercest not great, have to try...
RDMcG said:
Will hit the US border at 630am Sunday, near Detroit, down through Ohio, Kentucky into Tennessee.
Overnight in Knoxville TN and early in AM will get to destination, a place called Blackberry Farm, only 26 miles from Knoxville.
I do expect traffic so will keep from running low on gas; have water in vehicle. Although fiercest not great, have to try...
Fingers crossed. Whatever, it's an adventure. Nobody sets out on a adventure knowing it will be fine, because then it is not an adventure. Overnight in Knoxville TN and early in AM will get to destination, a place called Blackberry Farm, only 26 miles from Knoxville.
I do expect traffic so will keep from running low on gas; have water in vehicle. Although fiercest not great, have to try...
And if it blows out, excuse for the next time ....
Steve Campbell said:
We won't be far from you. We're heading up to Chattanooga tomorrow night, then heading for Watts Bar dam to watch.
Good luck with the view..partially cloudy means it is a gamble, so I would not be surprised if we were watching the clouds within minutes of totality and justwilling them to get of the way...
Yep. We've watched the forecasts and rolled the dice. Whatever, we've had a great week so far (white water rafting on the Olympic course, hired a boat on a lake and relived my childhood with rope swings into the lake, walked into the mountains & went to a rodeo :-))....and next week we'll chill on the beach with beer in hand :-). Bring on the darkness ;-)
Why is the whole of America so convinced this eclipse is even going to happen. After all, it's based on nothing more than a scientific prediction. 45% of Americans don't accept evolution, and science or scientists aren't very well regarded by a large swathe of the population.
But it seems suddenly science is to be trusted over this matter. If you don't accept evolution, of climate change, why assume they've got the eclipse right?
But it seems suddenly science is to be trusted over this matter. If you don't accept evolution, of climate change, why assume they've got the eclipse right?
TwigtheWonderkid said:
Why is the whole of America so convinced this eclipse is even going to happen. After all, it's based on nothing more than a scientific prediction. 45% of Americans don't accept evolution, and science or scientists aren't very well regarded by a large swathe of the population.
But it seems suddenly science is to be trusted over this matter. If you don't accept evolution, of climate change, why assume they've got the eclipse right?
Two reasons:But it seems suddenly science is to be trusted over this matter. If you don't accept evolution, of climate change, why assume they've got the eclipse right?
1) They haven't discarded evolution, climate change or vaccination on their own, they've believed what they've been told by crackpot religious leaders or other people of questionable logic in the public eye. As far as I know, nobody has a motive to spread lies about eclipses. The majority of Christians, including the Pope and the Archbishop of Canterbury, accept evolution; the rise of creationism is a recent thing caused by the internet's presentation of un-researched and un-reviewed opinion alongside well founded facts.
2) Predictions of the orbital mechanics of the solar system prove themselves constantly every day and are obvious to even the untrained eye. We predict sunrises and sunsets day in day out with immense accuracy. This makes the prediction of eclipses pretty hard to refute. Evolution, whilst simple, isn't as immediately obvious without engaging your brain.
RobM77 said:
TwigtheWonderkid said:
Why is the whole of America so convinced this eclipse is even going to happen. After all, it's based on nothing more than a scientific prediction. 45% of Americans don't accept evolution, and science or scientists aren't very well regarded by a large swathe of the population.
But it seems suddenly science is to be trusted over this matter. If you don't accept evolution, of climate change, why assume they've got the eclipse right?
Two reasons:But it seems suddenly science is to be trusted over this matter. If you don't accept evolution, of climate change, why assume they've got the eclipse right?
1) They haven't discarded evolution, climate change or vaccination on their own, they've believed what they've been told by crackpot religious leaders or other people of questionable logic in the public eye. As far as I know, nobody has a motive to spread lies about eclipses. The majority of Christians, including the Pope and the Archbishop of Canterbury, accept evolution; the rise of creationism is a recent thing caused by the internet's presentation of un-researched and un-reviewed opinion alongside well founded facts.
2) Predictions of the orbital mechanics of the solar system prove themselves constantly every day and are obvious to even the untrained eye. We predict sunrises and sunsets day in day out with immense accuracy. This makes the prediction of eclipses pretty hard to refute. Evolution, whilst simple, isn't as immediately obvious without engaging your brain.
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