Anybody seeing totality?

Hijack.

Your avatar reminds me of Edvard Munch's painting of 'The Scream'. I dunno why....

couldy here in the high desert too

Here in Iowa it maxed out at maybe 80%, and that was at sunset. I used the transit with a projection screen and had a pretty good look. Some clouds, but periods of clear viewing.

I haven't got my pictures downloaded yet to see if any are decent.

I did the same.

I would say it was 80 to 90%.

My photos through sunglasses and high overcast were crap but then some friends saw fit to flood my phone with images they took...here's one from my buddy TJ in New Orleans as the sun was setting...

thanks legs....I like that guy's work alot

Here is a photobucket album of my photos:

http://smg.photobucket.com/albums/v216/someonespadre/Solar%20Eclipse%2005202012/

It even showed up against my white truck. The sun shined through the tree and you can see the crescent shapes on the truck.

Here's my setup - I look through big hole in side of tube for best view but it's hard to take photos.

Partway through eclipse (image upside down)
The photos aren't sharp enough, but we thought we saw sunspots on the screen (moved with image not screen).

Going below horizon - image erected to show tree.

Those are great photos Dave. We were out in the cul-de-sac with the neighbors and it looked like the overcast wasn't going to break. I was heading back into the house when I heard a commotion, turned, and took this photo real quick like before the clouds closed in again.

Bill

That looks just like my Dietzgen Transit.

Bill

Yup. Mine is Dietzgen also. Unfortunately it was knocked over before I got it (cheap), so it doesn't work as well as it should. I straightened the uprights and put it back together but the vertical motion isn't smooth.

It works nicely for this, though. I should set up a larger projection distance like you did so it would be easier to take pictures and there would be less texture on the screen.

I've gotten polaris azimuth to a half minute with it, though, and latitude by solar using that projection tube to less than 2 minutes (when I can keep track of which stadia hair I'm seeing).

Bill

Yes your projection tube is a good idea for doing a solar with it.

Only saw the beginning........

My setup

Thru the trees

Watched from a point on the exact centerline in Northern AZ - saw a perfect ring of sun at mid-eclipse - very cool! The air temperature dropped markedly also.

Transit of Venus, June 5

The last chance in your lifetime to see Venus pass between the earth and sun comes June 5th. Venus will appear as a discernible dot that takes a path across the edge of the sun (apparently curved because of earth rotation) over a period of about six hours (where fully visible).

It will begin about 2204 UTC, which is just past 6 pm EDT or 3 PM PDT, and end well after sunset in the US.
Transit of Venus
Wikipedia
Animation:

don't know if it is a fake or not but it looks pretty cool. like the devil is coming to bring his children home.

Freaking Awesome!!!!

Witnessed the event from Sunset Overlook at Cedar Breaks National Monument. The park was still closed for the season, but the road was open, so not too many people. We were at 37° 37' 14.55" N & 112° 49' 42.00" W at just above 10,000 feet with perfectly blue skies. What a day and what a view!

Here's a pic of the cloud that was last seen about 2 hours before the eclipse started.

Here's one of the overlook just as the eclipse was starting.

Reflected image at totality using a pair of binoculars.

The shadows were incredible!

Totality without a filter.

Totality with a filter (thanks to the person who lent it to me!)

All I can say is, "Freaking Awesome!!"

Next total eclipse (this one was an annular eclipse) is in 2017 at Yellowstone. Definitely going to be there!

JBS