Gene Kooper, post: 430259, member: 9850 wrote: For those not in the umbral path, who is planning a little trip to see the solar eclipse in 12 weeks? I will be traveling to my hometown of Alliance, NE to see the solar eclipse. My dad's house is only 3.7 miles from the center of the umbra so the view will be great. He is 95 and never seen a total eclipse so it will be fun to share the experience. Since he is so close to the center, the total eclipse will last 2 min. 29.7 sec. I was a party chief in Alliance back in 1979 for the last eclipse. It wasn't a total eclipse in Alliance, but the birds got quiet.
Thankfully, my dad has a spare bedroom, but I might have to drive up Saturday to avoid the traffic jam on US 385. My dad says that all the motels were booked up last summer and many folks in town are renting out rooms at "bargain" rates. I need to dust off my old wild instruments, diagonal eyepieces/prisms and solar filters. I might even do some looking with my Roelofs solar prism just to see what four overlapping coronas will look like (most likely the interference pattern will be unspectacular). 😉
Alliance is also home to the tourist oddity "Carhenge", which is a collection of old, whitewashed cars that are arranged to resemble Stonehenge. They are holding an eclipse party for the cash.
http://carhengesolareclipse2017.com/
I'm hoping that the late August weather will be the usual hot and clear (at least that's my boyhood memory of sitting on a tractor all day in the hay field).
Here's a good web site with info and maps.
I will be working in Grand Tower, IL - Dead Center of the 100% path on a USACE levee project. The Corps has promised security on the levees for optimal viewing for the 20 or so of us. I do however doubt I will be able to even make it to the job site. The town of Grand Tower has a population of about 500, closest towns are Carbondale and Murphysboro (15 mins away), where they are expecting upwards of 100k random folks with those funny glasses.
Maybe it will rain.
N10,000, E7,000, Z100.00
PLS - IL, MO, AR, KS, MN, KY
Gene Kooper, post: 441562, member: 9850 wrote: They're going to tether a balloon at 100,000 ft. with a video camera.
Now that's a Texas sized tether!
Planning to avoid the crowds at Alliance and opt for the sandhills north of Arthur instead. I doubt if we'll have the place to ourselves.
We built a sun funnel for the telescope and we've been watching one lonely sunspot rotate almost out of view the last few days.
several moons ago we had a solar eclipse and I set the T1A up in the work yard behind our office (Public Works department) and fitted it out with a dark lens.
There was quite an audience of onlookers.
Our depot had every trade under the sun represented and a decent workforce.
It was quite a hit.
It sure did go dark for a while.
Not sure what OH&S would say to that these days.
I cant imagine it would go unnoticed.
Spoke yesterday with a lady who works for a bank that has a branch in a town that is very close to dead center of the path. They intend to close for about three hours around the peak time. Many schools along the path have decided to take the equivalent of a "snow day" to avoid the hazards of running bus routes around throngs of silly people more interested in the sky that what is going on around them.
I was going to head over to my rattle snake ranch down the road from Shelby's which will be in total eclipse. But given all of the warnings of invading hordes of gawkers heading to our state my wife put the breaks on that plan. I'm planning on staying put at 99.9%. I guess I could drive a couple miles south to be in complete eclipse but sitting in the back yard drinking bloody marys. No work that day.
I've heard nothing but a bunch of crap about the eclipse - until I saw this posted today. Very good. Now I'm kinda excited...
N10,000, E7,000, Z100.00
PLS - IL, MO, AR, KS, MN, KY
We are expecting an influx of around 200,000 out-of-towners to our 250,000 population city (Salem, OR). I'm closing the office and working at home that day, the weekend before, and the day after. I'm prepared to be home the whole time. I'm still trying to figure out what's going to happen to the city's sewer system when the population is doubled... please don't come here. PLEASE.
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Wendell, post: 441734, member: 1 wrote: ... please don't come here. PLEASE.
My daughter is visiting from Orlando this week-end. She says that on any given day there are about 60,000 rental cars on Orlando streets. Given her anecdotes about traffic, and assuming that many visitors will fly in, staying home seems to be wise.
Maybe put some cones across both ends of your street.
We had lunch with one of our retired friends yesterday. She was an excellent biology/math teacher who taught one of my sons. She told us that she's going to Bryson City, NC to view the eclipse. I hadn't considered it, but the some of NC's southwestern edge is prime viewing territory.
So I checked it out on the web and found this: https://www.greatsmokies.com/2017eclipse.html Talk about shameless commerce.
Then I found this on from NASA https://eclipse2017.nasa.gov/sites/default/files/2017_solar_eclipse_nasa_official_viewing_locations.html and there's ol' Wendell smack under the NASA logo.
Who else has an event near them? And who's buying a t-shirt?
Was thinking about setting up a theodolite w an eyepiece filter until I started hearing all the cautions about eyepiece filters. Probably will just view through the eclipse glasses my wife picked up at Sea Lion Caves in Oregon in May. I didn't know she had bought them until I started griping about the ones I bought on Amazon being phony and not to use.
2xcntr, post: 442242, member: 584 wrote: Was thinking about setting up a theodolite w an eyepiece filter until I started hearing all the cautions about eyepiece filters. Probably will just view through the eclipse glasses my wife picked up at Sea Lion Caves in Oregon in May. I didn't know she had bought them until I started griping about the ones I bought on Amazon being phony and not to use.
Dang, I pretty much forgot I have a solar filter for an older topcon I used to have. Time to go rummaging through the garage.
Have a client for a current project for which we had tentatively scheduled to meet onsite on either August 21 or August 28. He called to confirm the August 28 date while noting why the August 21 date will not work. He lives in North Platte, Nebraska which falls within the path of totality of the eclipse and is about 20 miles from the precise line for the longest period of totality. He intends to be a witness to the eclipse on August 21.
I will be in the air, I am hooking up with a fellow flying club member (we have three planes) and we will be flying around over either Kentucky, Tennessee, or South Carolina (wherever the weather is suitable). We will be in a Cessna 177 (Cardinal). Should be interesting, not sure if there will be a lot of planes in the air then. We do have ADS-B in and out, so that should help avoid any mid air mishaps.
John Hamilton, post: 442273, member: 640 wrote: I will be in the air, I am hooking up with a fellow flying club member (we have three planes) and we will be flying around over either Kentucky, Tennessee, or South Carolina (wherever the weather is suitable). We will be in a Cessna 177 (Cardinal). Should be interesting, not sure if there will be a lot of planes in the air then. We do have ADS-B in and out, so that should help avoid any mid air mishaps.
Pictures, or it didn't happen! 😉
I won't suggest that you fly out to Alliance, NE for a visit. The airport only has 250 spaces to park planes and they are all taken.
My daughter goes to school at SIU in Carbondale. Of course move in days at the dorm are just a day or two before the eclipse. We are going to try and move her in Saturday and get the heck out of dodge. I'd like to see it but its not worth fighting the crowds, here in Macomb, it will be over 90%.
Gene Kooper, post: 442274, member: 9850 wrote: Pictures, or it didn't happen! 😉
I won't suggest that you fly out to Alliance, NE for a visit. The airport only has 250 spaces to park planes and they are all taken.
Gene: are you serious about the airport being full? We had not given much thought to the possibility that there could be thousands of planes flying around that band of totality. We will need to refuel somewhere, but not necessarily in the band. We are just planning on flying down there and back, not staying overnight or anything. But we will most likely need fuel.
http://www.denverpost.com/2017/08/11/solar-eclipse-path-of-totality-carhenge/&apos ;">Eclipse prep: Small towns and rural attractions in the path of totality roll out the welcome mat for skywatchers
John,
It was in the above article in the Denver Post.
Wealthy fliers slated to land on the town runway have exceeded a cap so no more aircraft can fit.
Whether that may be a problem for you to land and fuel I don't know for certain
like I said, we can land way outside the area and get fuel. Fuel endurance is about 5 or 6 hours (depending on power setting). Bladder endurance varies.
I'm headed to the WWII Fairmont Army Air Field. 40?ø35'31.5" 97?ø34'21.0". This is one of the best remaining WWII air fields with four hangars and other buildings still standing. Tours of the airfield will be given, so at least something to do while we wait.
Waffle House locator in total eclipse path.
https://www.google.com/amp/amp.timeinc.net/fortune/2017/08/15/waffle-house-eclipse/%3fsource=dam