ZOMBIE APOCALYPSE!!!!!!!!! [cool]  By  SylvreKat (Read 864 times)

Its getting dark. weird its like the Sun has a Dimmer switch. Very cool

One of the fellas that works for me brought in a pair of welding goggles to look at it.

Well, my eclipse was a bust.

My brother didn't seem to want Mum & me to come to his house (40 seconds of totality) nor to take us to anywhere he knew in Independence (never checked but over a minute). So instead I hitched to a friend's wagon and went to Troy KS. Had a perfect spot at their little airport ("little" as in grass runway !). Well, perfect except for the clouds. Sigh.

It did clear enough we saw the start. And it broke enough we saw the sun's sliver minutes before totality. That was it. A few minutes later it started darkening and the wind picked up. We did get 360° of sunset, excepting where it was raining. Then it got lighter and the end for us.

What's saddest is Atchison 11-some miles away had the clouds, then just before totality they broke and gave about a minute of totality. And my bro's house should've been cloudless. And Independence had perfect viewing the entire eclipse.

Probably my fault. I was so hyped on this, I even sort of made Mum come along with. She would've been content with the 99.4% we'd have seen here at home. But I told her no-no-no, it apparently is NOT the same at all, you just gotta see totality! Which she didn't. Barely even a partial. She'd have done better staying home.

Looks like I'm saving up the next seven years to go to SE MO.

>'Kat

I had ridden my 2006 Reflex down to Gilbertsville KY (near Land Between the Lakes) which
was an adventure in its own right, but everything worked out fine and I got a good view of
the eclipse. Here are a couple excerpts of mine from a couple other scooter forums that I
am a member of. (yahoogroups: Michigan_Scooter_Club)
First, this one:

(Mon. Aug. 21, 2017) < Day of the eclipse... under the darkened sun >
People were milling around the RV park and talking about the eclipse as they set
up their telescopes in preparation for the much hyped celestial event. (and much
hyped rightfully so!) I met and chatted with the editor of the Amateur Astronomy
Magazine as he and a slew of other astronomy enthusiasts set up their telescopes
and gear. I got to look through some of the telescopes with different filters.
On one, I could clearly see sunspots. (they move and it appears that even the
sun rotates) Several telescopes had cameras automatically snapping pictures for
time lapse photography sequencing. I think one had video recording set up on it
as well.

The eclipse was surreal. Before totality, shadows and light from the diminishing
sun shining through the leaves of trees would have arcs curved one way as the
moon was moving across and covering the sun. Then they would be curved 180° the
other way as the moon moved away from covering the sun. There are just no words
to adequately describe the totality itself. Stars and planets could be seen in
the darkened sky and all 360° of the horizon glows like just before sunrise. The
temperature dropped a little (from 92°F to °F), the crickets started to chirp
and some birds twittered in confusion.

Once the leading edge of the moon passes the midpoint of the solar disc,the rate
of darkening speeds up because there is less and less to be covered.The last 10
minutes before totality is stunning as it is completely obvious then that it is
getting darker... faster by the minute... then by the second. At totality, the sun
is replaced by a pitch black disc with a shimmering coronal glow around it.

It is completely understandable the fear and dread that overcame those unaware of
what was happening when experiencing total solar eclipses ages ago. Even when
knowing what is happening, a mixed bag of emotions washed over me; oppression,
awe, wonder, joy and excitement... then the cheering as the sun begins to
reappear. First with tiny bright beads along the edge then the spectacle of the
"diamond ring" (appropriately named) Light seems to appear as a thin sliver aound
the black disc as a ring with a very bright single point of light appearing as a
diamond. It all happens rather quickly and it is SPECTACULAR!!! This is an event
NOT to be missed if one has any reasonable chance to see it. Trust me, my
description falls far short of the actual experience.

Guys, get ready for April 8, 2024 when it happens again... this time closer to
home. You have just got to experience this if you can. It may very well still be
quite cool that time of the year... maybe even too cool to comfortably ride our
scooters there. (so we'll just drive our cars or whatever) Again, the weather is
a factor as it is that "April showers bring May flowers" time of the year. If
needed, it would be well worth the drive (if not too far) to get to a place with
clearer skies along the eclipse path for better viewing.
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Then the weirdness of this one (as an afterthought) from a post I made on the
advrider.com forum:

Rode my Honda Reflex from here in Michigan down to a little town called
Gilbertsville KY. (near Land Between the Lakes) Experienced 100% totality
for 2 min 36 sec. My cheapass camera won't take decent pix... especially into
the bright light. It was quite the experience. It will be about another 6 years,
6 months, 6 weeks & 6 days (give or take a couple days depending how one
determines to work those out of the 2422 days) between this total eclipse and
the next one here in 2024. Weird huh?