I meant to say, but failed to: that Transit Composite Shot of Venus is great! I can certainly see your timing-it-to-the-second results. Very nicely done. It looks like at least 25 exposures, over a period of about how much time?
Again, very nice! Thanks for sharing that.
A lot of small gift shops and such around here (Oregeon) are already selling the cardboard eclipse glasses, too, so I don’t think they’ll be hard to find by August.
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Great American Solar Eclipse of 2017
On August 21, 2017, America will get to see a total solar eclipse. This is a truly historic event. The last eclipse to touch US soil was in 1991, and there won’t be another until 2024.
Um, then what did I see in the 94/95ish? [I remember the roomie that was living with mrAru and I at the time, and he was deployed so that would have been after 94 because he had shore duty from 12/90-12/93 … ] We were located in eastern CT.
I know it couldn’t have been the 91 eclipse, we didn’t have any roomies until mrAru went back to sea duty …
Thanks. I took a lot of intermediate exposures as well. I don’t remember what the time interval was, somewhere between 1-2 minutes. The entire transit took over six hours. I was using a film camera, so had to change film very quickly. I got quite a sunburn (didn’t want to get sunblock all over my equipment).
This time around, I’m using my digital camera, with much less magnification. I just can’t be bothered with film anymore.
Film, even. I’m even more impressed! I too come from that era. Remember bracketing your shots and then waiting DAYS!! to get your film developed and see how they came out? I’m sure you do.
Gotta keep sunblock off your gear, for sure. Suggestion: latex gloves, like what I use working on my car, oil changes. It might work for you, it might not.
Just search, you can easily find past eclipses, and future ones, going way out in both directions. It really sepends on where on earth you were.
What you saw was the eclipse of May 10, 1994. But it was an annular eclipse, not total, i.e. you would have seen a thin ring of the sun around a smaller moon, and no corona. I was in NYC then, but it was cloudy that day.
There’s another total solar eclipse to be seen in the US, in 2024. It will angle up from the south, in the eastern third of the country and exit somewhere in Maine. There’s a town in Illinois, Carbondale, that will be in totality for both 2017 and 2024!
We’ll be able to see that one from our back yard.
Buddy of mine went school at SIU in Carbondale. Go Salukis!
It looks as though Carbondale is the go-to place for southern Illinois eclipse viewing. There’s a university (Southern Illinois) there hosting a viewing ‘party’ at the football field.
not on my phone sitting in the doctors office …
AH thanks. I did have a picture of it but it sort of fried when my computer melted a couple years ago.
Yesterday evening, our local science museum had a free astronomy-themed open house and it included a speaker who would talk about the upcoming eclipse. He explained the different types and had a slide with a map depicting all the upcoming solar eclipses that would touch any part of North America in the 21st century. The next one after 2024 will be in 2045, and will come up out of the Southwest and end abruptly in Arkansas; I’m guessing that the track ends abruptly because it’s going to take place towards sundown.
I will be 81 years old, and hope I’m in a condition to see it whether I’m interested or not. 
On a less happy note, a woman who was waiting in line for the theater door to open said that at least one Oregon motel, when the owners found out why so many people were making reservations for that day, cancelled them and told them they could have their rooms back IF they paid the new going rate, which was about $1,000 a night. :mad: :smack: Someone else advised that this motel be reported to the Oregon Attorney General; she intended to pass that information on to some people who could use it.
It’s also the day classes are set to resume at SIU in Carbondale. THAT should be interesting.
Oregon State Parks opened up 1000 campsites last Wednesday that are in, partially in or near the zone. Sold out in a couple of hours. I have a campsite 1.5 hours drive away from the zone in southern WA State. I’ll be going unless a business trip gets in the way. I was living in Shanghai when there was a total eclipse about 8 years ago. Unfortunately, I was on a business trip, and secondly it was overcast so it just got dark for 2.5 minutes.
I’ll be 91 when the 2045 eclipse comes along. I know I’ll be interested but whether or not I’ll be able to see it is another question.
I’ll be 100. Not betting on being around.
I’ll be 84 and I hope to be around. But for retirement planning purposes I’m planning my finances for my living to 85.
Advanced photographers: The Megamovie Photo Team is looking for a few thousand good men (and women) to contribute to the project:
I’m signed up, and they are about 50% of the way to the goal of 1000+ photographers.
My wife and I will be flying to Kansas City, MO, where her brother and his family live, and meeting several other family members, including her uncle, a professional astronomer who has seen other eclipses. We plan to drive north and find a good viewing spot somewhere near the center line, in the vicinity of St. Joseph, MO.
This will be my first total eclipse, and I’m really looking forward to it.
I had no trouble booking a hotel near my brother-in-law’s place in Overland Park a month or two ago. So the advice for people who haven’t yet booked would seem to be: go to a fairly large population center that isn’t far from the path. As someone said up-thread, the closer you get to the path, the rarer the hotel rooms will be. Just find a viewing spot in advance, get to it early on the actual day, and be prepared for heavier-than-usual traffic. You should probably also be prepared to move 20-30 miles if clouds move in.
Even though I’m a semi-pro photographer, and I’ll probably shoot pix and video of our party and events around the eclipse, I don’t intend to shoot totality itself. I just want to experience the eclipse, and not be messing around with equipment during this special two and a half minutes.
