Nikon D5100 with a Tamron 270 mm zoom lens. Not the greatest of setups–the sensor isn’t very sensitive by modern standards, and I’m also not very good at photography, plus I should have done some better exposure bracketing to capture the faint details. But anyway, it still got decent detail in the corona and you can see a couple of solar flares.
I’d like to emphasize what @Francis_Vaughan said about just experiencing it as your primary focus. If you have a nice camera, and can set it up in advance so that it’ll take under a minute to take the shots you want–go for it. But you only get a few minutes of totality and you should spend most of that just taking things in. I probably won’t bring my camera to the upcoming one. I’ll take a few shots with my phone just to show I was there, but mainly it’s about the experience.
To be fair, some of the uncanny effects of totality do kick in at around the 99% level. For instance, you’ll get a weird shimmering on the ground, shadows sort of rippling along in one direction. That’s from refraction from patches of atmosphere at different temperatures, and is actually always happening, but with a half-degree light source, it all gets washed out. But when there’s only a sliver of sunlight left, it’s only washed out in one direction, and shows up in the other.
That said, however: If you’re that close to the path of totality, you can surely find some way to get there without any significant difficulty, crowds or no crowds. That tiny amount of effort is well worth it.
I agree that a >99% eclipse is a bit more compelling than a Fine, I guess I’ll look up from my smartphone for three minutes type event. I went out of my way to see an annular eclipse and thought it was worth it. But I think we’re all in agreement that reaching actual totality is worth great effort.
It is a bit exasperating for those of us who live very far from the path and are spending thousands of dollars to reach it to hear from those who are nearly there already and can’t be bothered to make a short trip!
When I went to see the one in 2017, it was about a 6 hour drive to a friend’s house in Kansas City. It was cloudy and overcast all morning. About 20 minutes before the totality, there was a break in the clouds and we saw the whole thing. Not long after it was over, the clouds returned and I drove back home. I felt like I had won the eclipse lottery.
It’s just a religious experience. And I won’t be fiddling with cameras. I just asked to make sure that images of the quality above weren’t possible with an iPhone.
ETA: The map I saw put my chances of seeing the totality clearly this year at 50/50. I think they’re probably higher than that because Oklahoma isn’t typically a cloudy place unless there’s a thunderstorm or tornado rolling in. In April that’s always a possibility but in the early afternoon, they’re unlikely.
A total eclipse, when 100% and you’re in the totality path, gets pretty dark but it’s not like night time dark. It’s like a faint dusk. You can still readily see things far away. In 2017 I could see trees and landscapes that were a mile away, but it was a faint scene.
At 99.51% covered, the sun will still put out a lot of light. One thing I remember from that eclipse was how bright the sun was and how well lit my surroundings were right up until just before totality.
And if you’ll be at 99.51% coverage then definitely get to totality! It is an amazing experience that cannot be fully understood by simply watching a video of it. You will feel the air temperature drop, and you will hear and see the animals being confused.
Regarding the traffic, I went to Jefferson City, MO, to see the last one in the US. After the eclipse, I had lunch, then started the drive to St. Louis. There was a fair bit of traffic for a while. Then about 30 or 40 miles from St. Louis, it became bumper to bumper as tons of people were making their way back to the big city.
I think that the main traffic issues are due to people going back to large cities that are a few hours away from the total eclipse.
Also an xkcd cartoon about total eclipse. xkcd: Eclipse Review I totally agree that the reality is much, much greater than the expectation.
I feel pretty lucky that I’m able to just go outside during the workday (Mondays are one of my in-office days) and check it out, then wait for the crowds to die down, then go home.
If it promises to be a real zoo in downtown Dallas, I’ll just WFH that afternoon and see it from the backyard.
I live in the path of totality so I don’t have to go anywhere.
As has been pointed out, it doesn’t really get pitch black dark. What’s amazing is what it looks like if you look at it. Get appropriate eyewear, it’s worth it.
I don’t know how dark it’ll be where you are, but at totality in 2017, it was not nighttime-dark. More like twilight, or just before a heavy thunderstorm (I looked up an old photo on Facebook to check, LOL).
The moon will be somewhat closer to the Earth in the 2024 eclipse than it was in the 2017 eclipse, so its shadow on the Earth is larger. That’s why it will last almost twice as long as the 2017 eclipse. So I would expect that it will be somewhat darker during totality. In the 2017 eclipse during totality there was a band of sunlight around the horizon; in the 2024 eclipse that sunlight will be farther away.
For the 2017 eclipse, totality was about 30 miles south of where I live. For months I canvassed likely spots for viewing and mapped a very convoluted route down and back to avoid traffic, and it worked far better than I’d even hoped. Many pieces of good luck came together that day and it was magical, but even if I’d had to suffer traffic or a less-than-ideal vantage point, the moment would still be seared into my memory for all time.
I read a bit of sci-fi, and while I wasn’t thinking of this in advance, the experience was closer to what being on another planet must be like than anything else on earth. If anyone can make it happen, it’s absolutely worth doing that.
2017 was my first one, and it was magical. That you found a location where traffic to and from was pretty clear, that’s a bonus!
Last October, the annular eclipse, was kind of cool but also kind of meh. What made it great was that we were in Monument Valley which is a special place.
In 2½ weeks, that we get another total eclipse and have it relatively nearby, will be great! ‘Relatively nearby’ might be a stretch, because driving from San Francisco to San Antonio isn’t exactly close. It’s 1,700 miles each way.
At some point it might be fun to see who will/has traveled the greatest distance to see this eclipse.
I’m flying to get there and in my case the great circle distance from home is ~1650 statute miles. By the two-step plane ride I’m actually doing it’s 1120 + 875 = 1995 statute miles.
Anyone coming from Europe will beat that by a lot more than a mile.
If we do that, I’ll likely come dead last. Totality will be about 20 miles from me, as the crow flies, and of course I’m making the trip!
For the 2017 one, from my front yard I’d have had 99.58% totality, but everything I read stated that totality was worth every bit of the effort you put into seeing it, and then some, and 100% totality was available to me with a 40-minute drive north, or east, or northeast. So I drove about 40 minutes northeast, and I can tell you confidently that it was well worth the effort. When the moon completely covered the sun and I saw the whispy-white streaks of the corona … it was breathtaking. And the 360-degree twilight!
For the April 8 eclipse, mostly the same thing, albeit slightly less totality from my front yard and I have to go south, east, or southeast. I’m going about 40 miles due east (as the crow flies) to a Walmart parking lot. With any luck this will be every bit as breathtaking as the 2017 eclipse. Here’s hoping for good weather.
N.B. - neither capitalism nor history have been particularly kind to the people who live around the intersection of Missouri, Illinois and Kentucky. But for whatever reason, the Solar System seems to have a place in its heart for that area, giving it two total eclipses in seven years.
Probably better with trees and wildlife, so you can see the birds go back to their nests, hear the crickets come out, see the weird pattern the shadows of the leaves make on the ground. But the parking lot will be right there by Walmart where I can go in if I need a snack or to pee or whatever.
