I just want to mention that timeanddate.com is a fantastic website for historical and future eclipse information, and I wish I’d known about it before two days ago. It’s the first user-friendly website I’ve found that, for any eclipse, spells out exactly:
its overall start and end times
the beginning, end, and duration of totality/annularity
the percentage of coverage for partials and annulars
Moreover, they do this for any specific location you choose on or near the path of annularity/totality.
BTW I just recently found out, you can’t even glance at an eclipse. Even that will burn a hole in your retina. The UV radiation is much higher for an eclipse, apparently.
I’ve had a number of eclipses in my lifetime. And ironically just by chance, I never got the chance to even glance at them. Maybe Mom was right. Maybe my guardian angel was protecting me . In any event, as I said I won’t do it now.
For the total eclipse 4/8/24, it looks to me that Durango (Mexico, not Colorado) might be a good place. It looks reasonably safe and an interesting place to visit - old architecture, mountains & national park. It’s high elevation, semi-arid, and March/April is the driest time of year, only 30% chance of cloud cover. There’s a non-stop flight from Dallas. And it’s a Dylan song, I assume that wasn’t about a romance in Colorado.
That sucks because I live an hour south of Eugene and so … ::looks at map:: I will be in the path of, uh, annularity.
I definitely will be marking my calendar.
I made a point of driving north for the 2017 eclipse. I was planning on visiting @Sunny_Daze’s place for a eclipse viewing party but had car trouble and couldn’t make it. She sent me some cool pics of the eclipse and what I saw was pretty amazing.
My house was just inside the totality line for 2017. It was a race between clouds and the eclipse - the eclipse won by less than a minute. Got to see the corona, and then the clouds rolled in.
I was surprised by how much darker it got at the moment of totality - even a little slice of the sun puts out a lot of light.
There’s an interesting table on this page showing how much brighter the day is compared to the night. One conclusion would be that even if (say) 1% of the sun is directly visible, that would still be much brighter than even a full-moonlit night, still as bright as indoor lighting. It’s remarkable how much our eyes can adapt to see anything on a dark night.
2017 was my first eclipse, total or annular. By luck and with my jury-rigged lens filter I was able to get this shot. Another Doper here, I think it’s @panache45 , has taken some excellent photographs.
This is false - where did you get this information? That’s not the reason you don’t look at a partial eclipse. You don’t look at a partial eclipse because there’s still direct UV light, and that can damage your eyes. Some people are under the incorrect assumption that reduced amounts makes it safe.
Yes, the biggest danger is when the Sun comes back. Your eyes have dilated some during totality, so they’re more vulnerable to sunlight than otherwise. Young kids are especially vulnerable, since their eyes dilate very quickly. Also the reflex to look away from the Sun is lessened right after an eclipse. Some people will stare for several seconds at the reappearing Sun. They usually get eye damage.
@Munch Anyway, to answer your question where on earth I got the information from , Here:
It is a myth that the sun emits more dangerous ultraviolet light rays during an eclipse.In fact, the sun behaves as it always does, eclipse or no eclipse.The amount of invisible ultraviolet (UV) light rays remains the same, but the solar eclipse limits the amount of visible light coming down to Earth.
So at least I wasn’t alone in thinking that (incorrect) information .
I plan to go to Texas in 2023 and 2024 for both total eclipses. I’ve been to four total eclipses and one annular eclipse. IMHO, one total eclipse is worth 12 annular eclipses.
Dunno if it’s strictly true, but I’ve read that the ratio of the amount of light arriving when a solar eclipse is 99% vs. total is around 10,000 to 1.
And that’s also about the correct ratio for the value of the experience. Seriously: move heaven and earth if you have to, but get to the path of totality.
. In any event, as I said I won’t do it now.
