# Partial solar eclipse this afternoon **URL:** \ **Category:** Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share\ **Created:** [April 29, 2014, 2:49am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/partial-solar-eclipse-this-afternoon/687246 "2014-04-29T02:49:45Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 9\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Cunctator](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/43a26b/32.png) [@Cunctator](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cunctator)\ **Post date:** [April 29, 2014, 2:49am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/partial-solar-eclipse-this-afternoon/687246/1 "2014-04-29T02:49:45Z")
We get to see a [partial solar eclipse](http://astro.ukho.gov.uk/eclipse/0232014/) this afternoon in Sydney. It’s right on sunset, so I’ll be nipping out of the office with my eclipse glasses and finding a spot with a good view of the western horizon. We’ve had a clear morning but of course the cloud now seems to be starting to develop. ---
**Author:** ![Cunctator](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/43a26b/32.png) [@Cunctator](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cunctator)\ **Post date:** [April 29, 2014, 7:40am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/partial-solar-eclipse-this-afternoon/687246/2 "2014-04-29T07:40:56Z")
It was cloudy right until the bitter end, when we caught a very brief glimpse of the setting sun. ---
**Author:** ![Coriolanus](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/coriolanus/32/18769_2.png) [@Coriolanus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Coriolanus)\ **Post date:** [April 29, 2014, 12:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/partial-solar-eclipse-this-afternoon/687246/3 "2014-04-29T12:02:31Z")
The truly best are the total solar eclipses, of course. Even 99% covered won’t do. At 100% the Corona shines around a black circle in the sky. Too bad you didn’t see the local flora and fauna react. At a mid 1990’s annular eclipse, I went golfing with a friend at Jones Beach on LI and the seagulls and Canadian geese flocked in with a big fog. Quite cool. I’d seen similar meteorological stuff in Hawaii 1991 and Romania 1999. I got cool pix from both of them because I had a car 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![EmilyG](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/emilyg/32/364_2.png) [@EmilyG](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/EmilyG)\ **Post date:** [April 30, 2014, 12:29am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/partial-solar-eclipse-this-afternoon/687246/4 "2014-04-30T00:29:14Z")
What did the setting sun look like? ---
**Author:** ![Cunctator](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/43a26b/32.png) [@Cunctator](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cunctator)\ **Post date:** [April 30, 2014, 1:46am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/partial-solar-eclipse-this-afternoon/687246/5 "2014-04-30T01:46:33Z")
> [@EmilyG](#): > > What did the setting sun look like? Just like the normal setting sun. By then it was already sinking below the horizon in the north-west. With the naked eye you couldn’t really see any details of the moon passing across the sun’s face. ---
**Author:** ![Colophon](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/f05b48/32.png) [@Colophon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Colophon)\ **Post date:** [April 30, 2014, 2:01am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/partial-solar-eclipse-this-afternoon/687246/6 "2014-04-30T02:01:58Z")
In 2026 there will be a total eclipse occurring right before sunset, visible from the sunset bars of Ibiza. I really have to be there. Before that I am wondering whether to try and see the total eclipse in March next year from the Faroes (it would be my fourth). I can’t see the weather playing ball though… ---
**Author:** ![Cunctator](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/43a26b/32.png) [@Cunctator](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cunctator)\ **Post date:** [April 30, 2014, 4:33am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/partial-solar-eclipse-this-afternoon/687246/7 "2014-04-30T04:33:12Z")
> [@Colophon](#): > > In 2026 there will be a total eclipse occurring right before sunset, visible from the sunset bars of Ibiza. I really have to be there. Along with about a zillion other people too. > [@Colophon](#): > > Before that I am wondering whether to try and see the total eclipse in March next year from the Faroes (it would be my fourth). I can’t see the weather playing ball though… Wouldn’t you need to have done something about accommodation and transport by now? I don’t imagine that there’s an abundance of hotel rooms in the Faroes. ---
**Author:** ![Colophon](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/f05b48/32.png) [@Colophon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Colophon)\ **Post date:** [April 30, 2014, 8:14am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/partial-solar-eclipse-this-afternoon/687246/8 "2014-04-30T08:14:45Z")
> [@Cunctator](#): > > Along with about a zillion other people too. Well, yeah. So not much different from Ibiza in a regular August 🙂 > [@](#): > > Wouldn’t you need to have done something about accommodation and transport by now? I don’t imagine that there’s an abundance of hotel rooms in the Faroes. There are places available on organised tours, but as you’d expect they are pretty expensive. Quite a lot of locals are going to be earning some extra cash by renting out rooms to people for a few days. It’s certainly still possible, but I think the chances of getting a decent view are too low to justify the expense on this one. Not too long to wait before there’s [one that crosses the USA coast to coast](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Solar_eclipse_of_August_21,_2017), which will be a lot easier, logistically. (Any ideas where the sunniest skies along that track are likely to be in August?) ---
**Author:** ![Coriolanus](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/coriolanus/32/18769_2.png) [@Coriolanus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Coriolanus)\ **Post date:** [April 30, 2014, 4:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/partial-solar-eclipse-this-afternoon/687246/9 "2014-04-30T16:29:21Z")
> [@](#): > > … one that crosses the USA coast to coast, which will be a lot easier, logistically. (Any ideas where the sunniest skies along that track are likely to be in August?) [Yes there is](http://home.cc.umanitoba.ca/~jander/tot2017/tse17intro.htm) Somewhere along the center line in Nebraska is most promising.