# USA TSE, total solar eclipse: April 2024 (was "three years away for USA" when started) **URL:** \ **Category:** Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share\ **Created:** [March 27, 2021, 9:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/usa-tse-total-solar-eclipse-april-2024-was-three-years-away-for-usa-when-started/938873 "2021-03-27T21:36:10Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 53
**Author:** ![Folly](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/folly/32/3219_2.png) [@Folly](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Folly)\ **Post date:** [April 9, 2024, 9:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/usa-tse-total-solar-eclipse-april-2024-was-three-years-away-for-usa-when-started/938873/1041 "2024-04-09T21:28:23Z")
> [@LSLGuy](#): > > E.g. Google Maps only knows about the traffic on a road because the cars there are phoning home with traffic updates. No cell signal, or jammed cell signal, and all those messages never get to Google. So the road appears clear to them since they’re not getting reports it’s not. Still arguably a Google Map bug. Hmmmm, the program was getting reports of ramping up traffic until we started getting no data at all. Welp, all that traffic must have cleared up! ---
**Author:** ![Robot\_Arm](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/robot_arm/32/18280_2.png) [@Robot\_Arm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Robot_Arm)\ **Post date:** [April 9, 2024, 10:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/usa-tse-total-solar-eclipse-april-2024-was-three-years-away-for-usa-when-started/938873/1042 "2024-04-09T22:22:10Z")
> [@LSLGuy](#): > > All the folks commenting about being on back roads loaded with traffic while Google is reporting clear. Many of those folks are also reporting they had no cell signal. Those two things are connected. I was on Greenbush Rd., which ran parallel to Rte. 7. I didn’t check to see if I had a signal, but there must have been a couple hundred cars ahead of me. Someone should have been getting through. Or, conversely, maybe a local cell tower was down, or the network was so jammed that literally no one was getting a signal to send feedback to Google Maps. In which case, why direct me to Greenbush Rd.? The only reason to direct me to a side road is because it thought the main road was congested and slow. Drivers on Rte. 7 must have been able to get through or else the app wold have directed me to be on that road. And really, I was going 120 miles across the state. I-89, to I-93 might have been the best way to go, but I was nowhere near it. I test software for a living. I would write this up as a bug. As it was, I sent feedback to Google. ---
**Author:** ![Ulf\_the\_Unwashed](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/u/b4bc9f/32.png) [@Ulf\_the\_Unwashed](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ulf_the_Unwashed)\ **Post date:** [April 9, 2024, 11:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/usa-tse-total-solar-eclipse-april-2024-was-three-years-away-for-usa-when-started/938873/1043 "2024-04-09T23:16:32Z")
It was a terrific experience at the ballpark in Syracuse. There were clouds, sometimes thick enough to block the sun pretty much completely, but usually thin enough that the sun was visible through the layer. Occasionally the clouds left altogether. When totality hit the clouds were gone, at least from directly in front of the sun. Only had a minute-plus of totality, but boy was it something. As others have mentioned, the chill and sudden darkness were both impressive. And the ballgame was (almost) a no-hitter–a scratch single in the eighth and that was it for the home team. Almost a twofer. Had no trouble with traffic coming to the stadium, but the 3.5 hour trip back was extended by about thirty minutes–and that despite leaving Syracuse several hours after totality. I’m guessing that the trip would’ve been much, much worse earlier on, especially for those heading all the way back to NYC or its suburbs, and probably even more so for those coming back from the Adirondacks. “Did you have fun?” I asked my grandson, aged 7. “YES.” “What did you like best?” He considered. “Playing with kids at the ballgame.” (There is an astroturf berm, and he and a couple of other boys ran around there for most of the game.) “Oh. What did you like second best?” “The baseball game.” (He watched the first and second innings with some interest.) “Oh. How about the eclipse?” “I liked that too. But there’s one thing I will never forget about this day!” “Which is…?” “The armrests on my seat were so, so comfy!” Oh well. I tried! And he really did enjoy the eclipse, at the time anyway! ---
**Author:** ![Baker](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/bb73d2/32.png) [@Baker](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Baker)\ **Post date:** [April 10, 2024, 12:06am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/usa-tse-total-solar-eclipse-april-2024-was-three-years-away-for-usa-when-started/938873/1044 "2024-04-10T00:06:20Z")
My sister, BIL, and I, along with a cousin and her husband, viewed the eclipse in Terra Haute. There were several hundred people gathered at a place outside of town, at Sycamore Winery. It can be a small world so I suppose it’s possible there was another Doper there and if so I’m sorry I missed them. The skies were almost clear, just high thin haze, so we all saw the second total eclipse our our lives. There will be another “American” eclipse in 2045, but in 2044 parts of Montana and North Dakota will get a taste of an eclipse over mostly Canada and the Arctic regions. That one should be intriguing as its supposed to occur at sunset. Oh, I did of course buy a bottle of wine and cracked it today! ---
**Author:** ![Hari\_Seldon](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/hari_seldon/32/5173_2.png) [@Hari\_Seldon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hari_Seldon)\ **Post date:** [April 10, 2024, 12:09am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/usa-tse-total-solar-eclipse-april-2024-was-three-years-away-for-usa-when-started/938873/1045 "2024-04-10T00:09:12Z")
The NY Times crossword had the following song title solutions: Moon Shadow, Into the Night, Staring at the Sun, Total Eclipse of the Heart. The last was a two part solutions since it used more than 15 characters. ---
**Author:** ![N9IWP](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/n9iwp/32/3154_2.png) [@N9IWP](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/N9IWP)\ **Post date:** [April 10, 2024, 1:01am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/usa-tse-total-solar-eclipse-april-2024-was-three-years-away-for-usa-when-started/938873/1046 "2024-04-10T01:01:59Z")
Back home after 1638 miles driven. There was some traffic but I don’t think it was eclipse related. One double trailer looked like it crossed the median – luckily the detour was just take the exit and then take the the onramp (of course it was 5 MPH, and the state trouper decided I was lucky car to have to stop at the bottom of the exit to allow cross traffic to go). A crane was involved in the recovery. Brian ---
**Author:** ![romansperson](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/romansperson/32/17100_2.png) [@romansperson](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/romansperson)\ **Post date:** [April 10, 2024, 1:48am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/usa-tse-total-solar-eclipse-april-2024-was-three-years-away-for-usa-when-started/938873/1047 "2024-04-10T01:48:55Z")
So that was fun! And different from 2017 with all that stuff that was going on at the bottom of the sun, which wasn’t happening in the previous one. I think my husband is hooked because he’s already talking about going to Spain to see the next one. A vacay in Majorca would be pretty nice. [![Imgur](https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/53644106294_6fe848f00f_z.jpg "Eclipse 2024 02") ](https://www.flickr.com/photos/197666118@N08/53644106294/in/dateposted-public/) ---
**Author:** ![beowulff](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/beowulff/32/542_2.png) [@beowulff](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/beowulff)\ **Post date:** [April 10, 2024, 1:58am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/usa-tse-total-solar-eclipse-april-2024-was-three-years-away-for-usa-when-started/938873/1048 "2024-04-10T01:58:02Z")
Nice photo! ---
**Author:** ![romansperson](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/romansperson/32/17100_2.png) [@romansperson](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/romansperson)\ **Post date:** [April 10, 2024, 2:00am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/usa-tse-total-solar-eclipse-april-2024-was-three-years-away-for-usa-when-started/938873/1049 "2024-04-10T02:00:29Z")
Yours too! Those flares are cool. Since I am not back home yet I’ve not had time to go through all mine but I hope I find more with flares in them - makes them different from the ones in 2017. ---
**Author:** ![Machine\_Elf](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/82dd89/32.png) [@Machine\_Elf](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Machine_Elf)\ **Post date:** [April 10, 2024, 2:06am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/usa-tse-total-solar-eclipse-april-2024-was-three-years-away-for-usa-when-started/938873/1050 "2024-04-10T02:06:25Z")
> [@romansperson](#): > > Yours too! Those flares are cool. Nitpick: I think those are solar prominences (though they are damn cool). > **[Solar prominence](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Solar_prominence)** > > In solar physics, a prominence, sometimes referred to as a filament,\[a\] is a large plasma and magnetic field structure extending outward from the Sun's surface, often in a loop shape. Prominences are anchored to the Sun's surface in the much brighter photosphere, and extend outwards into the solar corona. While the corona consists of extremely hot plasma, prominences contain much cooler plasma, similar in composition to that of the chromosphere. > Prominences form over timescales of about a da... ---
**Author:** ![beowulff](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/beowulff/32/542_2.png) [@beowulff](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/beowulff)\ **Post date:** [April 10, 2024, 2:12am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/usa-tse-total-solar-eclipse-april-2024-was-three-years-away-for-usa-when-started/938873/1051 "2024-04-10T02:12:25Z")
I saw a post somewhere that had an extremely new, new moon. This isn’t any record-setter, but it’s pretty sliver-y: (Tuesday night, just after sunset) [![Imgur](https://i.imgur.com/6t0YKZJ.jpeg "imgur.com") ](https://imgur.com/6t0YKZJ) ---
**Author:** ![Bullitt](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bullitt/32/5725_2.png) [@Bullitt](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bullitt)\ **Post date:** [April 10, 2024, 4:49am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/usa-tse-total-solar-eclipse-april-2024-was-three-years-away-for-usa-when-started/938873/1052 "2024-04-10T04:49:17Z")
Wow, what a day yesterday was! And what a weekend! Gathered with thousands at the Kerrville TX Eclipse Festival was fun, with everyone cheering and with the oohs and aahs (which we didn’t get in 2017 because we were a small group then), it was a fun experience. We had a fair amount of cloud cover but there were some spots of open skies. My brother brought his camera equipment, so I wasn’t focused on taking pictures like I was in 2017. Or for the annular in 2023. Here are 14 of his better shots. Unfortunately, during totality the clouds started to build. [[Album] Eclipse, Kerrville TX 08 Apr 2024 ![](https://i.imgur.com/wKj7NEl.jpeg?fb "Eclipse, Kerrville TX 08 Apr 2024") ](https://imgur.com/gallery/hLsWPR8) My wife and I enjoyed spending the day with @FloatyGimpy , and I was so exhausted from the long drive to Texas that she really helped me out by doing some of the driving. And then meeting some other Dopers on Saturday was fun too! All in all, a good visit! Tomorrow we hit the road back home to California. ---
**Author:** ![Bullitt](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bullitt/32/5725_2.png) [@Bullitt](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bullitt)\ **Post date:** [April 10, 2024, 4:51am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/usa-tse-total-solar-eclipse-april-2024-was-three-years-away-for-usa-when-started/938873/1053 "2024-04-10T04:51:31Z")
My brother got this one of tonight’s moon (Tuesday, the day after the eclipse). [![](https://i.imgur.com/KBWDuUa.jpg) ](https://i.imgur.com/KBWDuUa.jpg) ---
**Author:** ![Rilchiam](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/2bfe46/32.png) [@Rilchiam](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rilchiam)\ **Post date:** [April 10, 2024, 5:31am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/usa-tse-total-solar-eclipse-april-2024-was-three-years-away-for-usa-when-started/938873/1054 "2024-04-10T05:31:20Z")
> [@Robot\_Arm](#): > > One of the radio stations I tapped into on my drive up yesterday was having a bit of fun. Back-to-back they played _Dancing in the Dark_, _Total Eclipse of the Heart_, and _Walking on Sunshine_. I made a playlist! How did I not think of _Dancing In the Dark_? But besides those other two, I had _Moonshadow_, _Ain’t No Sunshine_, _Black Hole Sun_, _Walking On the Sun_, and _Walking On the Moon_. And, I just now thought of it: I forgot _New Moon on Monday_. That’s precisely what was happening! And of course, during the eclipse itself (we were at 98%), **Dark Side Of the Moon**. Mr. Rilch timed it pretty well. After _Great Gig In the Sky_, he skipped ahead to _Brain Damage_; then _Eclipse_ ended when it was as close to totality as we were going to see. Amazing. Theoretically, we could have driven to totality. In practice, the last thing either of us needed was the kind of chaotic journey being described here. Seriously, some of y’all’s stories sound like you were looking for treasure buried under a giant letter W! Just the road out of town was clogged on Monday morning, forget traveling interstate. And currently, Mr. Rilch and I, together and separately, are regularly driving all over this part of our state, so we just didn’t need **another** trip out of town. Especially since he had something going on Monday evening, and I had an appointment earlier today. We were relaxed, eating mini-pizzas and Junior Mints, and being relaxed was worth not seeing totality. ---
**Author:** ![Bullitt](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bullitt/32/5725_2.png) [@Bullitt](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bullitt)\ **Post date:** [April 10, 2024, 9:53am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/usa-tse-total-solar-eclipse-april-2024-was-three-years-away-for-usa-when-started/938873/1055 "2024-04-10T09:53:28Z")
I’m happy for you and Mr. Rilch. But if you’ve never experienced totality, you really should. It is an experience that you’ll never forget! About the song list, did he include — Blinded by the Light by Manfred Mann? — Good Morning, Starshine by Oliver? — Here Comes the Sun by The Beatles? Next time, if you ever have an opportunity to get to totality, do it! ---
**Author:** ![pulykamell](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/pulykamell/32/3166_2.png) [@pulykamell](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pulykamell)\ **Post date:** [April 10, 2024, 12:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/usa-tse-total-solar-eclipse-april-2024-was-three-years-away-for-usa-when-started/938873/1056 "2024-04-10T12:11:01Z")
> [@Bullitt](#): > > I’m happy for you and Mr. Rilch. But if you’ve never experienced totality, you really should. It is an experience that you’ll never forget! Yeah, I cannot stress how much the difference is between near-totality and totality. Seeing a big, glowing black hole of blazing corona where the sun used to be is perhaps the most other-worldly event I’ve ever experienced. For a brief moment, you feel like you’re on an alien planet. I’ve never been impressed by any type of eclipse until I saw my first full one two and a half decades ago. They’ve otherwise just been “meh” to me. For a full eclipse – I’ll drive two days across the country to go see one of those. (Luckily, I only had to drive 3 hours here and somehow lucked out on the way back with little additional traffic than normal.) ---
**Author:** ![CalMeacham](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/calmeacham/32/35_2.png) [@CalMeacham](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CalMeacham)\ **Post date:** [April 10, 2024, 12:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/usa-tse-total-solar-eclipse-april-2024-was-three-years-away-for-usa-when-started/938873/1057 "2024-04-10T12:25:12Z")
We drove up to St. Johnsbury, Vermont to watch the eclipse – me and my wife Pepper Mill, and, in a separate car, our daughter MilliCal and her boyfriend (for whom I don’t yet have a clever pseudonym) and two friends. We stayed overnight in Franconia NH, then pushed on in the morning, lucking out in getting parking spaces in town. I’ve seen many partial eclipses, but the difference between a partial eclipse and a total eclipse is (if I can borrow a quotation from Mark Twain about the different between the right word and the almost-right word) the difference between the Lightning Bug and the Lightning. You really don’t get the feeling of impressiveness and sheer awe from a partial eclipse that you do from the real thing. Unfortunately, my cell phone camera was not up to the challenge of producing a decent image of totality, no matter which filter I used, not by my effort to use a Camera Obscura or imaging the eclipse with a lens onto a surface. But it was definitely worth seeing in person. And lots of other people got good images. My friend flew up to upstate New York, but it was socked i n by clouds. Fortunately, he was able to get to a cloudless location by totality. So did my brother-in-law and his wife, who also went to New York. Definitely a Show worth Seeing. I’ve wanted to see it all my life. I’ve seen partials and transits and lunar eclipses, but a total eclipse of the sun is something else. While it was going on, I had Carly Simon’s _You’re so Vain_ running through my head, and it took me a moment to realize why. ---
**Author:** ![puzzlegal](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/puzzlegal/32/3827_2.png) [@puzzlegal](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/puzzlegal)\ **Post date:** [April 10, 2024, 12:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/usa-tse-total-solar-eclipse-april-2024-was-three-years-away-for-usa-when-started/938873/1058 "2024-04-10T12:29:43Z")
> [@CalMeacham](#): > > We drove up to St. Johnsbury, Vermont I was there, too. Nice little town. ---
**Author:** ![robby](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/robby/32/11048_2.png) [@robby](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/robby)\ **Post date:** [April 10, 2024, 12:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/usa-tse-total-solar-eclipse-april-2024-was-three-years-away-for-usa-when-started/938873/1059 "2024-04-10T12:40:23Z")
> [@puzzlegal](#): > > > [@CalMeacham](#): > > > > We drove up to St. Johnsbury, Vermont > > I was there, too. Nice little town. My son and I stopped for dinner there on the drive back home! ---
**Author:** ![Machine\_Elf](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/82dd89/32.png) [@Machine\_Elf](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Machine_Elf)\ **Post date:** [April 10, 2024, 12:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/usa-tse-total-solar-eclipse-april-2024-was-three-years-away-for-usa-when-started/938873/1060 "2024-04-10T12:48:19Z")
> [@pulykamell](#): > > Yeah, I cannot stress how much the difference is between near-totality and totality. Seeing a big, glowing black hole of blazing corona where the sun used to be is perhaps the most other-worldly event I’ve ever experienced. For a brief moment, you feel like you’re on an alien planet. I’ve never been impressed by any type of eclipse until I saw my first full one two and a half decades ago. They’ve otherwise just been “meh” to me. For a full eclipse – I’ll drive two days across the country to go see one of those. (Luckily, I only had to drive 3 hours here and somehow lucked out on the way back with little additional traffic than normal.) Pretty much sums up my feelings. Obligatory XKCD cartoon: [![](https://imgs.xkcd.com/comics/eclipse_coolness.png) ](https://imgs.xkcd.com/comics/eclipse_coolness.png) [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/usa-tse-total-solar-eclipse-april-2024-was-three-years-away-for-usa-when-started/938873.md?page=52) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/usa-tse-total-solar-eclipse-april-2024-was-three-years-away-for-usa-when-started/938873.md?page=54)