That’s what I try to communicate to folks who have seen partials and are all, “Yeah, it was pretty cool. . .” Partials are fun and cool, totals are like BEING in a big-budget sci-fi movie. I’ve seen partials before, and I was wholly unprepared for how different, how much more amazing and cool a total eclipse is.
I really hope I can hitch a ride to the next one. It’s only like an hour away and I’ve got years to make plans, but I don’t have a car anymore. After decades of backyard amateur astronomy, I’ve seen lunar eclipses, meteor showers, satellites with my naked eyes, comets, Venus, Mars, Jupiter and Saturn (and some of their moons) with my telescope, partial solar eclipses, and even some low-key northern lights. I saw Skylab falling out of orbit, streaking across the sky with a false (ghost) reflection that looked just like it.
Nothing compared to 100% totality, not even close.
Yeah a total eclipse is an entirely different kind of experience, altogether.
(pause)
It really is. In partial eclipses I’ve seen, the feeling is like “I think it’s getting a little darker, isn’t it? Not really sure…” A total eclipse just knocks your socks off. Seeing the sun replaced with a jet black circle is an uncanny experience. I once told a friend that compared to a total eclipse, a partial eclipse is like a partial orgasm.
The ratio of sunlight reaching the ground in a 99% eclipse vs a total eclipse is ~10,000:1. For the “value of the experience” ratio, simply invert that fraction.
Definitely planning to see 2024, just not sure yet from where. Was able to experience totality in 2017 in while dispersed camping in Oregon on Forest Service land. Had plans to be in Chile this past December but Covid screwed that up.
My daughter lives in southern Vermont - a bit south of the path, per the map. Though she’s just a 2ish hour drive from the center of the path… might just have to go visit her around then.
Well, swimming distance, if one is on another continent… (anyone remember those Google Maps easter eggs that involved swimming the Atlantic or kayaking across the Pacific?).
I have a beautiful 500mm f/8 lens, plus a 2X teledaptor, which I’ve used in past eclipses. Unfortunately, they can only be used in my old film camera, not the digital one I use.
I was in Idaho (Driggs to be specific) also – it was part of a multi-day bike tour. We started in West Yellowstone – then Warm River https://www.fs.usda.gov/recarea/ctnf/recreation/camping-cabins/recarea/?recid=54815&actid=29, then Driggs. We left WR early and were mostly on back roads so traffic wasn’t too bad. The temporary campgrounds were fun to see. We were at (IIRC the elementary school). It was also fun seeing all the private jets leave the airport afterwards.
Enchanted Rock in Texas will be almost perfectly within the area of totality, and I can’t think of a better place to watch it. You’d be on a large, flat surface, and a couple of hundred feet above the surrounding area. I may have to see if I can get back down to Texas for that.
I saw the one in 2017. I can’t wait for the one in 2024!
In 2017, I saw it in Fulton, Missouri. Not sure where I’ll see it next time, although this time, I know the path will travel from SW to NE, with the peak once again near Carbondale, Illinois.
