Who has travel plans for the August 21 Total Solar Eclipse?

[flyboy08]

I'll be on the boat.....with solar spf 32 on.

 

[reo]

The wife and I will be staying at my brother-in-law's place in Idaho Falls. We'll watch the eclipse from his yard.

 

[doctormike]

Thought about going somewhere south, but don't think it's worth it for the amount of time the annularity will last. Will be satisfied with the partial we'll get here in Indy.

Partial is undetectable without projection or glasses, and then you would see a "bite" taken out of the disk of the sun. Not much different than googling it, from what I recall. Being in the path of totality is pretty amazing, even though it's only a few minutes. Of course, cloudy weather can make it much less impressive!

Here's an idea - I am going to be in Indy on 8/19 for a wedding. Plan is to drive to St. Louis on 8/20, watch the eclipse on 8/21 and then fly home.

I wanted to dive the Bonne Terre Mine on that Sunday (the 20th). However, to do it you need to do the three introductory dives first and those are only done on a Saturday (normally you do this as a weekend, doing the intro dives first and then moving up with the more advanced dives on Sunday or whenever you come back). So the only way that they would let me do it (since I'll only be there on Sunday) would be to reserve a private dive for $750. If I was the only person doing it, that would be pretty expensive, but the more people, the cheaper it would be per person. If you have a bunch of Indy dive buddies who want to drive the 3 hours to St. Louis early Sunday AM, we could do the dives, then stay for the eclipse!

 

[jonhall]

Thanks for the offer doctormike. Will pass as the 20th is the last day of the state fair and we are going multiple days this year depending what's going on. We have free music stages, sometimes with big name groups of the past as well as some more current performers.

Enjoy your travels, especially in the Hoosier state.

 

[doctormike]

Thanks for the offer doctormike. Will pass as the 20th is the last day of the state fair and we are going multiple days this year depending what's going on. We have free music stages, sometimes with big name groups of the past as well as some more current performers.

Enjoy your travels, especially in the Hoosier state.

Hmmm... maybe if I can't get the mine thing to work, I'll just stay for the state fair too and head to St. Louis Sunday night...

 

[DandyDon]

Thought about going somewhere south, but don't think it's worth it for the amount of time the annularity will last. Will be satisfied with the partial we'll get here in Indy.

This one is a Total, not an Annular. I enjoyed the Annular we got in Texas in 2012, but I'm looking forward to my first Total. I was going to drive 10 hours to the Mormon Island State Recreation as that looks my shortest drive to a nice park on the center line, but now I'm good with our family trip up north - if none of my providers change anything again. I just learned that our first hotel changed owners & name last night, but talked with them - reservation is fine.

Order the viewers now so you'll have them. This deal for 10 pair for $10 & free shipping looks good, and there is plenty of time for international shipping: Solar Eclipse Glasses Shades DARKER LENS 100% KID & ADULT SAFE (10 PACK) CE Cert | eBay

The wife and I will be staying at my brother-in-law's place in Idaho Falls. We'll watch the eclipse from his yard.

I'll wave from the park over by the airport.

Partial is undetectable without projection or glasses, and then you would see a "bite" taken out of the disk of the sun. Not much different than googling it, from what I recall. Being in the path of totality is pretty amazing, even though it's only a few minutes. Of course, cloudy weather can make it much less impressive!

I think any view is worth planning for, altho Total would be better than Partial. I'm already planning for the Annular in October 2023 and the Total in April 2024 that both come thru Texas, both lasting over 4 minutes. I think I'll do the Annular at a dune park just over the New Mexico line and the Total at an Ancestral graveyard downstate, subject to day before weather forecasts & planning. There's an area between San Antonio and Del Rio that gets both of those - what a treat for them.

I think I'll avoid explaining to the graddaughters why they call an Annular that, as well as the Grand Tetons.

 

[doctormike]

I think any view is worth planning for, altho Total would be better than Partial. I'm already planning for the Annular in October 2023 and the Total in April 2024 that both come thru Texas, both lasting over 4 minutes. I think I'll do the Annular at a dune park just over the New Mexico line and the Total at an Ancestral graveyard downstate, subject to day before weather forecasts & planning. There's an area between San Antonio and Del Rio that gets both of those - what a treat for them.

I think I'll avoid explaining to the graddaughters why they call an Annular that, as well as the Grand Tetons.

I was just trying to explain to people what the actual difference is, since for those who aren't familiar with eclipses, if they were an hour's drive off the path of totality, they might say "well, I'll just be happy with the partial". It's not like other things where partial and total are on the same scale.

You could be in a 90% partial eclipse and unless you projected the sun, you would have no idea that it was happening, and even then you would see something that wouldn't be much more impressive than what you could see by googling. I mean, it's cool to intellectually realize the cosmic implications of a partial eclipse, but it's really not an event or an experience the same way being in the path of totality is. The reason for that is that the sun is so bright, that even 10% of the disk is enough to light up the day pretty much the same as usual, and to make it unviewable with the naked eye. Whereas in totality, the corona is directly viewable, the day turns to night, animals do weird things, the shadows are strange, etc...

An annular eclipse is very much the same as a partial eclipse in terms of viewing. The difference is that with a partial eclipse, you have the option of driving to see the real deal. While with an annular eclipse, you don't have that option, so all this planning isn't necessary.

 

[DandyDon]

I'll buy all that except for this...

While with an annular eclipse, you don't have that option, so all this planning isn't necessary.

I still plan those.

 

[doctormike]

I'll buy all that except for this...

I still plan those.

True, gotta get the glasses! I just meant all the travel and traffic planning...

 

[jonhall]

This one is a Total, not an Annular.

Had a memory lapse of your original post in only 2 pages of posts!! Annular got mentioned too many times along with total.