August 2017 Solar Eclipse

[cpaharley2008]

What is that shadow globe about 1 o'clock up in the picture?

[Sisababe]

Very Cool Pics!

[escape artist]

Originally Posted by ThomasG

Here is my totality image from near Huntington, Oregon.

Hi: ThomasG... Thanks for the great shot. That's better than what I saw using a cracker and sheet of paper... but I could eat the cracker!!! Alf
escape artist N.S. of Lake Erie

[ThomasG]

Originally Posted by cpaharley2008

What is that shadow globe about 1 o'clock up in the picture?

There are a couple of artifacts to the upper right of the Sun. The first looks similar to a snow cone. The second is a large arc above the snow cone. I believe these are caused by lens flare from the bright spot at the upper right corner of the Sun. Look at the photo from my link in my previous posting (or below) to clearly see both arcs. I think these arcs add an interesting artistic quality to the image.

The bright spot on the upper right edge of the Moon is the beginnings of the second diamond ring when the Moon is exiting the Sun. It was pure luck that it got this along with the corona,

There are some other unexpected suprises in this image. Hint, look closely at the edge of the Moon in the full resolution image from my link (https://goo.gl/photos/YmQHrGmnJa3ehFAX6).

[cpaharley2008]

Is that an American Flag I see.....??

[Ron in BC]

We headed down on Sunday to the French Prairie rest stop South of Portland. Traffic was horrible, about what we expected. We arrived at sundown. This is a large rest stop. The part nearest the highway looks like a typical rest stop. But there are two additional large parking areas, each one progressively further from the highway. We went to the rear one. It was almost deserted and it has a large field behind it. Perfect.

By mid-night quite a few others arrived but we spent a quiet night. We arrived about 7:30 pm and you're only supposed to stay 12 hours. My wife asked a passing ODOT truck if it would be OK if we stayed longer to watch the eclipse. No problem. Then a couple more trucks arrived and all 3 drove across the field to the far side, parked and stayed watching the whole eclipse.

Didn't get good photos like others did and our point and shoot camera wanted to lighten up the shots. We did see it in totality, the automatic lights on the washroom and streetlights came on and we could see a few stars overhead. We were surprised that we could still see defined shadows even though the light level was so low. All in all, well worth the drive.

After it was over we drove to the Evergreen Air Museum in McMinnville. The oncoming traffic trying to get to I-5 was truly horrible. Glad we didn't have to drive back Monday.

Ron

[Ron in BC]

After the eclipse we went to the Evergreen Air Museum at McMinnville. It has the air museum and a waterpark. The waterpark is a one of a kind situation as it has a 747 parked on the roof. Stairs lead up through the roof into the 747 and the water slides start at the former aircraft doors. My wife spent an enjoyable day there. I'd rather look at old planes. Great to see the Spruce Goose again. I saw her previously years ago in Long Beach.

Overnight parking is free here. There is a large parking lot at back and many RV's take advantage of it.

The trip back home was slow. It reminded us of why we don't usually travel in the middle of summer. But a great experience and it'll have to tide us over until we attend Robert's 2024 eclipse event.

Ron

[bdornbush]

I was amazed by the total eclipse. Anyone who didn't see it live can't understand what it's really like. But then there is getting home. We left Oregon Tuesday morning and headed south on US97. All was well at first. Then the traffic stopped. It took is 5 hours to go 50 miles. Then after the last small town, Chemult, we were back to full speed. But the total eclipse was totally worth it! !

[MyronL]

It's a spruce goose!

[DavidF]

[Vermilye]

That looks similar to what I saw at Silver Lake State Park near Maple Falls, WA. I did take a couple of photos of the sickle shaped shadows produced by the slice of sun:

[Brian B-P]

A shadow is in the shape of the object casting the shadow. Those many sun images are the opposite of a shadow, and are created by a pinhole camera effect of light coming through small openings, such as between leaves, projecting images in areas that are otherwise in shadow. The same thing would happen all the time (during the day with a clear sky), but with the full sun disk and higher light level the overlapping circles are not noticeable as distinct images.
Tree Leaves as “Pinhole Cameras” During a Solar Eclipse

I think it's a very interesting effect.

[NW Cat Owner]

We went to the SolarFest in Madras and we're glad we did. We arrived on Sunday and I scored a level spot at the top of a field, next to the fence line, with any empty field behind us. We're so glad we weren't in the RV fields much closer to the highway. Nice and quiet where we were - lots of tent and car campers and it wasn't completely full (didn't hear any generators from motorhomes, which was nice). We were able to watch the 9 hour traffic jam on Monday after the eclipse was over and not hear any of the noise. Perfect! Did see and hear lots of small planes leaving from the airport all day long. We stayed until Tuesday AM and it took many hours longer to get home than it normally would.

Didn't take any photos as I wanted to experience the entire eclipse without any distractions and I knew I could find awesome ones on the web if I want to. It was quite moving to see. Temperature dropped 20 degrees. Clouds and smoke from fires stayed away. Yay!

We're already talking about the one in 2014 as Dirk will be retired by then.

[Ruthe]

After a week of worrying about the bad weather forecasts, Monday was sunny and cloudless in the Grand Tetons. We were surrounded by great people who had brought lots of interesting equipment -- expensive and homemade. We walked to the picnic area on the beach near the RV park and by 7 A.M. We were celebrating with all the other early birds. Terry made a video which I'll share when it is done.

[Mike Lewis]

Originally Posted by NW Cat Owner

Didn't take any photos as I wanted to experience the entire eclipse without any distractions and I knew I could find awesome ones on the web if I want to.

That was a good decision-- you got to experience every second. OTOH, I just couldn't resist trying to photograph the event, even though I knew my photos would look like everyone else's.

[Mike Lewis]

Originally Posted by Ron in BC

Overnight parking is free here. There is a large parking lot at back and many RV's take advantage of it.

The trip back home was slow. It reminded us of why we don't usually travel in the middle of summer. But a great experience and it'll have to tide us over until we attend Robert's 2024 eclipse event.

Ron

That's good to know re McMinnville. I didn't go to the museum this year when I was in the area. I like seeing the Spruce Goose but I wish they could house it in a building by itself; having all those other planes around somehow detracts from the display imho; it clutters it up.

No one ever showed up at Woodhead Park. The campground host told me he watched the eclipse with six other people. A couple from Seattle in a nice Lazy Daze motorhome did the smart thing-- they took a boat up the Snake River to a good location deep within the eclipse path. No crowds, no traffic. Good for them.

[Ron in BC]

Originally Posted by Mike Lewis

That's good to know re McMinnville. I didn't go to the museum this year when I was in the area. I like seeing the Spruce Goose but I wish they could house it in a building by itself; having all those other planes around somehow detracts from the display imho; it clutters it up.

.

I kind of agree with you. I took a charitable view; that the small planes gave a sense of scale to the massive bulk of the Spruce Goose.

Every time I see those massive wings with 4 large engines I marvel at their ability to use wood and glues to support the structure which still seem to be in excellent condition. One thing I wonder about though is that for decades at Long Beach, she was stored under climate controlled conditions. At McMinnville a large number of windows were open. Hope exposing the structure to increased humidity doesn't speedup the process of deterioration.

Ron

[NW Cat Owner]

Originally Posted by Ruthe

After a week of worrying about the bad weather forecasts, Monday was sunny and cloudless in the Grand Tetons.

Yay! I was wondering how it was going for you, while we were in Oregon.

[Ruthe]

At first I thought about hiking in to a more secluded place but it would have been difficult with Terry's camera equipment. I asked Terry whether he really had to take pictures because everyone else would be doing it and the eclipse was so short -- But then I realized that for him it was important and he's having a lot of fun with the videos that he took. And With our group of 14 (including a two year old) it made way more sense to basically walk across the street. We were so lucky with the groups of people around us. We became instant friends and everyone shared their knowledge. As I write, Terry is looking up the information about the 2019 eclipse that goes through Chile and Argentina. Don't think we'll take the Escape to that one.

[Steve Clark]

Debbie and I drove into the band of Totality and found a beautiful spot just south of Madras, Oregon. There are so many beautiful and spectacular photos posted on this forum, and I have also searched the Internet for the work of professional photographers. I truly respect the efforts of all who try, but as unbelievably beautiful as many I have seen, photographs do not capture the range of colors present in the Aura. Those who witnessed Totality with the naked eye know what I am saying. It is indescribable and un-photographable. Picture your favorite 2017 Total Eclipse photograph and multiply it by 10-20-50 times. You have to see it to believe it, and it will be back in April of 2024.

Thank-You to the many members of this forum who drew our attention to this event and through their own prior experiences, encouraged us to see Totality in person. It was a "Once/Maybe Twice In A Lifetime Experience"