Apr 7 2024 - Solar Eclipse - The Experience

 

Is it special?  That's the question, isn't it?  There's an Illinois village that will get its second in 7 years.  Sounds lucky.  Or is it?  Thousands are expected to descend of the 600 people to have the "experience".   "You don't see a total eclipse - you experience it" It's the corona, isn't it - the shiny stuff around the dark circle.  The "Ring of Fire" is what happens during an Annular Solar Eclipse - not a total eclipse.    So on to our "experience". The sky is going to change colour/tint.  For the total Eclipse, there will be an umbral shadow.  Look at a white building and ripples or dark and light might appear, also on the ground.  Then there's Bailey's Beads which disappear one after another as the eclipse gets to totality.  Before totality is the Diamond Ring - only a single bead remains.  The last bead vanishes and you remove your solar glasses (an odd term given how flimsy ours are).  With totality is streamers of red stretching up from the chromosphere into the corona.   The big deal is the corona - and whatever shape it has.  Loops and arcs are the shapes identified.  Who else is in the sky?  Venus is expected to become visible just before totality to the lower right of the eclipsed Sun. Jupiter will be at the upper left of the eclipsed Sun.  Even Mercury, Mars and Saturn are possible to see - likely with a telescope.   Then how dark it gets is how close you are to the centreline (and a few other things) - look at the horizon for a sunrise/sunset glow. Then things start to reverse, so that means it is time to put the solar glasses back on for the diamond ring, the Bailey's beads, the shadow bands, and retreating shadow which all happen again.  You are to look at your own shadow on the ground and see that it is sharp - really sharp.  You will see the hairs on your head, for example, for those who have "hairs". Well, that is a lot of experience, isn't it.  So the promise sounds quite real and fun. And then the disconcerting question:  What if it's cloudy?  Seems a dismal story of not having the experience - a dark sky isn't that exciting to me.   I guess that means one will have to start chasing solar eclipses to get the full experience.  Greenland, Iceland and Spain are next in 2026. Isn't this a stylistic interpretation - created this in the kitchen at the last house where I could place a prism and get this intense rainbow effect with the sun.

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Mar 16 2024 - Niagara Falls is Preparing for the Total Eclipse of the Sun

 

The Solar Eclipse is being billed as a "once in a lifetime event".  It has a name:  "Great North American Eclipse".   Have you chosen your viewing spot?  Supposedly upwards  of 1 million people have chosen Niagara Falls for the historic moment.  This will be the largest crowd Niagara Falls will see in its own history.  The Mayor is preparing for what is being billed as a "notable" location. It was in 1925 that the last full solar eclipse was viewable in Niagara Falls.  And the next one is 2144.  One can understand why so many people will go to Niagara Falls. TRhe raging sound and sight of the falls with the overhead spectacle. That's a lot of QEW traffic.  Will people stop on the highway when the solar eclipse starts to happen?  What will transpire?  Anyone anywhere east of Hamilton will be in the path of totality - the closest most accessible and best place to view the eclipse.   Actually, there are lots of places in the path of totality:   Belleville, Kingston and Cornwall.  Here's the interactive map to see the path.  And the advice about viewing? "If you’re in the path of totality when the moon blocks out 100 per cent of the sun’s light, you can take your protective glasses off during the two to three minutes of the total eclipse, but the CSA recommends wearing proper eye protection before and after. For those outside the path of totality, you must wear protective eyewear for the duration of the eclipse." I wonder what we thought of the total eclipse in times gone by.  What about this Flexify interpretation - thinking the world would go wonky with the Sun disappearing.

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