Am I the only one who has seen an eclipse and been very underwhelmed?



Sure, it's something you don't see everyday, it's darn rare.

So is Halley's comet.
Just like an eclipse, there was a tremendous hubbub about it,
then I saw it.

Oh.
So I'll never see that again.
And why does that matter?




I see some version of this very often walking out the door in the morning,

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Can't express it, but those sunrises are more important to me.

Good for you

No, here is another person. I saw one back in the ninetys as I recall. We were down near Pine Bluff, Arkansas, surveying, and had a Transit/edm with a solar filter we used doing sunshots. So we got a very good look. I was glad I saw it, but would not go out of my way to see another. miles

We’re still here. Lights come on, coffee is made,,,,,meh.

We are almost dead square in the path of totality. Gonna do beer and brats with the family. Had one in 2017 at about 90% totality. Next one is 2045 or so. I probably won't be here for that.

This one is pretty exceptional. It's about the proportional size of the moon and sun relative to the distance from earth to moon. But you can watch TV if you want to.

Saw the last one in totality in Oregon. Lots of partials including the annular one last year.

The one in totality was impressive. Like someone took a drift punch to the sky. And the aurora around it was cool.

The partials and annular were pretty meh.

I'm tired of hearing about it!

It’s a measure of technology and progress effect on our view of life and raw natural wonders that these things seem ho hum. You could simulate the same effect with a light bulb a bare wall and a disk of cardboard. But why bother? You can imagine the same effect easy enough. We drove several hours to a peculiarly American town of Celina, Ohio right under the path. Wife loves science, astronomy geology, the ancient and all beyond our knowing. She is very weak and unwell. Witnessing something strong and unrelenting, Bible thumpers, politicians, or psychopaths can’t destroy seemed encouraging send off to heaven for her. A mixed bag for me.

Halley's Comet appeared in 1986. For some reason it wasn't very bright.
On previous appearances throughout the years, Halley's Comet was brilliant, and much much brighter than the one we saw.

I have seen one partial eclipse, 98 percent, and it was great. I'd love to see a total eclipse.

Just another day ho hum

We are in the path of totality here. I will go out and watch it in my yard. Not particularly excited about it and for certain tired of it dominating the news here.

Electric lighting was common in 1986, not so much in .....1910 I think was the previous one? None at all prior to that.

I went to town yesterday. The Highway department is putting up "no parking April 8th" signs on every street and even went so far as to block off the town cemetery roads. Local businesses have blocked their parking lots with semi's. It's insane.

Dead center here. Daughter and grand kids coming over for a party. All about them.

Doesn't take much to excite people.

We're dead center. Many neighbors have their yards roped off to prevent getting torn up from cars.
Local park is filling up @ $20 per car for parking today. $175 for a camping spot for the weekend.
Local news says to expect total gridlock for hours afterwards.

Younger son is coming over today for an all-day grilling session. Tuna steaks, salmon and ribeyes.

Pagan celebration.

It's a shadow.

We're on the path but heavy cloud cover today. That should help reduce the hysteria among those who think they'll be vaporized if they're outside.

yeah I can remember seeing one or two it seems like for sure one we was in elementary school and made these boxes with aluminum foil and a mirror or something as such.



in this area there really advertising about the strip through Arkansas. mountain home Arkansas in particular is predicted to be a place to be because of the being in the total blackout area for a certain length of time and no cloud cover for today...

well I can tell you this highway 60 out of Springfield Missouri into Rogersville Missouri where I'm currently setting to go to work highway 60 East is absolutely packed which is the path to mountain home Arkansas from here you go 60 East and then not forget the highway drop South... there seems to be a lot of idiots on the move..

Consider the word "totality" It exists in almost complete anonymity for years at a time, then suddenly one day it is violently yanked from its comfortable life of obscurity and is beaten to a frazzle for a few days before being sent back to oblivion.

What is a safe way to see it?

Any excuse to get together with family is a good one.


Fish biting yet?

Don’t believe all the hype, it’s only people wanting to sell you something. Just look up!

Yeah, remember it’s the sun.
Don’t stare even if it’s not painful, take a glimpse once in awhile.

I see one every day of the month except one if I look at the moon.

A shadow. Big deal

I've seen 3 or 4 in my lifetime, and I never thought it was that big a deal.

LOL
That’s not an eclipse, but there are occasional lunar eclipses.

Take a card board box. Poke a small hole in one side. Set it on the ground on the opposite side.

Look in through what would have been the top.

The eclipse will be projected on the side that is on the ground.

JFC.
lol

I beg y'all, don't be selfish, please put on your covid glasses for the sake of grandma's eyes !!

I am with you. Have seen two. Underwhelmed.

Must have been different in the days when folks thought some unholy monster was eating the sun.

I agree, it just isn't that big of a deal. The hype is stupid, but the media is stupid and corporate America can sell some glasses and other junk.

People have paid hundreds or more to come to the Austin, TX area for the eclipse...looks like a cloudy midday sky from Liberty Hill, TX.

clouds and fog in Pearland Texas.

Current visibility about 1/2 mile.

My lease at Reagan Wells is in the path of totality.

Two buds are there. Once they are where they can get cell coverage I will check with them in regards to the eclipse.

ya!

GWB

LOL

I just saw the Goodyear Blimp circling Scottsdale. An eclipse and a blimp on the same day, I may just wet myself.

I am in the path. Very sick of hearing about it and having stupid people calling off work and jamming up the roads to stare at it.

Halley's came by when the earth was at the wrong in it's orbit, therefore too far away, for the best viewing. I saw it but needed binocs. I've seen much more impressive comets over the years.
In '17, we drove about 150 miles to visit friends who were in the direct path of the eclipse. It was worth the trip and we got to visit our friends while there.

Ohh Lor

It's cloudy. But it could clear up a little. We get stormy weather after the e-clips.

Cloudy and a little rain here today. I’ve seen one total and several partials. On the last partial eclipse I noticed that the sunlight shining through the trees and then onto the concrete driveway made hundreds of little images of the partially obscured sun. It’s the same effect mentioned in the box projector mentioned above.

Yes. It was interesting in a scientific-ish sense. We were not in totality. I didn't have eye protect, etc but I did happen to glance at the sun once and for a split second I could see a piece missing but it was far too bright to look at .. so I didn't. What I thought interesting was the light got slightly "funny", just vaguely dim, and the temperature dropped mid-way through the morning of a fairly hot day. Otherwise, a flash in the pan where I was.

If you're not in totality you didn't see it. There is a big difference between totality and anything less.

Fresh from Central Texas

Seen a few. Pretty neat for a few minutes, then back to work.

Certainly nothing I’d sacrifice a human for….

Fuqkin clouds🤯

It was pretty cool!

We were in totality. Until then, it was so so.

I believe it is about maxed out here. Sky is nearly completely clear.

Got pretty dark here. 95% coverage, but so cloudy couldn't see sun or eclipse at all.

Oh well

100 percent. Clear and was pretty damned awesome.

Coudy and raining here in Magnolia. It did darken up for a while though.

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I've been beneath 3 in all of my years. Two beneath cloud cover and under the 2017 event centerline with a clear sky. A very unique experience and well worth the travel. Would have traveled for this one, but Cookie did a knee replacement about a week back and was no where near being up for an extended road trip.

So how about sacrificing Obama?

Cloudy and drizzling rain.... couldn't tell it even happened.

A great excuse for socializing & drinking. Iffin ya needed an excuse!

It was interesting. total for 3 1/2 minutes.

Around here, it's about a 95% chance that any celestial event will be fully obscured by clouds..... Maybe 98%.. Total clouds here and drizzle, naturally.

Damn cool. Amazing how quickly it got light again.

That was the most surprising part to me.

I was in Nashville when they got a totality a few years ago, but I think the moon was closer on this one so it was more dramatic. I don't remember it being that dark or lighting up that fast when it moved past totality. Or it could just be Texas being closer to the sun.

Too cloudy and raining here to see it.

That's what she said.

Best use for an eclipse is if you're off in a jungle somewhere, captured by a tribe of savages who are about to roast you and you tell them you can make the sun go out. Then the eclipse happens and they all bow down and worship you and make you their chief forever. At least that was a fairly common event in movies and TV shows of the 50's. I would imagine you'd have to be pretty careful about the timing.

Friends in Hot Springs Village said it got almost totally dark and they could see the stars. All of the security lights came on.

Recently, Mel Gibson’s “Apocalypto”. Good movie.

Was very cool here. We could see solar flairs during totality. Got really cold when it got dark

Even with the clouds ,it was kinda neat how it got dark and cold,then poof gone.
Glad I didn't spend any money on a AB+B or anything.

We couldn't see the sun at all

An eclipse is not too exciting to watch but... the reactions of some are amazing.

Christopher Columbus did something like that with a predicted lunar eclipse.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/March_1504_lunar_eclipse

Know that well.

Never paid attention or knew better until a girl in Green Bay ask me about PA.
"Does the sun shine much there, especially in winter?"

Didn't know how to answer, but once I started paying attention,
its freaking dreary here. Year round. Either cloudy or hazy.

+1!
Really freaking cool!

Mark Twain A Connecticut Yankee in King Arthur's Court

Went dark here at 1230......

It was cloudy but I saw about half the totality during a break in the clouds. I wish we could get that in July and August.

I would go out of my way to see them just depending.

I won't miss seeing one if its in the backyard. Cloudy out here today. Wife saw a bit of it in town at work.

They are cool to see and rare.

When that fails to be worth a look, then quit looking at the every day sunrises and sets too. IMHO.

"You're so Vain."

Glad to see that so many of you survived the apoceclipse.

We went to my younger brother’s house in the 100% eclipse area. Had a cookout and watched the show. It was amazing! I’ve been busting the balls of my friend who bought into the conspiracy BS.

Ron

I heard Fireworks go off from three directions- and distant cheering.
It was neat to see.

There's an eclipse up there somewhere.

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Want quite that bad here, clear enough to see the sun.
No idea what it looked like, but it was no darker than a stormy day.

Knew why, NBD. It's not the 1600s.


Now 21 years ago when we were coming home one winter night,
and suddenly it turned into day?
Bright as noon, the mountains lit up but casting shadows.
That made an impression.
Post 911, I was puckered!

Found out later a substation blew up one ridge and about 2 crow miles away.
Low cloud cover reflected the arc flash back down.

We drove to Anna Illinois

I took a dump at the walmart 7:15am

Drove further to Alto Pass Shawnee Natl Forest, within a few miles of the nadir centerline of totality
We set up in a cemetery and got about 4 minutes, 28 seconds of totality

Some faint high ice cirrus clouds but it gave the corona a bluish effect. Incredible!!

Oh and Anna, Ill… historic acronym for Aint No Niqquers Allowed. LOL factoid of the day along with site of the Lincoln-Douglas debate, yeh

Other mentions- crickets started chirping about 20 mins before Totality
A batch of roosters started up across all the farmland beyond the federal land.
A pair of doves lit in a cedar tree above our campset and flopped around to roost. All good

The light returning even with a fraction of the sun was brilliantly intense strangely.
You could see the umbra sweep our position as it moved on, a dark sky to the northeast liken to a thunderstorm cloud.

We weren’t supposed to see it up here, but the clouds parted …

We got a break in the clouds, right at peak time, 3:07, and watched the eclipse for one minute. 85 percent eclipse, I love it. Wish I could have seen the total eclipse.

As cool as it looked, one of the coolest things was how dark it got. The street lights came on. We had a partial eclipse here in 2017 but I was working and only got to see a little bit of it. Traffic wasn’t nearly as bad as they predicted. All the stuff predicted by the doom and gloom crowd never materialized.

Ron

It was only 95% here, so not too impressive... about like being outside on a cloudy day for 5 minutes, except with the sun shining.

I was driving home from work when it peaked, and amount of people stopped along the side of the highway to watch was crazy, given general traffic levels on that same stretch of road.

The eclipse was just perfect in Indianapolis, Indiana. Full totality completely visible. What Fun!!!

Too bad you didn't die in a flaming car crash Paul.

You obviously never saw one! A total
Eclipse of the sun is incredible. I went for my jacket before realizing the instant darkness hit so did the cold. The tiniest sliver of sun everything was still visible and warm although the pelicans were already flying around crazily.

Eclipse is just like quicksand—not near the problem I thought it would be as a kid.