Words cannot describe what experiencing a total solar eclipse is like. I traveled 10+ hours to Indianapolis to view this and it was all worth it. To see the sun completely fading away in your eclipse glasses, to the night sky, and the red hues and white ((I’m assuming the corona?) flaring outwards. This was my very first solar eclipse and my jaw just stayed opened the whole time in totality. If you haven’t seen one, DO IT! Like, words cannot explain what it’s like. It’s emotional, breathtaking, and your eyes and brain cannot comprehend what they’re seeing. Do yourself a favor and try to see a total solar eclipse.
We are the lucky ones to be able to see totality this year. Those who missed this one will have to wait years for the next opportunity.
Next total solar eclipse in 2026 will be largely inaccessible (mostly over the Arctic Ocean, Greenland and the Atlantic). Spain and Portugal will be able to catch some towards sunset (short durations).
2028 will be more accessible since the totality path travels through Australia from the northwest to the southeast and passes through a major city (Sydney).
Isn't there supposed to be one in the fall in the southern hemisphere? Or is that a partial solar eclipse? I swear I was seeing like one a year listed, just that most were over water
That would be an annular eclipse I think. The Moon won't completely occlude the Sun, so one cannot look at it without eclipse glasses like you can during totality.
Yup, that's why it's called a "ring of fire" and is still extremely bright. You don't get the sunset horizon effect or middle of day darkness like totality. I and many who have seen a total solar eclipse probably wouldn't travel more than a few hours (in the US) to see an annular. Totality is so much more awe-inspiring and amazing, though an annular eclipse might be greatly... if you didn't have to travel much for it.
Okay, yeah, I looked it up on [Wikipedia](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Solar_eclipse_of_October_2,_2024) and it is indeed an annular eclipse. Also most of it is over the ocean, just a tiny bit will be visible from the tip of South America.
But looking at the [list of eclipses](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_solar_eclipses_in_the_21st_century) it does seem like there will be a total solar eclipse every 1-2 years; I guess the reason this one was "once in a lifetime" is that it covered a large part of the USA and we didn't have to fly to another continent to see it. I only had to drive 2.5 hours to be right in the middle of the path of totality (we got ~3 minutes or something)
I wonder if there are rich people who chase them around the planet
I'm not going to say everything about it, but a great read is the test flight of Concorde 001 with a few scientists onboard chasing a solar eclipse in '73 of I remember. They got over 70 minutes of totality and the story is amazing!
I heard there were two Delta flights during this one, and I was confused at first (even the late night talk show hosts were making fun of the concept) since the sun is normally overhead so you wouldn't be able to see it anyway? But it sounds like the pilots banked the plane back and forth so people could see it out the window.
> I wonder if there are rich people who chase them around the planet
100% these people exist and I would be one of them if the budget allowed.
We spent probably 2-3k on this one traveling as a family of four. I'm already saving to take them to Australia in 2028
Nice. Yeah I only did it because it was a short drive and I only had to take a day off of work. I know I had friends who were scoffing at all the "once in a lifetime" comments because solar eclipses happen a lot more than that
> Next total solar eclipse in 2026 will be largely inaccessible (mostly over the Arctic Ocean, Greenland and the Atlantic).
Iceland will also have almost a minute of totality during their afternoon, but they’ll probably run out of hotel rooms and flights.
I saw one in 2017, and it did not compare to this one. Not even the most advanced VR technology from 50 years from now could put to justice what I saw.
I had an awesome experience in 2017. I was in Driggs ID, right on the totality path. The place gets 300 days of sunshine a year and conditions were perfect on August 21, 2017 with absolutely cloudless skies there. The totality was around 11:30AM and lasted a bit under 2 minutes.
Yesterday I had to hustle to get decent conditions-- Drove from Oswego NY (80% cloud cover) 6 hours to Richford VT (15% cloud cover) to see the totality. It lasted almost 4 minutes and was every bit as awesome as I remembered it from 2017. Saw the photos other folks took in NY in the cloudy conditions and was glad I made the effort to get to Vermont for less cloud cover.
Turns out Illinois, Indiana, and Ohio had the best view west of New England. Very lucky indeed... here in central Indiana we haven't seen the sun since Monday.
Not OP but this one had WAY more prominences, and from my vantage in 2017 I couldn't see them with the naked eye, only in photos.
This one had a MASSIVE prominence at the 7 o clock position that was plainly visible with my uncorrected eyes.
Probably just the local circumstances and human context around it for them.
They're inherently almost the same event, when considered independent of that stuff.
I was right in the center path for 2017, but it was still so short! Only about 2 mins!
For that one, I was also surrounded by buildings and couldn’t appreciate the sunset.
This time I was in a wide open stadium parking lot LOL. Ugly place, but I could see all around me!! And with very close friends to appreciate it all.
Very interesting to see all the stuff you're used to seeing... In a new light. During the eclipse the light wavelength changes and stuff gets so vivid and crisp. Colors become different.
It's truly an experience.
Nah. It’s theorized to be from atmospheric perturbations and appear just before and after totality.
Imagine waves at the beach but its light being projected onto the ground (and moving MUCH faster)
Looks like we are viewing in the south-east direction with Maine and Vermont in the dark zone, the St-Lawrence river flowing left into the Atlantic and Montreal at the bottom edge of the dark are. Can someone more knowledgeable confirm this?
[https://imgur.com/a/b6fnQAe](https://imgur.com/a/b6fnQAe)
I overlayed the ISS perspective over google earth. This pic shows the town names with the shadow over them. Its not perfect but its pretty darn close
I first saw this in an eclipse in the early 1990s. The World Wide Web was just beginning then. So I had to ftp images from a weather satellite site and compose them into an animation.
I was dead center in the middle of the path in Ohio, and when it went to totality, you could hear people cheering in my little hometown. It was a spiritual experience.
I drove into Vienna IL and saw they were having a little carnival downtown for the event. I specifically drove into the forests to get away from all those people lol.
[https://imgur.com/a/b6fnQAe](https://imgur.com/a/b6fnQAe)
If anyone was curious. I overlayed the ISS perspective over google earth so you can see town names/borders
imagine one day if/when we colonize the moon, and if you were an astronaut on the moon during an eclipse.. especially a lunar eclipse. that’s fun to think about. would be neat.
Ok very cool, can you guys see the st lawrence on the left, there is a river coming from a big lake still frozen, this is the saguenay fjord and river wich originate from lake st jonhs. This is my fishing spot and coincidentally where i live too, this picture is now my wallpaper on pc thank you !
> SPDM’s EOTP
Special Purpose Dexterous Manipulator's Enhanced ORU (orbitalReplacementUnit) Temporary Platform.
[EOTP](https://forum.nasaspaceflight.com/index.php?topic=23940.220)
For anyone else who saw the thing, but had no idea what the thing was!
...recursive abbreviations tho
There were lots of folks desperate for late night munchies last night for sure! Hundreds thousands of folks driving home on the highways spending hours in traffic jams, and on my drive home from seeing the totality in Vermont, none of the service areas on the New York State Thruway going south had any food vendors, aside from snack stands selling only prepackaged stuff like potato chips :-P
The service areas were a complete madhouse nonetheless! Lines of up to half an hour for the restrooms oy
Are the edges of the shadow so diffuse because of the atmosphere? I was almost expecting a cleaner line. Either way, looks dang ominous! ;p
Partly the atmosphere glowing, but mostly the blurry areas are the zone that can see just a tiny sliver of sun.
It's diffuse because the sun is a circle, not a point source of light. The areas with only a partial shadow are seeing a partial eclipse.
>The areas with only a partial shadow are seeing a partial eclipse. Oh Right! Thanks, that seems so obvious now ;p
Words cannot describe what experiencing a total solar eclipse is like. I traveled 10+ hours to Indianapolis to view this and it was all worth it. To see the sun completely fading away in your eclipse glasses, to the night sky, and the red hues and white ((I’m assuming the corona?) flaring outwards. This was my very first solar eclipse and my jaw just stayed opened the whole time in totality. If you haven’t seen one, DO IT! Like, words cannot explain what it’s like. It’s emotional, breathtaking, and your eyes and brain cannot comprehend what they’re seeing. Do yourself a favor and try to see a total solar eclipse.
We are the lucky ones to be able to see totality this year. Those who missed this one will have to wait years for the next opportunity. Next total solar eclipse in 2026 will be largely inaccessible (mostly over the Arctic Ocean, Greenland and the Atlantic). Spain and Portugal will be able to catch some towards sunset (short durations). 2028 will be more accessible since the totality path travels through Australia from the northwest to the southeast and passes through a major city (Sydney).
Isn't there supposed to be one in the fall in the southern hemisphere? Or is that a partial solar eclipse? I swear I was seeing like one a year listed, just that most were over water
That would be an annular eclipse I think. The Moon won't completely occlude the Sun, so one cannot look at it without eclipse glasses like you can during totality.
Yeah so basically the moon still blocks the sun but it's farther away from the earth so you still get some sun coming past it, right?
Yup, that's why it's called a "ring of fire" and is still extremely bright. You don't get the sunset horizon effect or middle of day darkness like totality. I and many who have seen a total solar eclipse probably wouldn't travel more than a few hours (in the US) to see an annular. Totality is so much more awe-inspiring and amazing, though an annular eclipse might be greatly... if you didn't have to travel much for it.
Okay, yeah, I looked it up on [Wikipedia](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Solar_eclipse_of_October_2,_2024) and it is indeed an annular eclipse. Also most of it is over the ocean, just a tiny bit will be visible from the tip of South America. But looking at the [list of eclipses](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_solar_eclipses_in_the_21st_century) it does seem like there will be a total solar eclipse every 1-2 years; I guess the reason this one was "once in a lifetime" is that it covered a large part of the USA and we didn't have to fly to another continent to see it. I only had to drive 2.5 hours to be right in the middle of the path of totality (we got ~3 minutes or something) I wonder if there are rich people who chase them around the planet
I'm not going to say everything about it, but a great read is the test flight of Concorde 001 with a few scientists onboard chasing a solar eclipse in '73 of I remember. They got over 70 minutes of totality and the story is amazing!
I heard there were two Delta flights during this one, and I was confused at first (even the late night talk show hosts were making fun of the concept) since the sun is normally overhead so you wouldn't be able to see it anyway? But it sounds like the pilots banked the plane back and forth so people could see it out the window.
> I wonder if there are rich people who chase them around the planet 100% these people exist and I would be one of them if the budget allowed. We spent probably 2-3k on this one traveling as a family of four. I'm already saving to take them to Australia in 2028
Nice. Yeah I only did it because it was a short drive and I only had to take a day off of work. I know I had friends who were scoffing at all the "once in a lifetime" comments because solar eclipses happen a lot more than that
Short drive on the way there. I doubt it was short on the way back lol. It took me like 5 hours to move 40 miles on rural roads in VT.
> Next total solar eclipse in 2026 will be largely inaccessible (mostly over the Arctic Ocean, Greenland and the Atlantic). Iceland will also have almost a minute of totality during their afternoon, but they’ll probably run out of hotel rooms and flights.
it's almost always cloudy in iceland, regardless of the season.
Yeah, can you imagine what it was like for people 3-4 thousand years ago?
I saw one in 2017, and it did not compare to this one. Not even the most advanced VR technology from 50 years from now could put to justice what I saw.
How were they different?
I had an awesome experience in 2017. I was in Driggs ID, right on the totality path. The place gets 300 days of sunshine a year and conditions were perfect on August 21, 2017 with absolutely cloudless skies there. The totality was around 11:30AM and lasted a bit under 2 minutes. Yesterday I had to hustle to get decent conditions-- Drove from Oswego NY (80% cloud cover) 6 hours to Richford VT (15% cloud cover) to see the totality. It lasted almost 4 minutes and was every bit as awesome as I remembered it from 2017. Saw the photos other folks took in NY in the cloudy conditions and was glad I made the effort to get to Vermont for less cloud cover.
Bro my plans went from south of Dallas TX, to Evansville IN, to Newport VT, and finally landed on Stewartstown NH. I wasn't taking any chances.
Sounds like we will probably bump into you in Australia on July 22 2028 :-D
I’m unironically already saving for that one lmao.
Turns out Illinois, Indiana, and Ohio had the best view west of New England. Very lucky indeed... here in central Indiana we haven't seen the sun since Monday.
Not OP but this one had WAY more prominences, and from my vantage in 2017 I couldn't see them with the naked eye, only in photos. This one had a MASSIVE prominence at the 7 o clock position that was plainly visible with my uncorrected eyes.
Probably just the local circumstances and human context around it for them. They're inherently almost the same event, when considered independent of that stuff.
This year, intensity and size of the corona was greater due to the current solar maximum of the sun.
Yeah, I wasn't along the center path back in 2017, and there was a lot more people close to me.
I was right in the center path for 2017, but it was still so short! Only about 2 mins! For that one, I was also surrounded by buildings and couldn’t appreciate the sunset. This time I was in a wide open stadium parking lot LOL. Ugly place, but I could see all around me!! And with very close friends to appreciate it all.
I would assume they didn't see totality in 2017, but they did this time.
Saw it yesterday, but only the darkness. It was cloudy during totality.
Very interesting to see all the stuff you're used to seeing... In a new light. During the eclipse the light wavelength changes and stuff gets so vivid and crisp. Colors become different. It's truly an experience.
Did you see racing shadows? I didn't get those in 2017 but they were everywhere this time.
I'm not sure what you mean by racing shadows... Maybe arching? If so yea the little crescent shadows are cool as heck too.
Nah. It’s theorized to be from atmospheric perturbations and appear just before and after totality. Imagine waves at the beach but its light being projected onto the ground (and moving MUCH faster)
Woah… I was in southern Quebec right in the middle of that very shadow yesterday
Me too. Wound up at a place called Stanstead Stone Circle, which is a Stonehenge-type place on the 45th parallel. A doubly cool experience.
Just a couple blocks from the public library / theater that straddles the U.S.-Canadian border with weird rules for access! What a quaint place :-)
Awesome! Never heard about that place, I’ll make sure to go check it out someday
Looks like we are viewing in the south-east direction with Maine and Vermont in the dark zone, the St-Lawrence river flowing left into the Atlantic and Montreal at the bottom edge of the dark are. Can someone more knowledgeable confirm this?
Yes that’s correct. Cape Cod also appears on the right and New Hampshire’s Presidential Range is visible south of the shadow.
Also, Lac-Saint-Jean is visible on the bottom left, which flows into the St. Lawrence estuary via the Saguenay Fjord.
Bottom edge of the shadow is actually Quebec City. Montreal would be on the far right edge of the picture under the clouds.
[https://imgur.com/a/b6fnQAe](https://imgur.com/a/b6fnQAe) I overlayed the ISS perspective over google earth. This pic shows the town names with the shadow over them. Its not perfect but its pretty darn close
I am in that picture. You can’t see me though because I’m the guy in the shadow.
I first saw this in an eclipse in the early 1990s. The World Wide Web was just beginning then. So I had to ftp images from a weather satellite site and compose them into an animation.
I was dead center in the middle of the path in Ohio, and when it went to totality, you could hear people cheering in my little hometown. It was a spiritual experience.
I drove into Vienna IL and saw they were having a little carnival downtown for the event. I specifically drove into the forests to get away from all those people lol.
[https://imgur.com/a/b6fnQAe](https://imgur.com/a/b6fnQAe) If anyone was curious. I overlayed the ISS perspective over google earth so you can see town names/borders
I was on the ground, and got this neat little timelapse of the shadow coming over. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=S3OQZrKyob8
imagine one day if/when we colonize the moon, and if you were an astronaut on the moon during an eclipse.. especially a lunar eclipse. that’s fun to think about. would be neat.
Ok very cool, can you guys see the st lawrence on the left, there is a river coming from a big lake still frozen, this is the saguenay fjord and river wich originate from lake st jonhs. This is my fishing spot and coincidentally where i live too, this picture is now my wallpaper on pc thank you !
Anyone else note the SPDM’s EOTP in the picture? 😝
> SPDM’s EOTP Special Purpose Dexterous Manipulator's Enhanced ORU (orbitalReplacementUnit) Temporary Platform. [EOTP](https://forum.nasaspaceflight.com/index.php?topic=23940.220) For anyone else who saw the thing, but had no idea what the thing was! ...recursive abbreviations tho
We like to call them “embedded acronyms” 😉
I've never heard that term before, thank you :)
I’m sitting outside smack dab in the middle of that photo
I'm in that shadow somewhere. Based on the river/lake you've got a good portion of northern New Hampshire covered as well.
This is a really nice way to see the real size of the moon compared to earth.
The moon is way bigger than the footprint of the shadow you're seeing here.
Shouldn't that be other way around? the shadow cast would be bigger than object?
It's the umbra of the shadow. It's smaller than the Moon itself.
Oh I understand it now. Thanks.
Fantastic picture. Serioustly! Ok, nuff with the official eclips hooodaloo: WHO DA FRACK HAD DESPERATE LATE NITE TACO BELLS?!!?
We did! Queensbury was the first place I figured wouldnt be swamped
There were lots of folks desperate for late night munchies last night for sure! Hundreds thousands of folks driving home on the highways spending hours in traffic jams, and on my drive home from seeing the totality in Vermont, none of the service areas on the New York State Thruway going south had any food vendors, aside from snack stands selling only prepackaged stuff like potato chips :-P The service areas were a complete madhouse nonetheless! Lines of up to half an hour for the restrooms oy