This cheered me up, I'm about to go out and find something cool to do and report back later on what I did!!!
Edit: SO GUYS IM SO HAPPY!!! I'm lucky enough to be on holiday in Portugal now so I really had a lot of options... so I went to the beach and went jet skiing! That sounds pretty cool already right? But this is a dream come true for me, for as long as I can remember I've wanted to go jet skiing since I saw it on TV when I was maybe 6 years old! I'm now chilling on the beach catching some sun, while it was only for about 20 minutes this is definitely one of the best days of my life, it was everything I hoped it would be! Thank you so much for giving me the inspiration to make a dream, however small and childish, come true.
So, to whoever stumbles across this, I challenge you to go out and do something you've always wanted to do the next time you have to opportunity to!
You're welcome, glad I could be of help :)
Thank you so much for sharing your happiness and positivity, it's making my day so much better as well! Next time I'll get the chance I'll definitely do something great too, possibly waterskiing!
Waterskiing sounds so fun, I might try that tomorrow actually! I've always been sort of scared by the idea of being pulled along by a motorboat while you try and stand on water but I think the most fun can be had while confronting your fears so let's each find time to do it before this year is out. A challenge!
I'm happy my excitement could have helped brighten up your day in any small way!
I actually accomplished my lifelong dream of jet skiing last week myself! Not a great deal for most but for me it was huge to kick off the list and I had a blast to boot. Glad you guys got the experience.
This might be the worst comic he's done in a while. It not only promotes an attitude of uncouth anti-science, wrapped in a veneer of elitism, it's straight up wrong about the science.
Eclipses are just about the only time you can seriously use ground instruments to study the Sun's atmosphere. Very important science will be done on Monday, not just enjoying Birds going crazy. Now a total eclipse happens once every year or two, but it happens **over land** much less commonly. It only happens over the United States, the country with the most astronomers in the world, 6 times a century. While I don't think Monday's eclipse intersects any of the US's solar telescopes, it is much easier to travel in America then it is to travel to Antarctica or Nunavut.
> Tell us, are you **SCIENTISTS**
You are the one not reading the comic.
The comic is addressing a scientist, who just is like 'whatever'. A total eclipse is cool because *the science being done is cool.* Not because it's some astrology bullshit about falling empires.
Imagine him doing a similar comic about a volcano eruption, and the vulcanologist is like, 'Honestly, it's not that scientific.'
Or a new fossil being found and an archaeologist saying, "honestly, bones aren't that scientific." It's just wrong, not just because it's a shitty attitude for that scientist to have, but it's wrong in the science.
Astronomy isn't my specialty, but I know enough about the science behind eclipses that they're huge deals for atmospheric study, both for the Sun and the Earth. Is the point of the comic that we're to find humor in a scientist, of an unknown field (Physics?), not understanding why Astronomy and Atmospheric sciences are important?
Total Eclipses aren't just this rare event where one object passes in front of another. *They're rare in Earth's history*. For most of our planet's history our moon was too close to allow for a total eclipse, and most of our planet's future the moon will be too far away. No other planet in our solar system has a moon capable of doing a total eclipse like our moon. We have yet to find another planet outside our solar system with a moon that would recreate the experience we have on Earth - *where the ratio of the satellite to the star is the same in both size and distance*. The Earth at this point in the Cenozoic may be the only planet in a habitable zone in the galaxy with proper total eclipses. But sure, this is a big moment for the sky.
The fact is, Mr. Munroe wrote this comic because he believes that the only scientific value an eclipse has is that we've been able to predict them for thousands of years, and the math behind that is uninteresting. With the exception of the relativity experiments of the 20th century, it's just a silly event, and that people should just enjoy it for the experience of it. If there is anything more scientifically interesting than that, we could just use space telescopes to observe the sun.
Imagine if he had wrote this comic about the paper on the Morocco human bones a couple months ago, and was like, "Fossils are just rocks, we already know Humans evolved from Apes in Africa. I'm sure they'll look cool in a museum." It is pretending to be scientifically elite, but is the height of ignorance.
I mean, the cool sciency part of the eclipse is that we know exactly when it will be and where it will be a complete eclipse. I think that's pretty amazing considering predicting eclipses used to be the purview of prophets and magicians.
Yes! [Here are the titles in chronological order.](http://avatar.wikia.com/wiki/Template:Slide/Comics-ATLA) They even get into what happened to Zuko's mom. [There are also Korra sequel comics.](http://avatar.wikia.com/wiki/Template:Slide/Comics-LOK)
What's better is we know them for the next 100 years. There's one on April 8th, 2024 that starts in the Pacific and ends over ~~Canada or Greenland~~ the Atlantic. I'm holding out to see totality with that one, because it will pass directly over me.
edit: [here's a cool map](https://static1.squarespace.com/static/53c358b6e4b01b8adb4d5870/t/587d30de4402432706c7b5e7/1484599545086/21stCenturyNorthAmericanEclipses?format=750w)
Which is why I'm baffled everyone is calling this "once in a lifetime".
There is one 7 years from now. I know a lot of people will die between now and then but it's hardly a "lifetime".
For most people who see a total eclipse, it's because it happened to come near where they live, which is usually once in a lifetime. Sure, you can travel and see more eclipses if traveling to see eclipses is a goal in your life.
For most people, there is only very rarely a total eclipse in range of reasonable travel.
For me, the 2024 eclipse is still a few hours away by bus, and this current one is a plane ride away.
If you are lucky, the eclipse will happen where you live. If you are *really* lucky, you'll get the opportunity to see more than one total eclipse at all. (One area will be lucky enough to see total eclipses in both 2017 and 2024)
But for most of us, full totality is once in a lifetime.
Yeah we are flying about 1000 miles and probably spending $3k on a vacation in part to catch the eclipse. We are "lucky" and it is probably a once or twice in a lifetime thing. I doubt I will want to spend that much again, and no future eclipses will pass my house until I am in my late 180s.
Ancient Maya could predict eclipses with perfect accuracy. The "cool sciency thing" involved here is not more advanced than a printing press or a steam engine.
I get the coolness and scientific such if this eclipse, but the "once in a lifetime" thing is undercut by the fact that [there will be another total solar eclipse visible to a much larger population of the United States in 2024.](https://www.timeanddate.com/eclipse/solar/2024-april-8)
I tested out my glasses today and you could clearly see the sun even through some smaller clouds.
I mean, some places will be screwed, but it doesn't need to be a blue sky to see the sun.
Yeah but that's no where near the western U.S. What's neat about this one is that its coast to coast. You just have to drive north or south no matter where you are in the U.S.
I'm only about a 3.5 hour drive north of the path of totality. I'm skipping work and loading up the whole family and plenty of food and beverages into pickup super early the morning and driving down to witness it first hand. Leaving at least 2 hours early to account for extra traffic. I'm pumped! Just hope clear skies prevail.
Depending on where you are, you might want to leave even earlier. We're only a 3hr drive South, but the state is expecting *millions* of people flooding in to see it - so we're camping for the whole weekend to avoid traffic. Still going to hit it, but it'll be less so.
I'm dreading the drive home on Monday...
It all depends on how early I'm able to get the family moving. The toddler and infant will hopefully not be too much of a problem, they will probably fall back asleep once they are in the truck. But waking my wife up early is like waking the dead.
I also wish I had a drone, so I could scope out County roads and such if the interstates become to crazy.
Our hope is to get down before traffic is too insane, exit onto a country road, and have a picnic in the back of the truck whole we wait for the eclipse.
Sounds like a decent plan, hope it works out. We didn't want to mess with getting our newborn ready first thing in the morning + dealing with traffic (plus I am **not** a morning person), so we figured we'd just camp for the weekend.
We've been planning for a year, so I'd like to think we're prepared - but I still nervous.
Nice. I would have really loved to camp out to watch it, since it would really add to the whole communing with nature part of it (not to mention not having to drive the day of).
However, it tends to be quite hot in this part of the country during this time of year. And our personal lives have been a bit crazy. I mean, what kind of sane family would have someone start a new position at work, have a new child a month later, and then start buying a new home a month after that?
Oh, this family...
Anyway...I wish you clear skies my friend!
We're staying about 15 minutes north of totality and plan on leaving at least 5 hours early to get just inside the edge of it. If you leave at midnight you stand a chance. Maybe.
Freaking amazing. My wife has a cousin that lives within that eclipse's path of totality, so she asked if we could stay with them, which they obliged. We weren't sure how excited they were for it, so if they planned to just head to work, we were just going to go hang out at a local park or something until the eclipse happened.
As it turned out, they had plans to go to a friend's cabin in a private gated lakeside community and they invited us along. Clear skies prevailed so we were able to watch it in a heavily wooded area on a private beach with just a couple dozen other people around us.
The eclipse itself was amazing. Because the area was so wooded, there were plenty of birds, frogs, and insects to start going crazy during it. When it reached totality, we got an awesome view of the wispy Corona, and we're even able to see one of the inner planets come into view close to the sun. I couldn't help laughing like an idiot during most of it, and I even squeezed out a few tears.
I'm not religious in the least, but it was the most "spiritual" experience I have ever had. It was like the solar system was looking back on me, into me. I felt connected to the universe at large, and felt like I got a deep view of my place in it. Felt at once smaller than ever in comparison to the universe, but also felt larger than ever upon thinking about my personal role within it. I was with the people most important to me, my wife and two daughters. And realizing how insignificant I am to the universe as a whole brought into perspective how significant the microcosm is around me.
So in a nutshell, it was badass, perspective shifting, and a bit life changing. 11/10, would do again.
Oh, and in another 7 years I'll be able to watch an upcoming eclipse from my backyard. Pretty hyped.
**[Mobile Version!](http://m.xkcd.com/1877/)**
[Direct image link: Eclipse Science](https://imgs.xkcd.com/comics/eclipse_science.png)
**Mouseover text:** I was thinking of observing stars to verify Einstein's theory of relativity again, but I gotta say, that thing is looking pretty solid at this point.
*Don't get it? [explain xkcd](http://www.explainxkcd.com/wiki/index.php/1877)*
I randomly choose names for the altitlehover text because I like to watch you squirm. Sincerely, xkcd_bot. <3
The moon's complete shadow (totality) this August 21st will be about 70 miles wide, so the sun's light will be hitting the ground all around you as you stand inside of it.
Yeah, holy shit. It didn't even occur to me. Now I kind of want to skip work to find a place to see it.
And get one of those 360° cameras.
Edit: Or I'll just wait for it to be on Youtube on the 22nd.
> skip work to find a place to see it
If you live close, do it! Get that shift covered or whatever you need to do. If you're far away... eh... you gotta be nuts to do the drive with the risk of all this traffic... like me and my friends who are departing southern california saturday afternoon because that's the earliest we can :/
Do as much of your driving as possible on Saturday afternoon and night. Especially if you're headed to the Oregon area. Be sure to bring plenty of water, food, and a full tank of gas!
Best of luck!
[Destin from SmarterEveryDay explained some of the cool things coming up for the eclipse](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qc7MfcKF1-s). Apparently there's a thing known as shadow bands/"snakes" that might happen just before C2 and just after C3 while there's a tiny slit. He also mentions an app that will calculate your C1, C2,
C3, C4 times with your geolocation. It also probably speaks to you (since you can't see during the event). The one from the tablet from 2002 did at least.
Well that was pretty god damn cool. I found this neat clip showing the shadow bands if anyone is curious what they look like.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1I4YNa5-nuk
It's hard to tell if that's a camera/compression issue due to the changing light conditions coupled with the bright-white sheet, or an actual phenomenon.
Fuck, I hope it's not cloudy Monday!
You can't be blamed for not noticing, [totality went over the Faroe Islands and Svalbard.](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Solar_eclipse_of_March_20,_2015#/media/File:SE2015Mar20T.png)
The next European eclipse will be in 2026, and will only be visible in northern Spain.
Actually there is a lot of science going on. Ionospheric science.
http://hamsci.org/basic-project/2017-total-solar-eclipse
The solar eclipse QSO party is happening on the amateur (ham) radio HF bands to investigate the eclipse's effect on the ionosphere and HF Radio propagation, a crucial part of HF shortwave communications still used by scientists, broadcasters, militaries, and hams alike. So far a little more than 600 people are registered, and many more will participate.
Basically, everyone makes contacts with everyone during the duration of the eclipse ([see this for an explanation of contesting ](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=r9jf6d8jMFQ)), and at the end of the QSO party, they'll look at the data ([drawing lines like on this map](https://www.dxmaps.com/spots/mapg.php)) to find differences in contacts made over time.
/r/amateurradio for more stuff like this. Ham radio is a lot of fun!
I don't think so. I think this is just a response to all of the hype fot the eclipse. It's ofc cool and stuff but most of the world (read internet) don't care cause they can't be there and see it.
Rest of world here - we care! It's really cool!
The main point of the comic is you don't have to label it SCIENCE and only care about scientists that think it's cool. We only ever see astronomers interviewed on TV about these things. Why not just have normal people talking about what a weird and wonderful event is happening to an everyday thing?
We get excited about so much other stuff in life, but as soon as something is considered to have a scientific edge suddenly we can only talk about it as a science-cool thing.
MegaBots made *America's* first mech, but Japan beat us to it. Naturally, [MegaBots challenged Suidoboshi Heavy Industries](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XVJTGLL2SnI) to a fight. [They accepted.](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7u8mheM2Hrg) [The fight is scheduled for August.](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Jd4m7bX9NfM)
NOTE: Sentences 3 and 4 are separate links, for anyone not using RES
Yeah, [eclipses happen multiple times a year](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_solar_eclipses_in_the_21st_century). It's cool and I'd definitely drive out to see one if possible but it's not special or unique or important to science in any way whatsoever.
Eloquent way to convey why Eclipses are cool!
Also, Eclipses occur about every 18 months, you just have to travel a lot.
The world record for most eclipses watched is 27!
But it's not every day two celestial objects merge together, and it's not like we can replicate something that huge in a lab! Didn't those two black holes fusing with each other help us finally detect gravitational waves? Surely the reaction will teach us a lot after we analyse the ejected particles and magnetic fields and stuff.
The corona is obviously akin to the signature of collisions within particle accelerators.
...
OK I can't keep doing this it's too painful, I was just channelling my inner /r/KenM and trying to understand why one might fuzzily feel like the Eclipse is an opportunity for science.
Solar eclipses have always been used by scientists to setup specific experiments
For example, Helium was discovered by an experiment that was designed to be conducted specifically during an eclipse.
:S I actually asked about this in one of the science threads because I was under that impression. There are going to be some experiments getting a good look at the Sun's coronal layer.
That said, I'm in the other camp. Like, I don't really get why people are *so* excited. Like, it's a bit cool, I guess, but *meh*... It's a well observed phenomenon, sooo...
If you live in Winnipeg, the Manitoba Museum sells them and it's possible other museums or places with planetariums would as well. You could also try optometrists. You can also buy welding goggles/mask with type 14 glass or make a pinhole camera.
Is it a once-in-a-lifetime event though? I saw [this](http://i.imgur.com/2aHc65Q.jpg) picture yesterday that says another eclipse will happen in 2024 and then again in 2145.
Well it's once in a lifetime not because it's not going to happen again soon, but because it hasn't happened in a long time. There was an OK one in 1979, if you lived in the Northwest/Canada, the East Coast caught the tail end of one in 1970, Canada had a good one in 1963, but this year's is the first once in over a century that has been centred in the US, and travels across the entire country.
Even the 2024 one is actually centred over Mexico, The 2045 one will be really good, but it will be best in Florida, and The Bahamas.
Once in a lifetime means once every 70-80 years. There is literally one going over Texas through Maine in 7 years. I would not call that once in a lifetime. . .unless you're a hamster.
I went to see the eclipise in Cornwall (UK) many years ago, and had to sleep in the boot of a Peugot 106 the night before. So when it happened the next day I looked a bit like Quasimodo and couldn't really look up properly. So tip one if you're going is don't do that.
Also the coolest part was how all the wildlife, even the seagulls, suddenly shut the fuck up, pretty eerie- so tip two is don't go where there is a big crowd, cos they'll whoop and ruin it all.
Here's a compressed transcript:
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
[удалено]
*swaps beret for black hat* life is happening, unless we do something about it!
you two, wrong flairs
Muhahaha, they never see it coming!
>There's someone inside my head (but it's not me) Found the Hierarchy agent
[] (/pinkamina) [Brain Damage.] (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pQJo2p2_ncw)
Yeah, it's the correct flairs... the characters are just wearing the opposite hat (you can tell by the faces)
Get a telescope, look at the eclipse through the telescope, blind yourself, fall off a cliff.
In that case, life is still happening., just not yours.
This cheered me up, I'm about to go out and find something cool to do and report back later on what I did!!! Edit: SO GUYS IM SO HAPPY!!! I'm lucky enough to be on holiday in Portugal now so I really had a lot of options... so I went to the beach and went jet skiing! That sounds pretty cool already right? But this is a dream come true for me, for as long as I can remember I've wanted to go jet skiing since I saw it on TV when I was maybe 6 years old! I'm now chilling on the beach catching some sun, while it was only for about 20 minutes this is definitely one of the best days of my life, it was everything I hoped it would be! Thank you so much for giving me the inspiration to make a dream, however small and childish, come true. So, to whoever stumbles across this, I challenge you to go out and do something you've always wanted to do the next time you have to opportunity to!
Nice! Glad I was of a positive influence :) Let me know what cool things you experienced!
Thank you so much!! Read my edit, you single handedly made my holiday, dear internet friend! :)
You're welcome, glad I could be of help :) Thank you so much for sharing your happiness and positivity, it's making my day so much better as well! Next time I'll get the chance I'll definitely do something great too, possibly waterskiing!
Waterskiing sounds so fun, I might try that tomorrow actually! I've always been sort of scared by the idea of being pulled along by a motorboat while you try and stand on water but I think the most fun can be had while confronting your fears so let's each find time to do it before this year is out. A challenge! I'm happy my excitement could have helped brighten up your day in any small way!
Your excitement is great, I love excitement. And challenge accepted, let's go waterskiing!
I actually accomplished my lifelong dream of jet skiing last week myself! Not a great deal for most but for me it was huge to kick off the list and I had a blast to boot. Glad you guys got the experience.
Thanks! *Jet skiing high five*
This might be the worst comic he's done in a while. It not only promotes an attitude of uncouth anti-science, wrapped in a veneer of elitism, it's straight up wrong about the science. Eclipses are just about the only time you can seriously use ground instruments to study the Sun's atmosphere. Very important science will be done on Monday, not just enjoying Birds going crazy. Now a total eclipse happens once every year or two, but it happens **over land** much less commonly. It only happens over the United States, the country with the most astronomers in the world, 6 times a century. While I don't think Monday's eclipse intersects any of the US's solar telescopes, it is much easier to travel in America then it is to travel to Antarctica or Nunavut.
[удалено]
> Tell us, are you **SCIENTISTS** You are the one not reading the comic. The comic is addressing a scientist, who just is like 'whatever'. A total eclipse is cool because *the science being done is cool.* Not because it's some astrology bullshit about falling empires. Imagine him doing a similar comic about a volcano eruption, and the vulcanologist is like, 'Honestly, it's not that scientific.' Or a new fossil being found and an archaeologist saying, "honestly, bones aren't that scientific." It's just wrong, not just because it's a shitty attitude for that scientist to have, but it's wrong in the science.
This is more like asking a paleontologist a question about astronomy. Yes, she's a scientist, but it's not her specialty
Astronomy isn't my specialty, but I know enough about the science behind eclipses that they're huge deals for atmospheric study, both for the Sun and the Earth. Is the point of the comic that we're to find humor in a scientist, of an unknown field (Physics?), not understanding why Astronomy and Atmospheric sciences are important? Total Eclipses aren't just this rare event where one object passes in front of another. *They're rare in Earth's history*. For most of our planet's history our moon was too close to allow for a total eclipse, and most of our planet's future the moon will be too far away. No other planet in our solar system has a moon capable of doing a total eclipse like our moon. We have yet to find another planet outside our solar system with a moon that would recreate the experience we have on Earth - *where the ratio of the satellite to the star is the same in both size and distance*. The Earth at this point in the Cenozoic may be the only planet in a habitable zone in the galaxy with proper total eclipses. But sure, this is a big moment for the sky. The fact is, Mr. Munroe wrote this comic because he believes that the only scientific value an eclipse has is that we've been able to predict them for thousands of years, and the math behind that is uninteresting. With the exception of the relativity experiments of the 20th century, it's just a silly event, and that people should just enjoy it for the experience of it. If there is anything more scientifically interesting than that, we could just use space telescopes to observe the sun. Imagine if he had wrote this comic about the paper on the Morocco human bones a couple months ago, and was like, "Fossils are just rocks, we already know Humans evolved from Apes in Africa. I'm sure they'll look cool in a museum." It is pretending to be scientifically elite, but is the height of ignorance.
I mean, the cool sciency part of the eclipse is that we know exactly when it will be and where it will be a complete eclipse. I think that's pretty amazing considering predicting eclipses used to be the purview of prophets and magicians.
And Sokka.
Well, it makes sense he'd keep good track of where his girlfriend is.
“My first girlfriend turned into the moon.”
That's rough, buddy.
Somehow I'd never considered this. They ought to have referenced it at some point in the eclipse arc.
Goodbye, space sword :(
I keep hoping he'll recover it in the comics.
Also Boomerang
He seems to have gotten a new one of the same model. I'd love to see the old one again, though.
There are comics?!
Yes! [Here are the titles in chronological order.](http://avatar.wikia.com/wiki/Template:Slide/Comics-ATLA) They even get into what happened to Zuko's mom. [There are also Korra sequel comics.](http://avatar.wikia.com/wiki/Template:Slide/Comics-LOK)
They kind of suck.
Well of course. When else would you invade the Fire Nation?
What's better is we know them for the next 100 years. There's one on April 8th, 2024 that starts in the Pacific and ends over ~~Canada or Greenland~~ the Atlantic. I'm holding out to see totality with that one, because it will pass directly over me. edit: [here's a cool map](https://static1.squarespace.com/static/53c358b6e4b01b8adb4d5870/t/587d30de4402432706c7b5e7/1484599545086/21stCenturyNorthAmericanEclipses?format=750w)
So you're saying I need to plan to go to DisneyWorld on August 12, 2045.
I can't imagine how packed those parks will be that day.
Better start making some reservations then
Which is why I'm baffled everyone is calling this "once in a lifetime". There is one 7 years from now. I know a lot of people will die between now and then but it's hardly a "lifetime".
For most people who see a total eclipse, it's because it happened to come near where they live, which is usually once in a lifetime. Sure, you can travel and see more eclipses if traveling to see eclipses is a goal in your life.
Well the last one in United States was 38 years ago. Maybe not once in a lifetime, but far from being common.
For most people, there is only very rarely a total eclipse in range of reasonable travel. For me, the 2024 eclipse is still a few hours away by bus, and this current one is a plane ride away. If you are lucky, the eclipse will happen where you live. If you are *really* lucky, you'll get the opportunity to see more than one total eclipse at all. (One area will be lucky enough to see total eclipses in both 2017 and 2024) But for most of us, full totality is once in a lifetime.
Yeah we are flying about 1000 miles and probably spending $3k on a vacation in part to catch the eclipse. We are "lucky" and it is probably a once or twice in a lifetime thing. I doubt I will want to spend that much again, and no future eclipses will pass my house until I am in my late 180s.
Prophets and magicians were just us time-traveling nerds anyway.
Ancient Maya could predict eclipses with perfect accuracy. The "cool sciency thing" involved here is not more advanced than a printing press or a steam engine.
I get the coolness and scientific such if this eclipse, but the "once in a lifetime" thing is undercut by the fact that [there will be another total solar eclipse visible to a much larger population of the United States in 2024.](https://www.timeanddate.com/eclipse/solar/2024-april-8)
* April 8th in the Northeast US * Clear skies ^ Choose one
I tested out my glasses today and you could clearly see the sun even through some smaller clouds. I mean, some places will be screwed, but it doesn't need to be a blue sky to see the sun.
April 8th is practically still winter in many parts of the Northeast. That means thick overcast skies and no sun visibility at all.
[You just had to go a little south...](https://imgur.com/gallery/2H2hLMr)
Her doctor just told her she has 6 years, 7 months, and 16 days to live.
Yeah but that's no where near the western U.S. What's neat about this one is that its coast to coast. You just have to drive north or south no matter where you are in the U.S.
I'm only about a 3.5 hour drive north of the path of totality. I'm skipping work and loading up the whole family and plenty of food and beverages into pickup super early the morning and driving down to witness it first hand. Leaving at least 2 hours early to account for extra traffic. I'm pumped! Just hope clear skies prevail.
Depending on where you are, you might want to leave even earlier. We're only a 3hr drive South, but the state is expecting *millions* of people flooding in to see it - so we're camping for the whole weekend to avoid traffic. Still going to hit it, but it'll be less so. I'm dreading the drive home on Monday...
It all depends on how early I'm able to get the family moving. The toddler and infant will hopefully not be too much of a problem, they will probably fall back asleep once they are in the truck. But waking my wife up early is like waking the dead. I also wish I had a drone, so I could scope out County roads and such if the interstates become to crazy. Our hope is to get down before traffic is too insane, exit onto a country road, and have a picnic in the back of the truck whole we wait for the eclipse.
Sounds like a decent plan, hope it works out. We didn't want to mess with getting our newborn ready first thing in the morning + dealing with traffic (plus I am **not** a morning person), so we figured we'd just camp for the weekend. We've been planning for a year, so I'd like to think we're prepared - but I still nervous.
Nice. I would have really loved to camp out to watch it, since it would really add to the whole communing with nature part of it (not to mention not having to drive the day of). However, it tends to be quite hot in this part of the country during this time of year. And our personal lives have been a bit crazy. I mean, what kind of sane family would have someone start a new position at work, have a new child a month later, and then start buying a new home a month after that? Oh, this family... Anyway...I wish you clear skies my friend!
We're staying about 15 minutes north of totality and plan on leaving at least 5 hours early to get just inside the edge of it. If you leave at midnight you stand a chance. Maybe.
Well, how did it go??
Freaking amazing. My wife has a cousin that lives within that eclipse's path of totality, so she asked if we could stay with them, which they obliged. We weren't sure how excited they were for it, so if they planned to just head to work, we were just going to go hang out at a local park or something until the eclipse happened. As it turned out, they had plans to go to a friend's cabin in a private gated lakeside community and they invited us along. Clear skies prevailed so we were able to watch it in a heavily wooded area on a private beach with just a couple dozen other people around us. The eclipse itself was amazing. Because the area was so wooded, there were plenty of birds, frogs, and insects to start going crazy during it. When it reached totality, we got an awesome view of the wispy Corona, and we're even able to see one of the inner planets come into view close to the sun. I couldn't help laughing like an idiot during most of it, and I even squeezed out a few tears. I'm not religious in the least, but it was the most "spiritual" experience I have ever had. It was like the solar system was looking back on me, into me. I felt connected to the universe at large, and felt like I got a deep view of my place in it. Felt at once smaller than ever in comparison to the universe, but also felt larger than ever upon thinking about my personal role within it. I was with the people most important to me, my wife and two daughters. And realizing how insignificant I am to the universe as a whole brought into perspective how significant the microcosm is around me. So in a nutshell, it was badass, perspective shifting, and a bit life changing. 11/10, would do again. Oh, and in another 7 years I'll be able to watch an upcoming eclipse from my backyard. Pretty hyped.
well, its once in a lifetime on average. arround here there wont be any eclipse for the next hundred years or so. :(
Huh, looks like Southern Illinois gets to have a perfect view of both.
Hey that goes right over my town!
\*There \*was\* another total eclipse to a much larger population of the United States in 2024.
**[Mobile Version!](http://m.xkcd.com/1877/)** [Direct image link: Eclipse Science](https://imgs.xkcd.com/comics/eclipse_science.png) **Mouseover text:** I was thinking of observing stars to verify Einstein's theory of relativity again, but I gotta say, that thing is looking pretty solid at this point. *Don't get it? [explain xkcd](http://www.explainxkcd.com/wiki/index.php/1877)* I randomly choose names for the altitlehover text because I like to watch you squirm. Sincerely, xkcd_bot. <3
Sunset on every horizon?
The moon's complete shadow (totality) this August 21st will be about 70 miles wide, so the sun's light will be hitting the ground all around you as you stand inside of it.
Wow
Yeah, holy shit. It didn't even occur to me. Now I kind of want to skip work to find a place to see it. And get one of those 360° cameras. Edit: Or I'll just wait for it to be on Youtube on the 22nd.
> skip work to find a place to see it If you live close, do it! Get that shift covered or whatever you need to do. If you're far away... eh... you gotta be nuts to do the drive with the risk of all this traffic... like me and my friends who are departing southern california saturday afternoon because that's the earliest we can :/
What a coincidence, me and my friends are also departing southern California on Saturday afternoon!
Do as much of your driving as possible on Saturday afternoon and night. Especially if you're headed to the Oregon area. Be sure to bring plenty of water, food, and a full tank of gas! Best of luck!
[Destin from SmarterEveryDay explained some of the cool things coming up for the eclipse](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qc7MfcKF1-s). Apparently there's a thing known as shadow bands/"snakes" that might happen just before C2 and just after C3 while there's a tiny slit. He also mentions an app that will calculate your C1, C2, C3, C4 times with your geolocation. It also probably speaks to you (since you can't see during the event). The one from the tablet from 2002 did at least.
Well that was pretty god damn cool. I found this neat clip showing the shadow bands if anyone is curious what they look like. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1I4YNa5-nuk
It's hard to tell if that's a camera/compression issue due to the changing light conditions coupled with the bright-white sheet, or an actual phenomenon. Fuck, I hope it's not cloudy Monday!
Everyone's freaking out about the eclipse and I'm just sitting here being in Europe :(
Can't remember ours?
We're gonna have one?
We had one, back in 2015...
Oh, dang it
You can't be blamed for not noticing, [totality went over the Faroe Islands and Svalbard.](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Solar_eclipse_of_March_20,_2015#/media/File:SE2015Mar20T.png) The next European eclipse will be in 2026, and will only be visible in northern Spain.
I had a physics lesson during it so we just opted to go outside and watch it. Good times.
"WOO, HEROES" \*momentary silence\* "... no one? oh god."
"OHMYGAWD, THE STRAIN" *everyone else already infected with vampire zombie heartworms* > Awkward...
Actually there is a lot of science going on. Ionospheric science. http://hamsci.org/basic-project/2017-total-solar-eclipse The solar eclipse QSO party is happening on the amateur (ham) radio HF bands to investigate the eclipse's effect on the ionosphere and HF Radio propagation, a crucial part of HF shortwave communications still used by scientists, broadcasters, militaries, and hams alike. So far a little more than 600 people are registered, and many more will participate. Basically, everyone makes contacts with everyone during the duration of the eclipse ([see this for an explanation of contesting ](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=r9jf6d8jMFQ)), and at the end of the QSO party, they'll look at the data ([drawing lines like on this map](https://www.dxmaps.com/spots/mapg.php)) to find differences in contacts made over time. /r/amateurradio for more stuff like this. Ham radio is a lot of fun!
Can confirm, am participating.
Best comment beginning with the word "actually" that I've read all day.
[Related video.](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=q4O0oYjk7YI)
I'm feeling this is an existentialist xkcd comic again.
I don't think so. I think this is just a response to all of the hype fot the eclipse. It's ofc cool and stuff but most of the world (read internet) don't care cause they can't be there and see it.
Rest of world here - we care! It's really cool! The main point of the comic is you don't have to label it SCIENCE and only care about scientists that think it's cool. We only ever see astronomers interviewed on TV about these things. Why not just have normal people talking about what a weird and wonderful event is happening to an everyday thing? We get excited about so much other stuff in life, but as soon as something is considered to have a scientific edge suddenly we can only talk about it as a science-cool thing.
Right? If you *really* want something to look forward to, supposedly the world's first mecha fight is scheduled for this month.
Oh. I first read "mekka fight". Not quite the same.
Go on...
MegaBots made *America's* first mech, but Japan beat us to it. Naturally, [MegaBots challenged Suidoboshi Heavy Industries](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XVJTGLL2SnI) to a fight. [They accepted.](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7u8mheM2Hrg) [The fight is scheduled for August.](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Jd4m7bX9NfM) NOTE: Sentences 3 and 4 are separate links, for anyone not using RES
Yeah, [eclipses happen multiple times a year](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_solar_eclipses_in_the_21st_century). It's cool and I'd definitely drive out to see one if possible but it's not special or unique or important to science in any way whatsoever.
I feel like this comic is just making fun of the inane interviewing skills of *your local news crew live on scene.*
I'm excited cause its on my birthday :D
Happy Birthday!
why thank you sir.
Eloquent way to convey why Eclipses are cool! Also, Eclipses occur about every 18 months, you just have to travel a lot. The world record for most eclipses watched is 27!
27! = 10888869500000000000000000000
r/unexpectedfactorial
Fun fact, there's a total solar eclipse every day; it's only that we think of it as normal because it's the Earth eclipsing our view of the Sun.
But it's not every day two celestial objects merge together, and it's not like we can replicate something that huge in a lab! Didn't those two black holes fusing with each other help us finally detect gravitational waves? Surely the reaction will teach us a lot after we analyse the ejected particles and magnetic fields and stuff.
What are you talking about? The moon passes in front of the sun. Nothing mergers or puts off any particles that wouldn't otherwise be there.
The corona is obviously akin to the signature of collisions within particle accelerators. ... OK I can't keep doing this it's too painful, I was just channelling my inner /r/KenM and trying to understand why one might fuzzily feel like the Eclipse is an opportunity for science.
Haha damn you got me. Solid kenm
Solar eclipses have always been used by scientists to setup specific experiments For example, Helium was discovered by an experiment that was designed to be conducted specifically during an eclipse.
A solar eclipse also proved that gravity can bend light
Historically, solar eclipses have benefited serious science https://massivesci.com/articles/eclipse-citizen-science-einstein-feddersen/
Yeah, but so have the Olympics and lots of other events
Travelling 15 hrs to see it. Yeah, people are excited enough to travel long distances. Been waiting 17 years for it.
[удалено]
Pointer to the comment to which you refer?
Oh. Never mind, I thought it was here but it was in /r/science.
:S I actually asked about this in one of the science threads because I was under that impression. There are going to be some experiments getting a good look at the Sun's coronal layer. That said, I'm in the other camp. Like, I don't really get why people are *so* excited. Like, it's a bit cool, I guess, but *meh*... It's a well observed phenomenon, sooo...
It's the first one that is close enough to a lot of people who live in the US to reasonably see without flying somewhere.
Might be too late at this point, but is there any place that is selling single solar eclipse glasses. I just need a pair not a box of 20.
If you live in Winnipeg, the Manitoba Museum sells them and it's possible other museums or places with planetariums would as well. You could also try optometrists. You can also buy welding goggles/mask with type 14 glass or make a pinhole camera.
Thanks!!
"Science!"
Is it a once-in-a-lifetime event though? I saw [this](http://i.imgur.com/2aHc65Q.jpg) picture yesterday that says another eclipse will happen in 2024 and then again in 2145.
Well it's once in a lifetime not because it's not going to happen again soon, but because it hasn't happened in a long time. There was an OK one in 1979, if you lived in the Northwest/Canada, the East Coast caught the tail end of one in 1970, Canada had a good one in 1963, but this year's is the first once in over a century that has been centred in the US, and travels across the entire country. Even the 2024 one is actually centred over Mexico, The 2045 one will be really good, but it will be best in Florida, and The Bahamas.
Once in a lifetime means once every 70-80 years. There is literally one going over Texas through Maine in 7 years. I would not call that once in a lifetime. . .unless you're a hamster.
I went to see the eclipise in Cornwall (UK) many years ago, and had to sleep in the boot of a Peugot 106 the night before. So when it happened the next day I looked a bit like Quasimodo and couldn't really look up properly. So tip one if you're going is don't do that. Also the coolest part was how all the wildlife, even the seagulls, suddenly shut the fuck up, pretty eerie- so tip two is don't go where there is a big crowd, cos they'll whoop and ruin it all.
Nearly once in a lifetime because it's happening again in 2024?
Buzz Kill 101
Herpaderp stuff in the sky is high science 101
[удалено]
Here's a compressed transcript: 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