Happy winter/summer solstice, everybody!

[freebeard]

IIRC it's more like a polarizing filter than a sunset, everything is strangely desaturated.

And we even got cows running along a fenceline because they thought it was time to be home for milking.

[Gasoline Fumes]

Originally Posted by MetroMPG

Did anybody else get to see it?


This was my first total eclipse, and it was pretty amazing.



It clouded over in my little city about an hour before totality, so we raced down the freeway (note: very un-hypermiling behavior!) towards blue skies.


We weren't the only ones with that idea: the rest stop where we pulled off was packed. Lots of people had hit the road for a better view.


I was particularly surprised by how bright it stayed out even when only the tiniest sliver of the sun's surface was visible. Darkness fell bizarrely quickly when it came.

I hit the road in search of clear skies too. I was only able to find less clouds before it started getting dark. I ended up stopping on the side of the road between Pulaski and Sandy Creek, NY. I got one decent photo of totality between the clouds.

[MetroMPG]

WOW! That's a fantastic photo!! Nice work.



I unfortunately forgot my binoculars, so I didn't get to see any details in the corona. I was hoping to see a prominence.


Question: (I know I can find the answer to this by searching, but I want to ask a fellow human being...) can you actually see the prominences moving? I realize they are huge structures (Earth scale & bigger), so maybe not?

Originally Posted by freebeard

IIRC it's more like a polarizing filter than a sunset, everything is strangely desaturated.

Also, I was intrigued by shadow edges becoming peculiarly sharp as the moon covered almost the whole disc of the sun. Makes sense, as we go from "floodlight" to "spotlight" light source.

And we even got cows running along a fenceline because they thought it was time to be home for milking.

I definitely heard the birds break into their evening chorus where we were.



Sad that the next total eclipse in North America is ~20 years away... and on the other side of the continent.

[Gasoline Fumes]

Originally Posted by MetroMPG

Question: (I know I can find the answer to this by searching, but I want to ask a fellow human being...) can you actually see the prominences moving? I realize they are huge structures (Earth scale & bigger), so maybe not?

I didn't notice any visible movement, but I only caught that one shot through the clouds.