Solar eclipse April 8

[21incher]

The earthquakes started  .  You beat me Southside

[TroyC]

And so it begins..................

[Andries]

Personally - I like to read a Flat Earth Society explanation for the eclipse.
Sick fun, I know, I know.

I'll see myself out now . . . . 

[Magicman]

Actually the earth is flat but the Weather Bureau is in charge of all of this celestial stuff which includes stars, planets, earth, sun, and the moon.  They make rainbows, wind, rain, sunshine, clouds, and even tornadoes.  They made daylight saving time just to screw up our clocks so that we would have to contact them to determine the time.  They invented and sell windmills and solar panels so that we would be forced to use their stuff.  This eclipse thing is all of that guy Musk's idea because he is actually their front man.  We are puppets on a string. 

[Don P]

The eclipse of 1919 was used to verify Einsteins theory of relativity. With just the corona they could determine that indeed the mass of the sun bends the light of stars as it passes by.
Another cool one I heard on Science Friday on the radio in the shop, it is just a happy coincidence that the moon is 1/400th the size of the sun and is 400 times further from the sun than earth so we just happen to get a total eclipse of the sun by that diameter of the moon. The moon is slipping away from us at a couple of cm per year so at some point in the distant future there will still be eclipses, but they will be annular rather than total.

.. ,more is coming back. The Babylonians were the first to figure out the eclipse cycle although China and the Aztecs kept good records of events. The inhabitants of Chaco canyon drew what some people have figured was art related to an eclipse on their cliff walls. Scientists have tracked back and there was a total eclipse during that period that coincided with a solar maximum. Some of what they are seeing in the drawings may be details they were seeing of the lunar surface/edge lit by the corona.

My sweetwife came home with glasses and the schoolkids will be off for the event so she won't have to garden in the dark with preoccupied younguns. I had set the pair from 2017 on the shelf here knowing I would hopefully need them again for this one, but must have cleaned up at some point.

Make lots of noise, we need to make the toad eating the sun throw it up

[mudfarmer]

We are 'in the path of totality' and will catch it from one of the high up beaver ponds in the back 40 Lots of speculating locally about tourist influx, I do see it as speculating but on the other hand the hotels and airbnbs and such are actually full up. No worries, we won't even know they are here from way in the back. I am definitely not getting raptured so might as well have a good view!

[Magicman]

Please don't forget that tonight the Moon will be visible from Earth.  The last time this happened was last night. 

[SawyerTed]

Meh.

It's been a thing for a very long time...

Anybody remember the Heavens Gate mass suicide in 1997?  Supposedly it was caused  by the Hale Bopp Comet?

Any excuse to be weird - an eclipse is good enough for some.

Anybody going to see if an egg will stand on end during the eclipse? 

[Southside]

You just had to bring up the egg thing eh?  Now I have a mission.    Of course that's in the middle of 2,000 chickens going totally bonkers. 

[Old Greenhorn]

OH yeah, btu I am sure you know about the different rules with the eclipse? Apparently only one out of 500 eggs will stna don end, you have to find the right egg. 
 Do let us know how that works out, will ya?

[Southside]

Thanks for the support buddy.     

[SawyerTed]

During the equinox, this was the only egg I tried.   You reckon the first one I tried was the 1 out of 500?  What are the odds?  Please, some mathematician calculate the odds !     Or don't.    

[Old Greenhorn]

Well, this is the eclipse rules which are different than the equinox rules. More specifically there are for the ascending node ellipse and if I remember my witchcraft Science, for the descending node it is only one out of a thousand egges, or something like that. Of course, YMMV.

[Resonator]

Only eclipse prediction I'll make is Bonnie Tyler's big 80's hit will get a whole lotta airplay Monday. (Turn around bright eyes...)

[chep]

We are on the path here. We have 2 tent platforms that we rent out on hipcamp. 
They have been booked for this weekend for quite awhile. Its pretty early in the season for us to get bookings, usuually may-late october is normal. And.... Ironically we got a foot of snow for the campers to enjoy 
The first campers showed up last night. Since they couldn't drive to the site (it's down in one of the pastures) they took all their gear in via toboggan.   their car is still here this morning,  figured the overnight snow and low temps would have made tent camping pretty crummy? Guess we shall see if they make it til Monday. I don't think the snow is going anywhere haha. 

[SwampDonkey]

Ah, yeah but snow, wind, and a cold tent will test true love. 

[Old Greenhorn]

Or not.

[Don P]

True love is sleeping with the wine bottle in your bag to keep it from freezing .

Apparently just before totality a series of shadow bands cross the surface of the Earth. Nobody knows why. Some students in TX are sending up balloons to different levels in the atmosphere, up to 90,000 ft. They are looking to see if it is caused by our atmosphere or if the shadow bands are coming in through space. Perhaps light bending around the edge of the moon as the sun is down to a sliver over the edge of it. I've not noticed them before, I think we are too far off to the side to see something like that this time.

[Southside]

Well at least some F-35 pilots can become Aces again when the things show up on radar suddenly. 

[SwampDonkey]

These guys will probably have about the best view from your armchair on Monday at this link. Using 8K 120 fps cameras and telescopes, southern Texas. Starts to stream at 1:10 PM EDT on Monday. These guys do a lot of filming for NASA and SpaceX.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-B2E3E9c9qg

[Magicman]

I am getting ready...

[rusticretreater]

Checked my welding helmets for shade 12 or higher.  Looks like I am ready to lollygag around from 2 to 4 tomorrow.

[firefighter ontheside]

I have to work tomorrow for the eclipse.  We are in the about 99% of totality area.  I hope there is no nonsense going on.  My wife and one son are going to drive south about 40 miles and get into totality for about 3 minutes.

[SwampDonkey]

For all the 8-bit computer users. 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gipFvhEMB0I&t=965s


The youtuber there is from Thunder Bay, Ontario area. What he describes about the 80's eclipse never happened here at all. Sounded weird to me.  Kinda reminds me of 'duck and cover', which was before my time, thankfully.  

[SwampDonkey]