2024 Eclipse · 1:51pm April 9th
Yesterday I traveled to Houlton, Maine for the total Solar Eclipse. Not my first location choice, but as the weather situation evolved, we had to go further northeast until we hit the Canadian border. Traveling on the fly with no reservations meant sleeping overnight in the car in freezing temperatures, but it was all worth it. We posted up in the Walmart parking lot with a lot of RVs that had arrived the previous day. There were a lot of solar astronomers with special cameras and telescopes. And there was a lot of day-drinking.
Up until the very last pinpoint of sunlight was visible, it was like it was gradually getting dimmer. But the INSTANT that last tiny bit was covered, it was like daytime just switched off with the flick of a light switch.
Like, it went from the lighting of a cloudy afternoon to night in the blink of an eye! And there was a 360 degree sunset in every direction! The things that are really hard to convey is how the sky looks like night time, a dark blue, but the moon turns into a black hole in the sky. And pictures don't do it justice.
"If the sun can get blacked out on a Monday afternoon, so can I!" - Shakespearicles™
Same with the corona. It was very surprising just how large it actually is compared to the sun, and it's ALWAYS up there! We just can't see it normally. I knew that, but it still blows my mind to see it with my own eyes.
Another astronomer had the best analogy:
"The difference between a partial solar eclipse, and a total eclipse is like the difference between flying in a plane, and falling out of a plane. One precedes the other, but even if you are expecting the second part, nothing can ever really prepare you for it."
And that's the thing. Pictures of the eclipse are nothing, NOTHING, compared to being there. Just... being there. It really is an EXPERIENCE that photos, and movies just can't convey. The way the air gets MUCH colder, and the wind rushing through. The way your shadows get weird just before and after, the way colors change. The way the bugs and birds changed their behavior. There were a lot of effects that I knew to look for, but it took tremendous willpower to do so and not just stand there in AWE of the event itself.
And that's really what it was. An event. An experience. A memory I will treasure for the rest of my life.
The last solar eclipse I was in, was back in 2017 where the path was in Aiken County, SC.
That's really cool. And insightful. Thanks Shakes.
Really cool views from this stream if you weren't in an area to see it. https://www.youtube.com/live/OUdXFQtefqM
It was frickin' beautiful.
Witnessed the partial solar eclipse from Mississauga,Ontario. It was surreal. Unfortunately, I couldn’t make it to Niagara falls since the totality happened over there. Still, what I witnessed was good enough for me lol.
You know there was a little kerfuffle amongst my fellows who, taking a break from working the shine of their rosaries and getting a case of the vapors over Lucky Charms in between holidays where they'll wail a rend garments less in the orgy way and more in the oh ye God and baby Jesus they've wheeled out Santa or Jack O'lanterns, who could have seen this coming our countries headed to hell in a hand basket way, decided to go on the internet and get each other in a lather because apparently we've had seven years of peace after the last eclipse and we were all doomed.
First off, seven years huh? News to me
Second, “But about that day or hour no one knows, not even the angels in heaven, nor the Son, but only the Father" just flew right over their silly heads.
In short, another planetary rotational event comes to pass and the Almighty has afflicted me upon you all for another day. I'm glad you're here with me limping across this wreck a little longer, even if its across a screen
cool
had wanted to try to go to Cleveland for the eclipse but shit happened etc etc, was still pretty cool to see what we could around herethough
My dumbass didn’t use the proper glasses. Still seeing spots
Houlton, haven't been there in a few years. I have family up in that neck of the woods.
I flew eight hours each way to see the eclipse. I mean, I hung out with some people along the way because they lived close, but still.
Super weird in the last few minutes to have dim light but the sun still high in the sky. Kind of reminded me of pictures from Mars. One of the people I was with pointed out that as the time came, traffic from the nearby highway had almost totally stopped.
The sudden drop in light at the very end would have startled anyone who didn't know it was coming.
The next one in the US is in twenty years.
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I went to a gay club there once.
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oof