Aug 21 - Solar Eclipse

A North American total solar eclipse is set for Aug 21. In order to experience the 'totality' we'd have to travel into the US. There are few things that could get me down there but this is one....

http://xjubier.free.fr/en/site_pages/solar_eclipses/TSE_2017_GoogleMapFull.html

Late Summer road-trip?

Linda and I had discussed this when I first heard about it. So I think it is something that is deeply being considered.

A solar eclipse is really an all or nothing deal.

A 100% totality you can toss away all the safety equipment and stare at the black hole sun & experience all the freakishness of night appearing in a finger snap as crazy coronas lick around the occluded star. Anything less than totality is more like a thick cloud passing by...

Sigh...

This is a strictly American eclipse - only they will feel the full horror of Leviathan swallowing the primordial source of all life in the solar system. It seems fitting as a omen or herald of the New Dark Ages that so many US politicians have worked so hard to bring about. Surely the high priests of DEMOGORGON will be piling up the sacrifices and preparing their blasphemous rites for such an portentous celestial alignment...

My disappoint is lessened by all the cool sky-watching I've been doing lately (the upsides of no internet). That strange white flashing light that signaled a small flurry of falling stars (still not clear on what that was). That creepy lone nighttime cloud that seemed circle the house. That nice doughnut cloud this weekend. The time when a fox called us out to see some nice aurora glow.

In testing welding goggles I got to look at the sun blazing in an emerald sky and it made an impression. Staring at the noonday sun does short-circuit the brain - it is an uncanny thing and I felt unsettled for a few minutes afterwards. [The dangers of going blind in eclipses must have greatly contributed to their fearsome reputation. Permanent blindness on a mass scale is close to a plague or earthquake]

My favorite sighting occurred two weeks ago when cloud sporting a large pillar/tower drifted by as the sun was in the last third of its daily arc. The sun was just below the cloud so the cloud-pillar cast its shadow against the sky. Witness shadow beams darkening bands of blue sky was truly eerie and occurred for 15-20 minutes,


[a photo of a similar effect at sunset onto more cloud - mine was daytime and blue sky]

Anyone for a trip to Terra Nova national park in 2024?
Total Eclipse in Newfoundland