NOM

I did.

Wow! Wow! Wow!

Cool!

I tried to go to the Idaho highway webcam page to see just how dark it was. They were all disabled! Jerks! At least the Wyoming ones was working.

Yes, and it was wonderful!

I was gobsmacked. One moment we're staring up through our glasses at the moon slowly swallowing the sun, and the next we're staring with our own eyes up at what appears to be the blackest of black holes in the sky, surrounded by a storm wispy white light. Venus became visible, we could hear people cheering, and the dark sky was lit up like a more discreet and localized borealis.

I've never seen anything like it, and I wasn't prepared for what I saw. It was an endowment.

moksha wrote: ↑Tue Aug 22, 2017 3:57 am https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yGFOePz4r7g

That video doesn't capture 1% of what the experience was like. If I had experience anything remotely similar when praying about the BoM I would probably still be a rabid believer.

Hagoth, I congratulate you on your good fortune to see the eclipse in totality. Down in Arizona we got only a mild dimming of the light which was almost indistinguishable due to a few whispy clouds partially blocking the sun. Still, I did see the partial eclipse with the darkened glasses and it was a fun break as my office emptied out to the street to watch the scientifically expected signs in the heavens.

I read a post that I will paraphrase, here.

It said something to the effect, that, for a few moments, different race, different gender, different orientation, different ideologies didn't matter. We were just people enjoying and marvelling in this really amazing event. The author felt both happiness and sadness at that thought. Happiness, because it indicates peace is possible, if even for a few moments, every seven years. Sadness, because peace is so elusive and it takes something like an eclipse to blind ourselves to our differences.

Corsair wrote: ↑Tue Aug 22, 2017 11:02 am Hagoth, I congratulate you on your good fortune to see the eclipse in totality. Down in Arizona we got only a mild dimming of the light which was almost indistinguishable due to a few whispy clouds partially blocking the sun. Still, I did see the partial eclipse with the darkened glasses and it was a fun break as my office emptied out to the street to watch the scientifically expected signs in the heavens.

I had a fun time visiting my son in his school and looking at it through glasses. He wasn't super impressed and the chance to play on the playground for a few minutes was much more appealing, but we had a nice time together and an experience to cherish of just doing something him and I.

My dad and I loaded the basset hounds into the van and headed up to a little town north of Idaho Falls at 5 am. We got there two and a half hours early, so we had the opportunity to meet folks. Lots of peeps from Alberta. My dad quickly made friends with the family running the taco cart across the street and we ended up sitting with their entire extended family to watch it.

It was an amazing sight. It took 8 hours to drive back (four times as long!) but it was worth it. The hounds were exhausted.

Hagoth wrote: ↑Tue Aug 22, 2017 8:16 am That video doesn't capture 1% of what the experience was like.

I hear you. Is this any better?

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=e-QFj59PON4

moksha wrote: ↑Wed Aug 23, 2017 1:17 am

Hagoth wrote: ↑Tue Aug 22, 2017 8:16 am That video doesn't capture 1% of what the experience was like.

I hear you. Is this any better?

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=e-QFj59PON4

Our viewing site had bone wielding apes, which really added to the depth of the whole thing.

We headed North and got to see totality - absolutely amazing and definitely worth it! We left as soon as it was over and didn't have any problem getting back home. Words and pictures haven't been able to describe the fabulous experience.

Lady_Macbeth wrote: ↑Wed Aug 23, 2017 8:37 am We headed North and got to see totality - absolutely amazing and definitely worth it! We left as soon as it was over and didn't have any problem getting back home. Words and pictures haven't been able to describe the fabulous experience.

This is the closest picture I've seen. It captures the light show I saw happening around the moon, but the moon itself was the blackest black.

I was able to watch it in my back yard. To say that it was awe inspiring would be an understatement! The whole experience was heightened by the sounds of the woods behind the yard. Nature is amazing.

I saw it with 96% occlusion. The effects of decreased solar radiation were felt: a drastic darkening and a cooling-off. Howbeit the Sun, even at its most occluded, was too bright to look at directly.

The Friday before the eclipse I made a trek up to the Wind River mountains near Dubois WY and hiked up to Lake Louise. Two others I'd invited bailed out, so this was a solo trip. I backpacked 65+ pounds of outdoor and camera gear up 3 miles of rugged terrain to a secluded part of the lake. It was so awesome to just chill out at this amazing place, shoot photos, fish, wander and sometimes just sit there and watch the patters the wind makes on the water and sunlight. I had three days of Zen to lead up to the eclipse.

Now, I have seen several first hand partial eclipses over my lifetime. I've seen videos and pictures of totality. I've ready the descriptions of the emotional reaction people have to totality and how they described it as life changing and the greatest thing they have ever seen. This chart is a good description of what the majority would probably rate their experience with a total eclipse:


Many of you are no doubt familiar with the double rainbow all the way guy, the viral video from a few years back:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OQSNhk5ICTI
I'd say this was a pretty close approximation to the reaction I had when the eclipse hit totality.

Here's a few frames from my attempts to capture it from my camera:
https://www.instagram.com/p/BYFE6s6nnsM ... tchmaximus

My recommendation to all those who thought about see it but didn't or to anyone is that you do whatever you can to go and see a total eclipse, it was life changing for me. I had no idea it would be that amazing and emotional. Greatest metaphysical experience of my life! Now I will say, I'm an outdoorsy geek also very much into sciences an astrophysics.

Here in N. California there wasn't much of a show. The temp noticeably dropped, and the world's light dimmed, much like if clouds were to block the sun. The only difference was the light had a brownish tinge to it. We were a bit disappointed to say the least.

Hagoth wrote: ↑Tue Aug 22, 2017 8:16 am

moksha wrote: ↑Tue Aug 22, 2017 3:57 am https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yGFOePz4r7g

That video doesn't capture 1% of what the experience was like. If I had experience anything remotely similar when praying about the BoM I would probably still be a rabid believer.

Haha, love it. I saw it and was blown away. I am now a chaser. Heading to Argentina in 2019 for the next one. It happens to pass right through my mission.

Words really can't describe the experience. I hope to be naked on a mou rain top with DW, smoking dope at totality. My head may explode.

JK on the naked and dope parts but still, it will be epic!

MalcolmVillager wrote: ↑Fri Sep 08, 2017 7:57 am
JK on the naked and dope parts but still, it will be epic!

Never give up on your dream!