Maybe a little old-hat by now, but if you think I’m going to pass up a literal once-in-a-lifetime chance to revisit last Monday’s total solar eclipse here in KCMO – well, you’d need another think. But I will try to find a few outlier photos and experiences.
From here in the KCMO Metro, we were just barely in the “Totality” path – and it was totally awesome!
Of course we all prepared for the main event in our own unique ways.
Well, at least those of us with IQs above room temperature …
(If you’re going to make yourself go blind, folk wisdom would have us believe there’s a more enjoyable way of doing it …)
But it was well worth it! So let’s enjoy some of those gorgeous composite photos that everyone “Ooohhhs” and “Aaahhhs” over.
And this is the only one I know the location of – it’s from Nashville:
And leave it to NASA to “WOW!” our socks off. This GIF is taken from the Solar Dynamics Observatory
And here’s a composite of the International Space Station crossing the sun during the eclipse – it’s the “little H”
I shouldn’t say “little” because the Space Station weighs 450 tons and is about as wide as a football field
And thanks to NASA we were actually able to track the shadow of the moon as it crossed over the continental United States
Of course you didn’t need to be a rocket scientist to enjoy the solar eclipse – or even have those special glasses to protect your eyes. All you needed was a pinhole projector and a screen. And people were inventive with both.
Colander
Frying Pan with Water
Binoculars
A set of binoculars is used backwards to project the moon passing in front of the sun onto a piece of paper during a partial solar eclipse on Monday August 21, 2017 in Chelsea, Que. THE CANADIAN PRESS/Adrian Wyld
Your Hand
Even a Slice of Bread
But one of my favorite effects were the thousands of pinholes provided by the leaves from the woods that abut my backyard creating thousands of crescents. (This is not my video – it’s from the 2012 eclipse – but it’s a very good facsimile to what I saw on my patio.)
Some folks were either lucky in both timing and location – like capturing jet contrails right before (or after – I can’t tell) totality …
While others worked literally for days to position themselves exactly where they needed to be
That mountain climber is photographer Ted Hesser who said it took him and his team four days of practice before they found the perfect location to get that shot. And as he proudly proclaimed, “We nailed it!”
(The Link to his Welcome – Home Page opens with that photo)
Maybe I shouldn’t have said “once-in-a-lifetime”. There’s another total solar eclipse coming our way on April 8, 2024! And from this NASA interactive map of its path, you can see it’s not all that from KCMO. Are any of you close by to its path?
https://eclipse.gsfc.nasa.gov/SEgoogle/SEgoogle2001/SE2024Apr08Tgoogle.html
15 Responses to “Friday Fun: Totality Was Totally Awesome!”
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Thanks for showing the “other side” of the solar eclipse, the people and the funny things they do in preparation for the event. I had a few laughs. The one photo by photographer Ted Hesser was beautiful, well worth the time to set it up with his friends .
Solar Eclipse 2017
Eclipse Across America: Through the Eyes of NASA
You can still go to the NASA Website and see, review the activities of the Solar Eclipse. There are 4 1hour long segments of the broadcast. There is also a menu on the left side of the web page for your viewing including a Photo and Video Gallery. The Corona, itself, was just simply “Awesome”.
https://www.nasa.gov/eclipselive#NASA+TV+Public+Channel
Corona: https://spaceplace.nasa.gov/sun-corona/en/
As for the 2024 Solar Eclipse, my City of Sonoma, CA will not be in its path. If I am fortunate to be around in 2024, I’ll be 81 and will, most likely, view it with NASA once again.
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I put the Link to Ted Hesser website up thinking it’d be replete w/ info – but didn’t dig very deep, and find it pretty disappointing WRT info – but a much better photo.
I actually learned more about their setting it all up from his Instagram entry:
https://www.instagram.com/p/BYEWI4CFTjs/
Is the NASA “Solar Eclipse 2017” site how you watch the eclipse? Looks very well done – although that’s not surprising.
Yeah, the 2024 path is a bit far from Sonoma – but who knows …
Yes, all 4 hours of it! lol. The Solar Eclipse pathway did not include Sonoma. I was not wanting to travel over 500 miles to view it all in Portland, Oregon. It was well done and had link-ups in various areas in the path of the eclipse. The NASA Solar Eclipse included interviews with a variety of people on the show, regular people and scientific people too. Lots of information was imparted during the presentation, show. I liked the “oohs” and “aahs”, “cheers” as the eclipse and coronas occurred in those various parts of the country.
I will admit that watching the eclipse on the computer screen is not like actually being there, in person, sharing the “oohs” and “aahs” with other people. lol.
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They were predicting clouds and showers for us, and I didn’t mention it, but we had a blinding downpour ~ 45 minutes before scheduled Showtime. So I was pretty much resigned to TV/computer coverage.
But ~ 20-30 minutes before – the skies totally cleared! And then about 20-30 minutes afterwards the clouds all came back.
As the saying goes, I’ll take luck over skill any day!
Will cross post to Care2 as soon as Care2 will accept it.
Now available at Care2 here
Nameless, your take on everything is so special (and your research so good) that nothing you post will ever be really old – there will always be something new for us to learn. This is certainly no exception. Thanks as always!
You’re too kind!
[Your check is in the mail. ;-)]
Kudos for all the pictures.My favorite: “We Nailed It!”Awesome!
Thanks, Nameless for post, and Joanne for cross posting.
If you missed my response to Jim – you may want to visit Ted Hesser’s Instagram post where there’s more info and the “Nailed It” quote came from:
https://www.instagram.com/p/BYEWI4CFTjs/
Most enlight-unlight-relightening.
Good one, Nameless!
As long as you don’t start singing “You Light Up My Life” we’ll be fine.
I’ll wait for the next total eclipse.
I suppose for Hurricane Harvey it would be “The Wind Beneath my Wings”?
Thank you for the marvelous pictures of the eclipse, Nameless. We didn’t get to see it in Oz of course, but I vividly remember the full eclipse I witnessed in Holland more than 20 years ago. It’s amazing to see, even if it’s only on TV, and NASA got full coverage around the world and made America proud. But for me the clip of the thousands of eclipses through the leaves projected on the garage door is the best. The wonders of the universe and of science right there in your backyard – you must have been awestruck to see something similar on your own doorstep, Nameless.
I was “awestruck”. I wouldn’t call it “Life Changing” as some folks have – but it was very impressive.
Should have added that I was impressed by the significant temperature drop at totality. Scientists are saying the KCMO Metro experienced a 4.4 degree temp drop.
Whatever it was, in that short of timespan it was definitely noticeable!
David Baron gives a very descriptive and passionate talk on the very recent Solar Eclipse. He describes himself as an “umbraphile”. He chases eclipses and rare events around the world. Well worth the listening to this video. Text & Video. (CC).
https://www.ted.com/talks/david_baron_you_owe_it_to_yourself_to_experience_a_total_solar_eclipse/discussion?utm_source=Science+worth+knowing&utm_campaign=2093ec8817-Science+worth+knowing_8-17-17&utm_medium=email&utm_term=0_83c20124eb-2093ec8817-297119025.