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Solar Eclipse 2024

phoenix2020

phoenix2020

Founder, Cyborg Gorillas
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I wanted to start a thread on the upcoming April 8 solar eclipse that will be visible across large swaths of the United States. Perhaps we can start with anyone who has plans to attempt to see it, and go from there. Thread is and can be open ended.

For my part, my family will be traveling to Dallas, TX. We have family there so it works out. April is not a great time of year vis-a-vis cloud cover for viewing an eclipse, so this could be a very expensive failure, but I'll take my chances! Currently planning to photograph with a SLR - in my case, I have Canon R5 and R7 bodies, the 800mm F11 lens and solar filters, which has worked fairly well for hand-held solar photography over the past year or two.

Anyone else here either in or close to the path of totality, or planning to travel in hopes of seeing it?
 
Ironically, I’m leaving Dallas to view the eclipse near Mena, Arkansas.
 
Bok Tuklo said:
Ironically, I’m leaving Dallas to view the eclipse near Mena, Arkansas.
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Rationale?

Dallas is my "base of operations" to fly into since we have family there, but I am still trying to figure out if/whether I should leave the city for the actual eclipse. So, I'm super interested in your thought process!
 
phoenix2020 said:
Rationale?

Dallas is my "base of operations" to fly into since we have family there, but I am still trying to figure out if/whether I should leave the city for the actual eclipse. So, I'm super interested in your thought process!
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My wife and I grew up in the Broken Bow, Oklahoma (where my familial nickname "Bok Tuklo" comes from) and Mena, Arkansas area. The majority of both our families live there. Her parents have about 40 acres and a good size home so we will be staying with them. It is to be a large get-together. It also helps that it is about 4 minutes of totality.

You will probably have to head east to get more totality time. But DFW has around 8 million people who are going to being doing the same thing; not to mention visitors! Stake out a spot early!
 
Bok Tuklo said:
My wife and I grew up in the Broken Bow, Oklahoma (where familial nickname "Bok Tuklo" comes from) and Mena, Arkansas area. The majority of both our families live there. Her parents have about 40 acres and a good size home so we will be staying with them. It is to be a large get-together. It also helps that it is about 4 minutes of totality.

You will probably have to head east to get more totality time. But DFW has around 8 million people who are going to being doing the same thing; not to mention visitors! Stake out a spot early!
Click to expand...
I enjoyed the 2017 eclipse in the midwest so I don't need an insane amount of totality - a couple of minutes will be fine and if I can get that in or near Dallas, I can live with it. As far as I can tell, Dallas itself should be in the path of full totality.

I am glad you have a good place to be and I'll be hoping that you enjoy clear skies! I was very lucky in 2017 - one hour in any direction and I'd have missed it.
 
We are headed to a party that day and will be under the totality.

Also, if you plan to get glasses, please use a vendor from the astronomical society recommendation list to avoid scams. Your eyes will thank you.

Suppliers of Safe Solar Viewers & Filters

eclipse.aas.org eclipse.aas.org
 
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Bok Tuklo said:
My wife and I grew up in the Broken Bow, Oklahoma (where my familial nickname "Bok Tuklo" comes from) and Mena, Arkansas area. The majority of both our families live there. Her parents have about 40 acres and a good size home so we will be staying with them. It is to be a large get-together. It also helps that it is about 4 minutes of totality.

You will probably have to head east to get more totality time. But DFW has around 8 million people who are going to being doing the same thing; not to mention visitors! Stake out a spot early!
Click to expand...
I should mention that ticket prices flying into Dallas were fairly insane so we will be flying into Oklahoma City then driving to Dallas. Coincidentally, I have been in / driven through every state except Oklahoma, so this will not only check the "visited every state" box but also be my first time in Oklahoma! We're arriving early on the 7th and I want to head to Dallas as soon as possible, but I am hoping to stop by a place or two on the way :)

Any suggestions would be welcomed!
 
phoenix2020 said:
I enjoyed the 2017 eclipse in the midwest so I don't need an insane amount of totality - a couple of minutes will be fine and if I can get that in or near Dallas, I can live with it. As far as I can tell, Dallas itself should be in the path of full totality.

I am glad you have a good place to be and I'll be hoping that you enjoy clear skies! I was very lucky in 2017 - one hour in any direction and I'd have missed it.
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About 6 of us traveled to Nashville, Tennessee in 2017 for that year's eclipse. It is the only total eclipse I have ever seen and it was an awesome experience. I recommend anyone who has the ability to see this one if they can. It's like viewing the Grand Canyon. Just incredible. You really do feel very, very small. At least I did.
 
Agreed. Simply magnificent experience. If you're in or near the path of totality, make time to witness it. Take the day off, pull kids from school, etc. There is nothing like it.

Just check the weather forecast first!

One of my pics from 2017. I'm hoping to do better this time, with better gear in hand!

IMG_2804.jpg
 
My area is estimated to be ~99.8%. So close! Don't know if I'll drive north a bit to a park or something, or just stay put. Probably the latter.
Have a Lunt Solar Systems 60mm hydrogen alpha scope mounted on my Celestron Evolution tracking mount, and an ASI1600 monochrome CMOS camera.
 
I think the last solar eclipse I witnessed was in Georgia, but I barely remember it, being so young.
 
Judging by the image here, guess I'm located at about 90%.

b749d32e-d270-4313-b49d-bbbb37bb755c_1920x1080.jpg




www.ksdk.com

These St. Louis-area schools will be closed for the April 8 solar eclipse

Some St. Louis-area students will get to celebrate the 2024 solar eclipse outside of the classroom. Here's which schools will be closed.
www.ksdk.com www.ksdk.com

Seriously doubt that I'll travel for viewing.
 
Early cloudcover forecasts are out.

https://m1o.pivotalweather.com/maps/models/gfs/2024032318/384/cloudcover.conus.png

On the map, white is clear skies, and blue is cloudcover. Kind of the reverse of how it is in the actual sky.

The above graphic is from the least accurate of the major weather models, and it is too far out to be really accurate in any case, so don't make any travel plans based on this image.

We're a few days away from when the most accurate computer models will start predicting cloud cover on eclipse day, and even then it will still be too far off for them to have really good accuracy.
 
phoenix2020 said:
Anyone else here either in or close to the path of totality, or planning to travel in hopes of seeing it?
Click to expand...

i live near it and may step outside. please take care when viewing because of danger.

the other danger i believe is that this may be a Prophetic End Times sign, so get prayed up and repent for whatever God is speaking to us about. there are plenty of video on youtube concerned with this.

blessings, 2 weeks
 
phoenix2020 said:
I wanted to start a thread on the upcoming April 8 solar eclipse that will be visible across large swaths of the United States. Perhaps we can start with anyone who has plans to attempt to see it, and go from there. Thread is and can be open ended.

For my part, my family will be traveling to Dallas, TX. We have family there so it works out. April is not a great time of year vis-a-vis cloud cover for viewing an eclipse, so this could be a very expensive failure, but I'll take my chances! Currently planning to photograph with a SLR - in my case, I have Canon R5 and R7 bodies, the 800mm F11 lens and solar filters, which has worked fairly well for hand-held solar photography over the past year or two.

Anyone else here either in or close to the path of totality, or planning to travel in hopes of seeing it?
Click to expand...

We're driving to central Texas and should be right in the middle of it.

I was gifted this article about getting pictures with your phone,


And another super cool widget that shows the track of eclipses for the next fifty years, ( middle of article) cool , because you can spin the globe on the graphic. Which shows me that there will be eclipses visible north of the artic circle and even visible as far south as Antarctica. I did not know that and can't model in my head how that is possible.



Yo people! Everybody post back here when it passes your area give us the report!!
 
I hope that we have a clear view of it.
 
soap box said:
We're driving to central Texas and should be right in the middle of it.
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I hope you're keeping up on the cloudcover forecasts.

Still too early to be absolutely sure, but Texas looks screwed for the eclipse. Vermont and New York look like they will be the best spots.

Here is a good cloudcover predictor that uses an AI to continuously analyze all the latest cloudcover predictions:

The only bad thing about it is, cloudcover is depicted very faintly on the map. But it does a good job of summarizing all the latest cloudcover forecasts.


EDIT: Here's another good summary of the latest cloudcover forecasts:

Eclipse 2024 Cloud and Visibility Watch - Pivotal Weather

Eclipse 2024 Cloud and Visibility Watch
www.pivotalweather.com www.pivotalweather.com
 
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This is what I use for future outlook. Very good track record of being accurate.
Guess I will be heading north about an hour to a client's business parking lot for a place to set up, Won't be too far from the centerline.
 
phoenix2020 said:
Agreed. Simply magnificent experience. If you're in or near the path of totality, make time to witness it. Take the day off, pull kids from school, etc. There is nothing like it.

Just check the weather forecast first!

One of my pics from 2017. I'm hoping to do better this time, with better gear in hand!

View attachment 67500116
Click to expand...
Is staring at that ok?
 
Its supposed to be cloudy on Monday in my region
 
A friend today told me he will be traveling to Arkansas over the weekend and in the path of the total eclipse hotels that normally charge $80.00 a night are charging $500.00. He's going to sleep in his truck. I'm a capitalist at heart but that's gouging IMHO.
 
phoenix2020 said:
I wanted to start a thread on the upcoming April 8 solar eclipse that will be visible across large swaths of the United States. Perhaps we can start with anyone who has plans to attempt to see it, and go from there. Thread is and can be open ended.

For my part, my family will be traveling to Dallas, TX. We have family there so it works out. April is not a great time of year vis-a-vis cloud cover for viewing an eclipse, so this could be a very expensive failure, but I'll take my chances! Currently planning to photograph with a SLR - in my case, I have Canon R5 and R7 bodies, the 800mm F11 lens and solar filters, which has worked fairly well for hand-held solar photography over the past year or two.

Anyone else here either in or close to the path of totality, or planning to travel in hopes of seeing it?
Click to expand...
I'm in the path of totality. It looks like the weather might not cooperate.

This would be my second total eclipse. The first one I was in my 20s and I remember it as a very cool thing to experience.
 
Allan said:
I'm in the path of totality. It looks like the weather might not cooperate.

This would be my second total eclipse. The first one I was in my 20s and I remember it as a very cool thing to experience.
Click to expand...
 
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