Merged Solar Eclipse 2017!

[asydhouse]

There was an eclipse in the US when I was a child. My parents feared for our eyesight and took us to the movies.

Next US eclipse I was in Australia.

I flew to Mazatlan for the big one, 1991. At the very minute of totality the clouds completed their stretch across the sky, blocking all view of the Sun.
I will see the US eclipse in 2017! I will I will. I will not be defeated.

Well that blows my hypothesis about the drop in temperature as the eclipse occurs clearing a hole in the clouds immediately overhead!

Unless it needs particular conditions which weren't there in your case. We were surrounded by the sea, being right down at the skinny end of Cornwall, and Britain's generally middling temperatures and high humidity.

Do I sound like a woo person scrabbling for get-outs for my favourite "theory"?


ETA: So we were tremendously lucky to have seen the eclipse then! It was almost a miracle! And we were at a festival, and everyone saw it. Maybe we should have set up a shrine… by now we could be raking it in as gullible religious types would be flocking to the site and paying us to be where the miracle occurred. I'd never have to work again… but, nah, I couldn't live with myself milking the sheep that way… unlike the priests who do that sort of thing.

 

[Anerystos]

I have regretted my decision ever since and, as yet, have never witnessed a full eclipse of the sun.

My sympathies are with you!

B F Skinner, of operant conditioning fame, was in London in 1965 or 6 and giving two lectures. The first, which I went to, was a theoretical one and my memory says it was good. (Well it would say that, wouldn't it.) The second was a demonstration of conditioning two pigeons to play “table tennis”.

I'm still kicking myself because I went to the first but didn't go to the second.

We all make idiot decisions which we regret ever after!

If you don't know who Skinner was, Google him. He was probably one of the most influential psychologists of C20. You either think that he was brilliant, or that he was a complete anal sphincter. I think the former: I've watched operant conditioning in action in a high skill sport (archery) where the result of where arrows hit provides the reinforcement.

 

[Perpetual Student]

At the age of 74, I have never seen a total eclipse of the sun. This is likely my last chance. So, I plan to travel from the California desert to Jackson Hole, Wyoming, which might be the best viewing site in the United States. BTW, Hotel bookings have already become difficult.

 

[Wolrab]

I certainly hope Jehovah doesn't feel the need to stop the sun in the sky again between now and 2017 as it would mess up the timing for this eclipse.

 

[Bob001]

At the age of 74, I have never seen a total eclipse of the sun. This is likely my last chance. So, I plan to travel from the California desert to Jackson Hole, Wyoming, which might be the best viewing site in the United States. BTW, Hotel bookings have already become difficult.

If you decide you don't want to wait, you can drop by the Faroe Islands (between Iceland and Denmark) next March, and the South Pacific in March 2016.
http://www.eclipse-chasers.com/php/tseNext.php?TSE=tse2015d
http://www.eclipse-chasers.com/index.php#
http://eclipse.gsfc.nasa.gov/solar.html

 

[BowlOfRed]

Jackson Hole, Wyoming, which might be the best viewing site in the United States.

Is that opinion due to the town/amenities nearby, the weather forecast, or something to do with the eclipse proper?

Right now I'm planning on being on vacation and driving down to Rexburg, ID for the event itself (assuming good weather expected there).

 

[Faydra]

jasonpatterson AND hcmom at the same time and place?! Be still my heart.

Well, Now I HAVE to go.

 

[Perpetual Student]

Is that opinion due to the town/amenities nearby, the weather forecast, or something to do with the eclipse proper?

Right now I'm planning on being on vacation and driving down to Rexburg, ID for the event itself (assuming good weather expected there).

My comment is a combination of hyperbole, wishful thinking, guesswork and some analysis.
The valley itself is at an elevation of 6000 feet, which should make for some pretty good viewing.
Additionally, the ski lifts are available in the summer and one could get to an elevation of over 10,000 feet with a panoramic view of the whole sky during total eclipse.
The city of Jackson and Jackson hole are geared for tourists and one could eat well, drink well and have access to good lodgings.
Of course, a bunch of clouds could just mess the whole thing up.

 

[Dumb All Over]

Oopsie. I should have posted something here yesterday. I better not be a day late and dollar short in two years.

 

[RatBoy]

I think I can be in the Carbondale, IL vicinity on that date!

 

[Wolrab]

I think it was canceled.

 

[Dumb All Over]

I think it was canceled.

Please, PLEASE, tell me you're joking.

 

[Wolrab]

Nope. The Homeland Eclipse Review and Prediction Association, a subsidiary of the Department of Eclipse Review and Prediction (HERPA-DERP) States, " Any fool thinking they can predict a solar eclipse is foolish. The Mechanism is magical in nature and cannot be foreseen. Therefor there is no way anyone can say for certain where and when an eclipse will occur. We are hereby cancelling the 2017 eclipse that was erroneously reported as something real. Thank You, HERPA-DERP"

 

[Dumb All Over]

A year and a day to go.

If the eclipse happened tomorrow in Casper, the viewing would be excellent.

If you are in the area a year from now, please join me: Latitude = 42.8667, Longitude = -106.3131

 

[BillC]

I will, I think, be traveling to the US to view this one. My only prior solar eclipse was the 11 August 1999 event, viewed from Szeged, Hungary.

 

[LarianLeQuella]

I am looking at this as a convenient excuse to go: https://www.atheists.org/eclipse

 

[Dumb All Over]

If the Theory of Relativity falls apart in 2016/2017 like that guy says in the other thread, what happens to the eclipse I've waited so long for?

 

[Skeptic Ginger]

I'm planning on renting a camper so that I'm mobile and can change locations depending on the weather. Otherwise I'll just be on the road somewhere and stay at whatever hotel nearby still has vacancies. Hopefully my son and his girlfriend will come along.

 

[Dumb All Over]

I'm planning on renting a camper so that I'm mobile and can change locations depending on the weather. Otherwise I'll just be on the road somewhere and stay at whatever hotel nearby still has vacancies. Hopefully my son and his girlfriend will come along.

I wish you luck on the hotel. I hear they are basically booked up, at least in Casper. Thinking this might be the case, I took a chance last year and was able to book several rooms. Why they let me book so early when their website says they will take reservations no earlier than a year out is anyone's guess.

My brother-in-law sent me the following news story link from a couple of days ago. The commentator says she was able to find one room, and it was going for $700. Egad. http://api.tegna-tv.com/video/play/...cription-key=ad03606241d049e0b478145b70de72e2

 

[Skeptic Ginger]

Well, if that's the case, car camping or renting a camper it is. I am not committing to a location. I did that in 91 and watched the clouds cover the sky in Mazatlàn just before the eclipse.

You can park a camper in any 24 hour store or hospital parking lot if the camping spots are taken. I used to do that when I roamed the country back in my younger day.