@ClimateJenny Did you see totality? I remember how I felt when I saw it in 1991. All of the intellectual professional astronomer understanding of what was going on & what I was seeing went out of the window in an instant: I was suddenly just a naked ape standing below something both beautiful & terrible, not scared as such, but certainly in awe. I do need to experience that again.
@markmccaughrean Exactly. Yes, I saw totality. There was a glowing yellow horizon, a deepest blue sky, and a perfect glowing corona around the dark moon. Powerful, but also very personal — at that moment, it felt like it was just me and the sun and the moon, each looking at each other, me feeling like they were beautiful and benevolent and my very own.
@ClimateJenny It’s a very strange sight: we’re really not used to see apparently perfectly round, jet-black objects in a mostly dark sky. We’re supposed to see bright things like the Sun, the normal Moon, the planets & stars.
As a result, the feeling I had was that the Moon was a hole in the the canopy of the sky, perhaps only hundreds or thousands of metres above, & that the atmosphere was leaking out through it. Most odd – I have no idea where that thought sprang from.
@scottytrees I don’t know about oddball 🙂, but having seen several partial solar eclipses & just one total, I’d make that drive in an instant. Utterly mind-blowing: one of the most stunning things you’ll ever experience.
@markmccaughrean I get what you're saying, but your fascination and interest with it does not translate to me in quite the same way. I just have zero desire to spend +12 hours in a car round trip, plus food and gas, which I don't even have much cash to even do a trip like that sadly. If it was 1-2hrs away, I'd do it, but the truth of the matter is I'm just too poor to travel far right now.
@scottytrees From that perspective, fully understood, of course – indeed, that was kind of implicit in my original toot, that by no means everyone can afford to travel to see totality.
But if you do ever get the chance to see a total solar eclipse, one way or the other, please take it.
It's nearest I've ever come to being simultaneously terrified & enraptured by the universe. I'm by no means religious at all, but it's a transcendent, spiritual experience.
@markmccaughrean "It's nearest I've ever come to being simultaneously terrified & enraptured by the universe."
I've had very few experiences in my life, but back when I did a lot travel, from Singapore to New Zealand to France to Iceland, etc. I've had my jaw dropped and my literal existence questioned in more ways than one, lol.
Maybe not in the same gravity defying sense as you, but I understand your perspective. I do night photography, so I always chase stars, but never chased the moon! 😅
@markmccaughrean was lucky enough to see one in France some 25 years ago (not sure if was full though, so it probably wasn't), in south America right now, so will miss this one, but I realize I'm lucky enough 🙂, hope y'all enjoy this one!
@tshirtman Depends where you were in France: the August 1999 total solar eclipse passed across the north of the country. Sounds like you saw a partial eclipse though: no-one ever forgets seeing totality, a completely different proposition.
@markmccaughrean yes, I believe I was like in the center of France, and I agree, I'd probably remember 🥲. Hopefully I'll find the opportunity, I was already quite impressed by the trees shadows acting as pinhole cameras, and by impressed I mean my mind was blown, it was so surreal.
Of course, as Bob Berman’s nice article explains, there’s a wide dispersion around that average: it might only be a few years or more than a thousand, depending on your exact location.
But the fact remains that most people will never see a total solar eclipse & those who do will likely only see one. Eclipse chasers are a rare breed.
So if you do get the chance, simply watch & take it all in: others will get far better pictures than you & this is your moment to experience true cosmic awe.
@Merlyn I was wondering; Tortal I could find is a deep valley in the Austrian mountains. Not ideal for eclipse viewing, although potentially spectacular 🤪
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