Getting ready for "The Great American Eclipse"

[Alex]

I got a pair of "eclipse glasses" from my optometrist.
Now it's time to compile my Total Eclipse mix!

I'll probably take a track from this album...




If you won't be somewhere on the North American continent on Monday the 21st 2017 you can still watch the entire solar eclipse on Space.com

The eclipse begins on the U.S. West Coast at 9:05 a.m. PDT (12:05 p.m. EDT/1605 GMT) and ends on the East Coast at 4:09 p.m. EDT (2009 GMT).

More info here.

[Alex]

Hi everyone.  At 24 hours before the Solar Eclipse reaches totality here on the West Coast of North America I stepped outside and tested out my eclipse glasses... and it was absolutely incredible to be able to look directly at the sun and not go blind!

BUT...  I then tried holding my binoculars OVER the eclipse UV filter glasses and immediately realized that this was a BAD IDEA.  I only looked for a few seconds because it felt like I was microwaving my eyeballs.

Looked it up online and I was right.  

"If solar filters are placed on the eyepiece end of binoculars or a telescope, the instrument's magnification will burn a hole through the filter and render it useless. Consider the example of an inexpensive 2-inch-diameter magnifying glass focusing sunlight to a 1-millimeter point on a piece of paper. Within seconds, the paper starts smoking and catches fire or else a hole is burned through the paper."   ~ source

I can still see, but I insist that anyone thinking of doing what I just tried veers off that dangerous path and just looks through the UV glasses alone.


Or just watch one of the many LIVE streams that will be everywhere on the web.  This one looks like it'll be cool because it'll be streaming from Madras, Oregon where the eclipse first touches the U.S. continent at 9:05 a.m. PDT (12:05 p.m. EDT/1605 GMT).

So enjoy the cosmic display but PLEASE practice safe viewing!
~A

[Alex]

It's cloudy overhead so I'm watching the eclipse online.

Here are two feeds that I'm switching to and from:

https://www.space.com/33797-total-solar-eclipse-2017-guide.html

https://live.slooh.com/shows/situation-room

[Lamkin]

Hey Alex. I hope your eyes are okay. :/

It was so overcast where I was but I eventually did get to see a part of the eclipse—not as much as I could have at the optimal time, but still was pretty cool...used correct eyewear, of course, and that still made me a little nervous...so I only looked for a few seconds so that I could say that I'd seen it. :p

[Alex]

Hi Lamkin,

Thanks, yeah, so far my eyes are okay…     :~)

What a truly awe inspiring experience this was!
So glad you got to see some of the eclipse directly with your own eyes, and also glad that you took care to limit your exposure. 



And for those of you who were not in North America today, this is what the eclipse looked like from here.

^^-)

[Alex]

<"Eclipse Across America" video made by Celestron (maker of telescopes ;~)