In article <
ag0lr7h5522dmgmlb...@4ax.com>, M C Hamster
<
davo...@nospam-speakeasy.net> wrote:
>I expected to see some reports on viewing the eclipse here, but none
>have been posted. Does this mean all our observers went blind?
>
>It was cloudy at sunset in Chicago, so there was nothing to see.
As I mentioned, I traveled to see the annularity of the eclipse. A non
annular eclipse would have been visible in SoCal, but I don't think I've
seen a solar eclipse before.
We left Sunday morning at ~6am, traveled up I-15 out of California,
through Nevada, Arizona and into Utah to the town of St. George. A nifty
little town which is near several national parks and the Grand Canyon. We
had planned on pressing on to a location closer to the centerline, but
happenstance had us stay in St. George. We had stopped for a break and
something to drink at a Jack-in-the-Box and got to talking with some
locals. They told us the US Park Service was having an event close by and
there would be glasses and telescopes available for use. The trip from
home to St. George was 7-8 hrs.
After a bit of wandering, we found the location near the top of a hill,
and lined up. They let us in shortly before 5:30 pm, gave us our glasses,
and we staked out a spot at one of the balconies. We neededn't have
worried since there was plenty of room.
The notice board said the eclipse would start at 5:58 pm. When it didn't,
a ranger explained that, well, math was involved and perhaps the
calculations weren't as good as they expected. It began about 6:20 and
lasted for about two hours. I was lucky and was at a telescope at
annularity. Previously I had viewed the sun and saw sunspots. There
weren't very many 3-6 maybe.
I couldn't use my camera to photograph the eclipse directly but took
photos of the landscape before and during the eclipse and I'll see how
they turn out.
It was a great experience. I'm not sure I'll become an eclipse chaser, but
I would like to see a total eclipse, just to make sure I see one. 2017
isn't that far away.
--
charles