Weather
On Monday, August 21st, North America will see a solar eclipse where the moon will partially cover the sun for two to three hours.
If you are in the 70 mile wide path between Oregon and South Carolina towards the center of this time frame, you will experience a total eclipse and watch the sun completely vanish behind the moon for an estimated 2 minutes and 40 seconds.
Also this thing will go right through Jackson Hole, WY.
During the total eclipse, only the outer atmosphere of the sun, called the corona, will be visible, along with effects like solar flares.
Bang, day fades to night and back again. In two minutes. This will be worth the drive if you are anywhere nearby. And don’t stare at the sun for too long, please.
PS- get your solar eclipse merchandise (?) now from Solar Eclipse.
Nice to see the total solar eclipse mentioned here. It is a very big deal because it is the first in the Continental US since 1979. There are 13 of them every 18 years but most of them are in quite inconvenient locations. This will be my 11th and I met my partner Liz (will be here 9th) on the Solar Eclipse Mailing List in connection with the July 2010 eclipse in the South Pacific. We were the only ones skiing after that eclipse but she was in Chile and I was in New Zealand. We will be viewing this one from the top of the tram at Jackson Hole.
The solar corona during totality (max 2 minutes 40 seconds in Kentucky, 2 minutes 21 seconds at Jackson) is about the brightness of a full moon and should be viewed naked eye including with binoculars. Your surroundings are typically about as dark as 45 minutes after sunset. During the partial phases when any part of the sun’s photosphere is visible you must use solar viewers to look at the Sun.
The key is that you MUST BE WITHIN the ~70 MILE WIDE PATH OF TOTALITY to see the solar corona and other rare effects like red solar flares, etc. A 99% eclipse is still 4,000 times brighter than totality and not that exciting. Almost seeing a total eclipse is like almost winning the lottery.
Wow! What a great story! Send us a picture of you two on top of Jackson Hole with your story! And… HAVE A BLAST!!