I’m sitting in a dark hotel room on the eve of my first - and possibly only - total solar eclipse, with my partner and step-son, and I am positively awash with emotions.
I have been waiting for this day for 30 years, since my first partial eclipse in May of 1994. That was an underwhelming experience for many reasons, but not the least of them was that I had nothing and no one to view the eclipse with.
Three decades, two astronomy degrees, 5 years operating a planetarium, and 5 years as a guide at the local observatory later, and I’m fully prepared. Today, I have more viewing glasses than i have fingers, two cameras with filters, I have my family, and I am smack dab in the middle of the path of totality.
And the forecast calls for clear skies.
I can’t believe it. I can’t believe that this is actually happening for me. That everything looks like it’s going to work out.
The only disappointment is that I discovered that Potato World exists - it’s the New Brunswick potato museum (and it’s next door to my hotel) - but it’s closed!
Hello from someone who lives in New brunswick! Small world
You’ve had Potato World all this time, and you didn’t share it with your neighbours??!?
I honestly had no idea, I figured potato world is just what we called Pei
I feel like no one else in the comments cares. I’m so VERY interested in Potato World.
I mean, not as much as in the eclipse, but still VERY interested.
Right??!?
And it’s a pretty big place, all things considered. But it’s seemingly only open from September to mid-October.
That seems like a reasonably potato filled kind of time down here in Canada
“camped” out in Quebec, my son speaks better French than me and has corrected me all weekend, but we’ll see whose in charge when I poke him in the eyes two seconds before totality… Or squeal like a school girl as it approaches, we’ll see which happens!
I’m camping in the middle of nowhere southeast Oklahoma, praying this cloud cover lifts in time
So, apparently Potato World is actually open today, unannounced. So, just this once,
everybody livesI really can have it allFalse alarm. They just have an inflatable planetarium set up inside. No potato displays at all :(
This was a roller coaster of emotions! I had to look up Potato World after that and saw Col. Chris Hadfield is giving a speech nearby this evening
He is! Though I’m not sure how anyone has anything left in the tank after the eclipse for a talk, even from him
I’m going to skip it. I don’t want to risk buying an counterfeit eclipse glasses and blinding myself 😬
You don’t need glasses during totality, if you happen to be in its path. If you’re not, actully looking at the sun is the least interesting part of a pretty eh event, anyway.
I was camping for the last eclipse. Didn’t make it north enough for totality, but fairly close. Seeing the little wedge of sun filtered and projected hundreds of times through the trees was pretty awesome- and in a way more interesting than looking at directly with the special glasses.
Even if you don’t look up , try to go out and enjoy it.
That’s how I viewed 2017! Went outside on my lunch break to watch the bananas on the sidewalk while everyone around me went about seemingly totally unaware of what was going on right above and below them
I happened to be able to see the 2017 one and it was so impactful I saved the date and made sure I’d make it happen. Cut forward 7 years and here I am with most of my immediate family (I have 6 siblings so having most is impressive).
It is an experience that can’t be captured by any form of digital or physical media and my only way to describe it is - it’s the closest thing to magic I’ve ever experienced.
I plan on saving up and going overseas for one as well.
Hope you got a good view!
My wife only went because I was hellbent on seeing the eclipse at totality (we saw the last October’s eclipse and 2017 both from around 90% coverage). Afterwards she said “the Grand canyon ain’t got shit on a solar eclipse” and we are both still in shock for how amazing of an experience it was.
The wonky colors as day slowly turned to night, the sudden whooshing shadow as totality began, the burning ring of fire in the sky then the light whooshing back as totality ended, the cacophony of yelps by folks too slow to put their eclipse glasses back on. It was a hell of an experience
I’m in a similar boat. Flew across the country because after “missing” 2017s I immediately felt regret. Now I’m debating Europe in 2026.
But the colors. Can someone who understands this stuff please explain to me why a simple reduction in light in the lead up to (and following) totality makes all the colors seem “wrong”?
Ot depends on which colours you mean.
So, How was it? Did it live up to your expectations? Did you get any good pictures?
Pictures turned out ok! I should have done a dry run for my totality setup, as I wanted to do some bracketed exposures and assumed my DSLR would let me do that the same way in live display mode as it does in optical viewfinder mode, and it… didn’t. But the pictures I did get are a reasonable, if insufficient facsimile of the experience.
As for the real deal… I’ll have to update everyone once I’ve processed it. It was clear as crystal, and a perfect day. I was totally unprepared in every way that mattered. I don’t yet have words.
Sounds like it was enjoyable. My son’s mother took him out of school and drove them 2.5 hours to go see it in totality.
That seems like a lot of work for potato world.
Hopefully that works. Enjoy the eclipse!
Dude! I saw the eclipse from Bouctouche and my God it was incredible. Please let us know what you thought!!
I am giddy-happy for you!
I’m glad you have someone with you to share in the event. It is going to be such a special day!
Unrelated, but I just wanted to say that rotating Mars icon for the channel looks pretty slick.
Store the memory of this wonderful milestone in your life where you can reflect on a life well spent and be embedded in the feeling of belonging to a loving family. That shit is GOLD and will protect your mental health like a Patronus Charm from Harry Potter.
Just remember the one important rule about potatos.
Keep your hand really flat when you feed them?
