Naked Eye Eclipse Notes

[helicon]

Around 8:45 AM PDT I noticed that the annular eclipse was scheduled to start at 9:13 and continue until 9:25 am.

Since the sky was partly overcast and the sun was directly behind the house in the Eastern sky behind some tall fir trees I knew getting out the scope and filter would not yield any results.

So what I did was prepare prior to 9:13 by looking up the sweet spot of the eclipse path online. I saw that the center of the annular phenomenon was expected to pass near Portland Oregon. In my forested location just south of the Canadian border I wasn't sure how much would be visible being several hundred miles to the North.

Starting at 9:12 I stepped out on the south facing deck and looked at the sunlight shining on Galbraith mountain which is just South of the Valley. The peak and the slopes were illuminated by the rising sun in its typical golden color shining off the green trees.

I watched the time on my phone and at 9:13 suddenly the sunlight began to fade and the mountain appeared darker. Fast forward a couple of minutes and the sun now was only reaching the tip of the peak and no longer shining on the slopes. A cool breeze seemed to stir, and a shadow progressed down the mountain which moved quickly enough to be noticeable. For a couple of minutes nothing appeared to happen except for the sensation of shadow. Then suddenly the sunlight returned to the top of the mountain and progressed down the slope. The eclipse was over.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Galbraith_Mountain

Anyway, it was a cool naked eyed eye view of the eclipse's effects! And good practice for next year!

[messier 111]

nice report Michael , you get my vote for vrod , thx .

[Ylem]

Very nice Michael, eclipses are indeed magical, I remember years ago seeing one on the ground in the shadows of tree leaves

[Bigzmey]

Too bad conditions did not cooperate, but you made most of it Michael.

[helicon]

Too bad conditions did not cooperate, but you made most of it Michael.

Indirect view of the eclipse, sort of. I probably should have run down to the marina and set up a scope, no trees down there.

[Mike Q]

We were completely clouded over Saturday so we didnt bother with it. Not sure what time it was happening here in Ohio but it seemed to get darker around 1215pm or so. Oh well biggie. Now next year, the eclipse will literally almost pass directly over my house, but this being Ohio, well we will have 100 percent cloud cover.

[kt4hx]

You did at least get to see more than we did here. We had rain all day, so we watched it with our grandson on and off on the Weather Channel, while working a jigsaw puzzle with him.

Agree with Jeff that there is something surreal and magical about the light during an eclipse. We have never seen shadows like the ones we saw during the total eclipse in 2017, and hope (weather permitting) to see that again when we go back to Indiana in April for the next total. It is a truly unique phenomena and one that I wish everyone could witness.

[Mike Q]

Same here. Rain on and off all day. There really wasnt anything to see. You just noticed that for a little while it was darker.