The Great American Eclipse

[Guest Nicole]

 

How to get kids ready for, and excited about, the Great American Eclipse

 

You’re standing in the yard with your children. The temperature has just dropped 20 degrees, and it’s pitch dark. Not normal nighttime dark — your kids have seen that before — but completely black, as though all the light is gone from the world. Because it has.

The Great American Eclipse is coming Aug. 21. For the first time in American history, a total solar eclipse will be seen only in the United States. It is also the first total solar eclipse since 1918 to move from coast to coast. At 10:15 a.m. Pacific time, totality begins outside Depoe Bay, Ore.; at 2:49 p.m. Eastern time, it ends near McClellanville, S.C. In the time between, the eclipse will darken 12 states: Oregon, Idaho, Wyoming, Nebraska, Kansas, Missouri, Illinois, Kentucky, Tennessee, North Carolina, Georgia and South Carolina. Eighty percent of the U.S. population lives within 600 miles of the eclipse path.

In short, if you don’t live in what scientists call “the totality band,” you need to get there. The rest of North America will see a partial solar eclipse, but astronomer Jay M. Pasachoff says settling for a partial eclipse when you could see a total one is like “standing outside an opera house and saying that you have seen the opera; in both cases, you have missed the main event.” Stepping one millimeter outside totality changes everything.

Read more: https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/parenting/wp/2017/06/29/how-to-get-kids-ready-for-and-excited-about-the-great-american-eclipse/?utm_term=.ca8067a74794

[James Thomas Rook Jr.]

If you see this ... you will remember it for the REST OF YOUR LIFE!

THIS is the definitive site to do your research .. please spend several HOURS reading it ... you will thank yourself over, and over.

http://www.eclipse2017.org/2017/path_through_the_US.htm

Susan and I will be going to Cross Hill, South Carolina early Monday morning to see it .. weather permitting ... it's only about 120 miles from where we live, and it's in the exact center of the path of totality impossible not to be able to find ( a small town) ...

Because the moon is traveling in the same direction as the Earth's rotation, there will be a full 2 minutes of TOTAL solar eclipse, and more.   The lead in partial eclipse  will start about an hour before, and last about an hour after the local times listed on the maps.

Order your viewing glasses RIGHT NOW, for obvious reasons. They are about $3.00 a pair.

DO NOT take photos without a 16.5 stop rated neutral density filter in FRONT of your camera lens, as it will burn out your camera sensor.

This is the EVENT OF THE CENTURY, ... AND MORE! FOR THOSE LIVING IN THE UNITED STATES.

[Guest Nicole]

How Eclipse Chasers Are Putting a Small Kentucky Town on the Map

IAN HITCHCOCK/GETTY IMAGES

The most anticipated eclipse in American history is coming this summer. At the heart of it is Hopkinsville, Kentucky, which anticipates 100,000 visitors. Mental Floss takes a look behind the small town's preparations—and a deep dive into the passionate subculture of people who chase eclipses for a living.

Read more: http://mentalfloss.com/article/501542/how-eclipse-chasers-are-putting-small-kentucky-town-map

[James Thomas Rook Jr.]

Nichole;

THANK YOU!

The descriptions in the link are incredibly valuable.

Make sure you get your solar viewing glasses NOW!, for obvious reasons, suppliers will run out so as not to have to wait 350 years to sell any leftover solar viewing glasses.

On 6/29/2017 at 8:51 PM, James Thomas Rook Jr. said:

http://www.eclipse2017.org/2017/path_through_the_US.htm

This is where I bought mine, about $3.00 a pair

JTR

[Guest Nicole]

Thanks @James Thomas Rook Jr. 

[Guest Nicole]

 

NASA needs your help during the August eclipse

 

By observing changes in cloud cover and/or taking temperature measurements and uploading the data to GLOBE via their app, you can help NASA researchers determine exactly how cool this spectacle really is. The data you collect will be made available to researchers at NASA and beyond. You can download the free GLOBE Observer app for iOS or Android here.

If you really enjoy making observations during the eclipse, the app also offers the chance to contribute to two other projects—observing clouds and mapping mosquitohabitats.

Read more: http://www.popsci.com/nasa-eclipse-citizen-science-app

[Guest Nicole]

Solar eclipse 2017: how the solar power industry is prepping for a huge sunlight blip

The total solar eclipse passing over the United States on August 21 is going to be disruptive. Authorities are predicting huge traffic jams, strained cellphone networks, and insufficient bathrooms for the masses driving to the center of the show.

But there’s another disruption that will be brought on by the eclipse: power.

Since the last total solar eclipse passed over part of the US in 1979, we’ve grown a lot more dependent on solar to electrify our homes and businesses. According to the Solar Energy Industries Association, solar energy has grown by an average of 68 percent per year in the past decade. The country now has about 45 gigawatts of solar capacity installed, with 260,000 Americans employed in the industry.

The solar eclipse will significantly diminish that capacity for a couple of hours on August 21, especially in California and North Carolina.

“Our solar plants are going to lose over half of their ability to generate electricity during the two to two and a half hours that the eclipse will be impacting our area,” says Steven Greenlee, spokesperson for the California Independent System Operator, or CAISO, one of the largest independent grid operators in the world.

Read more: https://www.vox.com/energy-and-environment/2017/8/9/16089636/solar-eclipse-2017-solar-energy

[James Thomas Rook Jr.]

That is why we have an Electrical GRID!

They will not be able to sell THEIR generated  power, but the power will be made up from the rest of the non-solar powered grid ( gas, oil, coal, nuclear, hydroelectric, wind ..) as far as the consumer goes.

THINK ABOUT IT!  The greatest use of power is at NIGHT (depending on season and location ...).

How much solar power is available at NIGHT?

ZERO.

The article is interesting ... but it is NOT NEWS.

[James Thomas Rook Jr.]

Closed Bethel Branch?  Where?

.... and WHY?

[Guest Nicole]

Counterfeit eclipse-viewing glasses are a thing, and they will ruin your retinas

If you bought your solar eclipse viewing glasses minutes after booking your eclipse-viewing yurt in advance of the celestial event coming to the U.S. on August 21, you may want to check the label. Some unsavory manufacturers have been flooding the market with glasses that don’t necessarily meet the minimum safety standards. Since staring at the sun during an eclipse (or ever, really) can result in severe eye damage or blindness, this is kind of a big deal, which is why Amazon said on Sunday that it is offering refunds to anyone who bought glasses on Amazon that “may not comply with industry standards.” The e-commerce giant has also removed a few listings for glasses on its website “out of an abundance of caution,” per Oregon’s KGW news.

While Amazon did not name any of those listings in its statement, NASA and the American Astronomical Society (AAS) only recognize five manufacturers as meeting ISO standards: Rainbow Symphony, American Paper Optics, Thousand Oaks Optical, TSE 17, and Baader Planetarium. Since total solar eclipses in the U.S. are rare, manufacturers are apparently trying to clear their stockpiles of fake eclipse-viewing glasses now. AAS says there are a lot fake products flooding the market and has warned that some manufacturers are going so far as to purposefully falsify safety labels and supposed test results.ML

https://www.fastcompany.com/40453135/counterfeit-eclipse-viewing-glasses-are-a-thing-and-they-will-ruin-your-retinas

[Guest]

 

[Guest Nicole]