Have you started making plans?
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About 10 years ago a couple of threads were started on the AO for the 2017 and 2024 solar eclipses.
Because I’m a bit of an ass online, I started a thread for the August 12 2045 eclipse…and I put a reminder on my calendar to bump the thread every five years.
Since the reminder just fired, but there is no AO thread to bump…
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I saw an eclipse when i was a kid, and one a year or two ago. I dont care if i see another one. Maybe thats just me?
By 2045 it’ll be the 3rd version of the AO
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So, for the 2017 eclipse which was a little over a year after my mom had passed…her grave site was in the path of totality. I had planned to take my father and my wife to the grave site, to check out the installed headstone (which we hadn’t seen person), and watch the eclipse from there.
But my father’s cardiologist scheduled him a heart catheterization the week before, so the eclipse trip was canceled so that I could be with him around/after the procedure.
For last year’s eclipse, I had similar plans (the cemetery is in southern Illinois, in the path of totality for both eclipses), although with the variation that my father passed during the pandemic, had his remains interred next to my mom’s, and I haven’t seen his grave stone in person.
However, my wife was still recovering from her stroke, and my brother-in-law was seriously ill, so we canceled the trip given the risk that we might need to go spend an extended period of time with my wife’s family (which we did a couple of weeks later).
So, I still haven’t had the experience of seeing a total solar eclipse.
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That’s somewhat fair. I saw the one in 2017 from my house. For 2024, I could have driven a couple hours to see it and would have gone if my SO or friends were willing to make a day of it, but there wasn’t much interest.
2017 was an unforgettable experience for me and seeing another one will fall short of that. I’d be willing to go see another and ill be retired in 2045 (and hopefully healthy) so I’d pencil it in but be ok if it didn’t happen.
Yeah, that’s a pretty good reason.
Looks like maximum arc is around Redding. They have a good brewery there.
Perhaps if all of the forests around there are finally burnt to ash, there won’t be a fire smoking up the sky in 20 years. But only about two minutes worth.
Longer durations are in The Deep South, and I don’t think anything will have changed by then, so no thanks. six minutes versus two, though…
This one is close enough to me that I will definitely make it if I’m able. I’ll put it on my calendar.
Besides the cultural/political considerations, there’s the simple fact that the heat and humidity in the deep south in August is bloody unpleasant.
Don’t second guess this, it is absolutely a must-see-before-you-die event in my opinion. It was literally jaw-dropping, and evoked an emotion of wonder in me I haven’t felt since I was a child. I feel like I’m really underselling it with I’ve written so far.. I can go as far as saying it was the most incredible natural phenomenon I’ve witnessed in my entire life. I couldn’t stop talking about it for weeks, and I immediately understood why ancient civilizations were–for the lack of better phrase–scared shitless of what they were seeing and thought it was god.
I will definitely take the time to go see another one, and provided the weather holds up, it’s hard to imagine it not being as awe-inspiring as the first. Seriously, if you have any interest whatsoever in astronomy, nature, or beauty, it’s 100% worth putting in the effort to see it.
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“You know that bright thing in the night sky? It’s never around when this happens. Always happens right after the moon is at its thinnest when it is thinning and right before it’s at its thinnest but getting fatter. That’s it, The Moon is eating the sun!”
Now that we can determine when eclipses were in the past, we should be able match those dates (years) to some sudden change in societies under those eclipses. I mean, these things are pretty effing rare for a single spot on Earth once, let alone several in a short time period (Southern Illinois being one of those rare double-spots).
Lunar eclipses I could see being more frequent, but the more times it’s seen, the more likely even the early civilization idiots would notice that the moon always returns afterward.
And, I agree wholeheartedly on seeing one, even if it takes a 1000-mile journey (as I did to bum-fuck Oregon in 2017 – still have the pics on my phone) to do it.
I have seen it. Twice.
I don’t feel any pressure to see it a third time.
Totality, or partial?
I completely misread your original comment, so apologies and I can see that my response made little sense in that context.
But in any case, that’s how I feel for anyone else that’s never seen totality.
I feel much the same. Both times I had excellent weather, and near perfect days with my family. This one will be a lot shorter trip, and even if they have to haul my butt from the nursing home, I’m going. If the next 20 years go well, I plan on throwing a party for it. Check back for more details!
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Potacular at Steve’s. 
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The path travels through Disney World
Somebody is going to go into Space Mountain in the light, ride the roller coaster in the dark, and then exit the building and it will be dark out. Far out.
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