I missed the SUN?

[n-trude]

OK I was in the Dr. office, taking a nuke test, on my heart.
I use the time to steal all the tongue depressors I could find.
While the nurses were out looking at no Sun....

I did see it go dark from the window, while I waited.

I told the nurse I would see the next one, not knowing when that was.
Now I find out its 7 years, on a Monday.

Where were you?

[franktiregod]

Pumping gas at a Chevron station in Covington, Ga.

Emu and several others were meeting in north Georgia and I thought about riding up until I heard the traffic reports. Then a friend called and had a plumbing leak so I went over to fix that. He and his son were still looking at it when I got there.

[Forge]

Repairing an A/C unit with my son. He goes back to school Monday and has been giving me a hand. I have an auto darkening welder's helmet that goes to shade 13 which exceeds the minimum shade 12 they said you could safely view the eclipse with. We took turns looking at it but we only got 60 or so percent coverage here in San Antonio.

[PCC]

I was at the local Lowes getting a new light fixture. Everyone was outside watching. One of the employees offered me her special glasses to see the solar eclipse.
The lights came on in the parking lot but it never really got that dark. It is amazing how much light was still there with 96% coverage.
Not all that impressed... I 've seen darker days with some of the storms here lately.

[RoadKing]

Spent the day painting fences. Didn't notice a thing about this almighty important event. Lots of shade trees out back, frequent cumulus clouds hiding the sun, plus I had no idea just when the event was to occur locally. Guess I just didn't care all that much. Besides, my pups laying contentedly nearby in the shade as I applied stain to the fence was for me sufficient to the day.

[wally w]

In the back yard sitting in a lawn chair. The eclipse here lasted about 2 minutes or so.

[BlacktopTravelr]

Stood in the yard waiting for something to happen that never did. I got a question... if the sun rises in the east and it is still dark on the west coast why did the eclipse go from the west coast towards the east? And did the moon move across the sun or did the sun move behind the moon? Which one was the faster moving of the two? [space] ;IDunno:

[jeffcoslacker]

Stood in the yard waiting for something to happen that never did. I got a question... if the sun rises in the east and it is still dark on the west coast why did the eclipse go from the west coast towards the east? And did the moon move across the sun or did the sun move behind the moon? Which one was the faster moving of the two? [space] ;IDunno:

You know if you ask too many questions like this, you'll get a visit...

[BlacktopTravelr]

All I know is if you don't know something you ask questions.

[lonerider]

Don't think an eclipse will do anything to improve my life or anyone else's, so in general just ignored this non-event.

[jeffcoslacker]

All I know is if you don't know something you ask questions.

I could explain it, but it's one of those things that for most people (including myself), hearing it described leaves you more confused than before...but once you SEE it in action, with all the moving pieces in motion relative to each other, it makes perfect sense.

Earth rotation, the Moon's rotation around Earth, and the apparent position of the Sun relative to all of it makes the eclipse shadow move in a way that doesn't seem intuitive unless you step back and get the big picture...there's a few online planetarium simulations that might have an eclipse scenario in them that show this...if I can find one I'll point you that way [emoji106]

[jeffcoslacker]

This is a great animation, but still not as stand-back and see it all as I'd like to find...because you still have to understand your position here, relative to all...you are looking down at Earth, from a fixed (geostationary) position, so you don't see Earth turning, only the shadow of night going around as the Earth spins and changes face to the Sun, which is very far away. The Moon is behind you, orbiting Earth, and you are seeing the shadow as it transits the face of the Earth while passing between the two...