Eclipse

I'll probably watch it on the Weather Channel.

It's pretty weird that the sun and the moon are EXACTLY the same size in the sky.  Ever think about how unlikely that is?

NASA wrote:

Eclipses occur due to the special coincidence of the moon and the Sun being the same angular size. The Sun is 400 times wider than the moon, but it is also 400 times farther away, so they coincidentally appear to be the same size in our sky. This is what allows us the phenomenal beauty of the total solar eclipse.

My daughter, who works for an optometrist, brought over some eclipse glasses last night. We can see the occlusion and follow its progress. Already about 45%.

Well it got eerily dark, but at 92% it never went pitch black. Noticeably colder too.

On TV the darkness at Madras OR and Jackson Hole WY are a lot more impressive.

It was only 76% coverage here. Unless you count the clouds, which made the whole event 100% concealed. The sun did break through for a minute or two at about the peak, but there was no darkening or temperature change. Pretty much a non-event.

One of my wife's employees drove up to Corvalis, where it was supposed to be 100% eclipsed. Hope he didn't get the same crappy weather we did here.

NoCoPilot wrote:

It's pretty weird that the sun and the moon are EXACTLY the same size in the sky.  Ever think about how unlikely that is?

it's only temporary and it's not unlikely at all. The moon formed about 14,000 miles from Earth and has been slowly moving away ever since; so it had to be at this distance at some point. Imagine what a solar eclipse was like when the moon was only one tenth as far from Earth.

_Howard wrote:

It was only 76% coverage here. Unless you count the clouds, which made the whole event 100% concealed. The sun did break through for a minute or two at about the peak, but there was no darkening or temperature change. Pretty much a non-event.

Max here was 71%, but similarly there were clouds about and it turned into a nothing-burger.

Today's eclipse will be a non-event here in the PNW. Not to mention the clouds. But you Richard should see pretty much a total, eh?

I can't believe the news coverage this thing is getting.  Trump must be pissed.

I realize I haven't said anything. Our coverage was about 90%, I believe, and there was noticeable dimming, but nowhere near what totality brings.

Talking to people afterwards, there seem to be two clear camps. Many people seem to think it was the greatest thing ever. A sizeable minority were more "meh. What's all the fuss about?". I confess, I fall into the second category. I can understand primitive societies being all agog. But now we know about the motion of celestial bodies, and exactly what's happening during an eclipse, so what is there to get excited about?

Of course, doctors are reporting a surge in patients reporting eye problems after the eclipse, so maybe I'm underestimating just how stupid most people are.