Eclipse 2017 Notes

So … On Monday August 21, 2017, there’s going to be a really cool event - a total solar eclipse. Here are some notes:

TL;DR

If you can at all do it, plan for and travel to see the totality of the solar eclipse instead of being content to see a partial eclipse.
Read more below and plan ahead - don’t plan to wing it the day of.
If you can’t travel to see the totality of a solar eclipse, you’ll likely still see a partial eclipse almost anywhere in the country, which’ll still be really cool and is also worth planning for. Read more below.

Testimonials On Why Seeing A Total Solar Eclipse Is Amazing

Really - trust me: read and listen to these.

The splendor of totality - Great American Eclipse
What’s so awe-inspiring about solar eclipses, in one paragraph - Vox
The Total Eclipse Of 1878 - NPR
America’s greatest eclipse is coming, and this man wants you to see it - Washington Post
I watched a total eclipse of the sun. You don’t want to miss the next one. - Washington Post

Map Resources

Notable Resources

Major Hubs of Information

NASA
American Astronomical Society
Eclipse2017.org (This one’s my favorite - I basically recommend reading every page of it.)
GreatAmericanEclipse.com
NationalEclipse.com

Assorted Notes

Remember that for roughly an hour before and after the total eclipse, there will be a partial eclipse occuring that’ll be really cool to see. You can use this tool and this map to find out what the start and finish times will be.
Consider taking children out of school to experience this. Many schools will understandably choose to keep them indoors intentionally in order to avoid any liabiity on their part and given how rare and wonderful of an event this is, if you can help them to experience it safely, do!
In general, don’t bother too much trying to take pictures of the sun - it’s hard to do well, distracts you from enjoying the moment, and there’ll be tons of other professional photography taken that you can point to afterwards anyways. If you want to try though, here’s some articles.
The total eclipse will begin in Oregon at about 10:15AM PT/1:15PM ET. The 70-mile wide total shadow will then travel at ~2,000 miles per hour (~32 miles per minute) across the country before exiting South Carolina at about 11:50AM PT/2:50PM ET. Areas right in the middle of the totality will get about 2 1/2 minutes of straight up nighttime. The national event will last about an hour and a half and there’ll be plenty of live streams and tv coverage of it if you’re stuck indoors or suffer the cruel fate of cloud cover.
There is something crazy cool that sometimes happens on the ground around you before and after totality, called ‘Shadow Bands (a.k.a Shadow Snakes)’.
Here’s some counsel if you don’t take my advice to plan ahead and just decide to wing it day of instead.
Remember that everywhere that is getting press about a viewing event will potentially be a crazy mess of people on the day of. Consider going to other places without events if you can find a passable spot. This’ll be like viewing your city’s fireworks - there’s a bunch of places you can watch it from and have a good time.
Be patient, avoid road rage, and have in mind a willingness to pull off the road and enjoy the eclipse at a place you didn’t plan for. That said, if you’re on the side of a road: pull well off, always beware passing traffic, and stay well away from the road.
Not just during the totality, but really throughout the entire eclipse, beware of distracted driving by other people who are not paying attention to the road because they are craning their neck to see the moon going in front of the sun.
In addition to planning to arrive way early, it’s also worth giving extra time after the eclipse before getting back on the road in order to give traffic time to die down. There’s a lot of roads that weren’t made for the traffic that’ll be on them for this event.

What I’ll Be Doing To Plan Ahead For It

Review local weather forecasts a few days in advance, and then daily until the morning of - all with an eye of trying to avoid cloud cover.
Check the make of my eclipse glasses to guard against their being fakes.
Plan out day and plan to get on the road very early.
Bring food and otherwise plan to bring lunch with me.
Download the area I’m in on Google Maps in advance in case of poor reception or overloaded cell signals.
Consider local viewing events as candidates for where to watch from and also consider backup locations in case of cloud cover.
Using this tool by Vox to see what the peak time for the eclipse will be and when the partial eclipse will start/finish where I’m at.
A few days before, search the websites of local newspapers for coverage and google local city names and the word eclipse to get a sense of what’s happening in the area.

Clouds

Needless to say, clouds are the enemy on August 21.
Here’s a good overview of the threat.
There’s a number of resources for trying to predict cloud cover using historical data.
The Capital Weather Gang has even made ‘A way-too-early solar eclipse weather forecast as of Aug. 3, 2017’.
But really, your best bet is going to be to study weather forecasts in the days leading up to Aug. 21, have the means of driving a good ways towards clear skies if you need, coming up with backup locations, being flexible, and then just plain wishing for the best and being zen about it if you have bad luck.
Note though that if you’re in the path of totality - even if it’s cloudy, you’ll still be able to have a cool and strange experience because it’ll still turn to night where you are.

If You Can’t Travel To See The Total Eclipse

Here’s a quick preview of how much of an eclipse you’ll get
Use this tool by Vox to find out how much of the sun will be blocked where you are at, what the peak time for the eclipse will be and when the partial eclipse will start/finish where you are at.
Use this map by NASA to click on where you’ll be and to find out start times, peak times, end times, and more.
Find NASA-registered eclipse viewing events near you.

Local Resources

Check out each of the resources in the previous section to find out information specific to your area.
Search the websites of local newspapers for coverage and google local city names and the word eclipse to get a sense of what’s happening near you.
Huntsville
- The eclipse will start at 12:00pm; peak at 1:30pm, when the moon obscures 96.9% of the sun; and end at 2:57pm.
- News coverage on al.com
Columbus
- The eclipse will start at 1:04pm; peak at 2:30pm, when the moon obscures 86.2% of the sun; and end at 3:52pm.
- News coverage by the Columbus Dispatch
San Francisco
- The eclipse will start at 9:02am; peak at 10:15am, when the moon obscures 75.6% of the sun; and end at 11:37am.
- News coverage by the San Francisco Gate
DC
- The eclipse will start at 1:18pm; peak at 2:42pm, when the moon obscures 81% of the sun; and end at 4:02pm.
- Check out this solid Q&A from the Washington Post

But Wait - Hasn’t This Happened A Bunch Before?

Nope. If you haven’t traveled overseas for it, whatever you’re remembering was likely a partial solar eclipse, which they say is not at all the same thing.

Visualization of the 10 total solar eclipses in the continental US over the past 100 years and the 8 coming up over the next 100 years
Here’s a tool that will show you all of the ones that have and will take place in your lifetime if you live to be 100.
That said, the next one will be kinda soon-ish. In 2024, another total eclipse will travel from Texas up through the Midwest and depart by way of New England.

Eye Safety

There are many ways to enjoy and experience a solar eclipse safely. One just needs to be aware.
At any stage other than when the sun is completely, 100% blocked by the moon, you need eclipse glasses to straight at the sun. Sunglasses will never do, even if it feels like they work well enough.
With sunglasses or as the sun becomes mostly blocked, it may feel less intense to look at the sun and seem like it’s not doing you any harm, but you’d be wrong - it will be. Even a mostly obscured sun should still not be looked at without eclipse glasses.
Here’s wirecutter’s review of the best solar eclipse glasses and filters. Note though that, in part due to their recommendation, some of these are selling out and won’t arrive at your house in time. I bought their recommended 2x viewers from REI a couple weeks ago with an expected shipping time of 6 days, and later realized that they on backorder and mine would ship after I’d already left town. The article is still a great overview of the topic though if you want a good read anyway.
No matter who you order from, watch out for 2 things: shipping time/availability but also: fakes or knock-offs.
If you’ve already gotten some eclipse glasses, check them - they should say ‘ISO 12312-2’ on them, but note that that can be faked, too. Your best bet is to order from a reliable source and/or to buy one of these vetted brands.
Once you’ve got them, here’s a great way to vet that they are legit: “When you look through them, you shouldn’t be able to see anything but the sun. Not the lights in your house, not headlights on the street. Nothing but the sun.”
Still need glasses and can’t find any online that you trust? Check with your local library. Thousands of libraries nationwide are handing them out for free.

Thoughts, questions?

As you may have been able to tell, I’m pretty enthused about this. Feel free to hit me up if you have questions, want to think through possible plans you’re forming, or just want to hear me wax poetic about this topic some more.