Monday, August 21, 2017

Total Eclipse of the Sun . . .

August 21, 2017

Eclipse Day!

No human action can disrupt the incessant dance of the cosmos, and the Moon's shadow will not wait on you if you're not ready. Like a mindless juggernaut, it plows its way through space toward a collision course with Earth. As predicted by the astronomers decades in advance, the shadow arrives with perfect accuracy, and touches down in the north Pacific Ocean at 16:48:33 UT*, at local sunrise. (At that spot, the Sun will actually rise while totally eclipsed. This is a sight few people - even veteran eclipse chasers - have seen, and from what we hear, it is quite uncanny.) 

A minute later, the entire shadow (the "umbral cone") will have made landfall - er, ocean-fall - and will be racing across the surface of the water at supersonic speed. Except for folks on ships at sea, and the occasional ocean-dwelling critter who dares to venture too near the surface, nothing sentient will note the passing of the umbra - until land gets in the way.

OREGON

And that land will be United States soil. On the beach in Oregon, at a rocky spot of ground just north of Newport that sticks its nose out into the Pacific, the shadow first touches land at 17:15:50.6UT (at about 10:15 in the morning). This lucky piece of Earth experiences a full minute and fifty seconds of totality.

The actual centerline of the eclipse path hits solid ground a full six seconds later, and plunges Lincoln Beach and Depoe Bay into darkness for 1m58s!

It takes only about two minutes for the shadow to race eastward toward its first date with a large population of folks who will be breathlessly awaiting its arrival. DallasAlbanyCorvallisLebanonPhilomathMcMinnvilleWoodburn, and yes, Salem itself, experience various durations of totality (based on their varying distances from the centerline); on the steps of the State Capitol in Salem (the first of five state capitals the shadow will visit), lucky viewers will be treated to 1m54.5s of shadow at just after 10:17am. (Great time for a coffee break!)

The great city of Portland is NOT in the path of totality!  If you're there, or in Eugene, you will not get the full meal deal! Folks in Portland need to move south, and get into the shadow! That's right: IF YOU STAY IN PORTLAND, the eclipse will never be total for you! You will need to use your eclipse glasses for the entire partial eclipse, and you will not see the beauty of totality! (In Eugene, you need to head north!)

The eclipse then leaves our most western friends, and travels through the forests and deserts of central Oregon, hitting the mountains atMadras and Warm Springs at about 10:19. Mitchell and Prairie City are next, and the shadow leaves Oregon just north of Ontario. (Actually, Ontario gets 1m23s of totality at 11:25am MDT, but folks there would be better served to head north to the rest area north of Huntington on I-84, or into Idaho on US95 between Midvale and Weiser, for better than 30 seconds more totality! Soak them up; those seconds in the shadow are precious!!!)
Thank you to Eclipse2017.org for this information!!

Here is another total eclipse you might remember!!

1 comment:

Janet O. said...

Had over two minutes of totality in Ririe, ID, and loved every second of it!
Our daughter in Eugene went with family and friends to Salem and was thrilled to experience it. Our oldest son and some friends drove into Wyoming and were awed by it. Definitely something I will remember! Another friend just drove up to Shelley, Idaho and was happy to get a full minute of totality, and make all of her neighbors wish they had gone. :)