Possibly controversial opinion: fireworks are a completely unnecessary distraction during a #TotalSolarEclipse. A total eclipse is only a short number of minutes long. The eclipse, solar corona, daytime stars & twilight are the experience. Look! 👀😎 #SolarEclipse2024#astronomy
As April 8 #TotalSolarEclipse approaches, there's literally a day & night difference between 100% eclipse "totality", and 99% eclipse which is a million times brighter. The term totality is 100% eclipse. You can use percent for eclipse, not totality. #SolarEclipse2024#astronomy
"Eclipse Coolness" by @XKCD comic - Even in 99% eclipse, it's daylight. At totality, it's suddenly twilight. The planets and stars come out. The Sun's corona is visible without a filter, beyond what #photography can capture. https://xkcd.com/2914/#SolarEclipse2024#astronomy
"Eclipse Clouds" by @XKCD comic - The #weather can very much control what kind of #eclipse you see. The comic suggests if you get clouded out, positive spin calls it a multi-layer eclipse with more than one thing blocking the sun.🤔 https://xkcd.com/2915/#Eclipse2024#astronomy
If you can't get to the path of totality for Monday's #TotalSolarEclipse, there will be a partial eclipse across North America. (graphic by Fred Espenak made before he retired from NASA) Do not look at the sun.😎 Even if you don't have eclipse glasses, either make an eclipse projector or find bits of sunlight in the shadow of a tree, which project images of the eclipse. #Eclipse2024#astronomy
I have arrived in the path of totality for #SolarEclipse2024 in Mesquite, Texas. Now the #eclipse will come to me.
Already some fun as I was interviewed by Marcia Dunn, Aerospace writer at AP. #astronomy
I arrived for #SolarEclipse2024 around noon. All afternoon I've seen traffic slowing down, probably happening to some degree everywhere along Monday's path of totality. Highway signs in Texas say:
Solar eclipse Monday
delays possible
arrive early
stay put
leave late
@AstroHawk our strategy is to find a viewing spot near a thriving restaurant and bar zone and then retire for a beverage after the event, and get back 'home' via the metro.
I'm at the Totality Dallas festival in Mesquite, Texas. Currently watching presentation by Alysha Shugart of the Rubin Observatory on "Eclipse Soundscapes", sounds to expect during an eclipse and effects on people & animals. #SolarEclipse2024#astronomy
Previously overcast skies are breaking to partly cloudy at Totality Dallas in Mesquite TX. Hoping for a view of totality over an hour from now. Partial #eclipse has begun here. #weather#SolarEclipse2024#astronomy
Some reporting about total solar eclipses is a bit misleading. It's correct there won't be another total eclipse in Dallas for 300 years, or continental US for 20 years. But eclipses happen somewhere in the world every 6 months. #travel#SolarEclipse2024#astronomy
Many used historical climate data to plan where to watch #SolarEclipse2024, since reservations would be gone months before #weather forecasts were in range. That's why so many went to Texas. Actual weather turned out backwards from expectations, better northeast. #astronomy
I heard from some people, and apparently this was a widespread problem, that their AirB&B reservations were cancelled by the hosts and re-listed for over $1000/night on other services. Some didn't find any new accommodations in the path of totality. #SolarEclipse2024#astronomy
Some pics from my visit to #NASA Johnson Space Center in Houston. Almost everyone I met there was also visiting as a next stop after wherever they went to see #SolarEclipse2024 . #space
One more #space related landmark as last stop before leaving Texas on my #SolarEclipse2024 trip... I made my second visit to the Sierra Madera impact crater. It's 8mi/13km across. If you look up the Wikipedia page, it has a picture from my first time there. #astronomy#geology
Continuing to visit #space related landmarks on the way home from #SolarEclipse2024, I saw the US🇺🇸 National Science Foundation's Very Large Array (VLA)🔭 in Socorro County, New Mexico. 27 radio antennas use interferometry to act like a big dish the width of the array. #astronomy
Arizona's Meteor Crater, also known as Barringer Crater, was the final planned #space related landmark on my #SolarEclipse2024 trip. It was the world's first scientifically confirmed impact site, instrumental in developing the science for later ones. #astronomy#geology
Looking forward to #SolarEclipse2026 (Arctic, Greenland, Iceland, Atlantic & Spain), it will coincide with the annual #Perseids2026 meteor shower peak. Some lucky observers may see up to a few meteors during 2 minutes of totality. Map by EclipseWise/Fred Espenak. #astronomy#space#travel
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