Solar Eclipse

[Jer]

That. Was. Incredible!

For those that weren't in the path of totality (read: 98% 99% etc.) you missed out. When there's a total eclipse for those 1-2min you can take your glasses off and look right at it and it was spectacular. If all I saw was the part right before that through my glasses I'd think "meh" too. The total eclipse was awesome though. One of the coolest things I've ever seen & I'm not even an astronomy nerd. Hell, my wife is the one who convinced me that we should go. Glad I went. Just ate some delicious Mexican food too. Started the morning off with Gering Bakery. Not too shabby.

[CS1983]

I had intended to bring a small set of binos to work, in order to see how many autistic engineers I could make screech with rage at my stupidity. Alas, I forgot to grab them on the way out the door this morning.

Oh well. I was even going to tape over the ocular lens and "stare" at the eclipse. It would have been the trolling of the century!

[hurley842002]

That. Was. Incredible!

For those that weren't in the path of totality (read: 98% 99% etc.) you missed out. When there's a total eclipse for those 1-2min you can take your glasses off and look right at it and it was spectacular. If all I saw was the part right before that through my glasses I'd think "meh" too. The total eclipse was awesome though.

That makes sense, glad you were able to see the "finale".

[Jer]

That makes sense, glad you were able to see the "finale".

Me too. It was super bad ass.

[davsel]

[SAnd]

This is an indirect photo of the eclipse in Denver. It is natures version of a pin hole image.

[BladesNBarrels]

92% Coverage in Denver.
Used the binocular projector on a white cardboard screen method, a pinhole in a box, and had CBS local coverage on the tv.
We found the crossed fingers creating a small hole, and viewing under the leafy branches of a tree all worked too.
The tv coverage showed a lot of excitement, and we got into the spirit of story-telling with the neighbors as they had tried various pinhole methods.
The stores and outlets ran out of glasses here two weeks ago, so we all ended up with the alternate projection devices that were handmade.
We all noticed a cooling period and the birds went quiet.
The bees all were buzzing around the flowers with no change in behavior.
I am simple, so I had fun.

[hollohas]

Meh. That's what I thought. I remember seeing a similar partial eclipse when I was a kid.

Sounds like the total eclipse was a totally awesome experience. 92% is just, meh.

[OtterbatHellcat]

I can see the buzz about being in the "total" zone. Speaking for not being in the total zone for the event, it was kinda underwhelming imo.

It was okay...didn't really seem to even be the 92% they said, seemed more like 75%.

[Eric P]

Left at 4 am from HR, got to Alliance, NE around 9:00. Would have been quicker, not for traffic, but a ton of fog north of Sterling.

Drove through Alliance and saw a replica of Stonehenge made of cars and the large parking areas. $50 for parking of a jailbreak escape, not thanks.

South of town the old highway was still there parallel yo the new. Parked on that with plenty of other.

A guy next to me brought a telescope. I assumed he was smart when his daughter made fun of the engineer who could unfold a lawn chair. Dummy sights the scope and looks through it with the eclipse filter glasses. After a few seconds ge start cursing in pain. Says he can't see with the one eye and the scope burnt through the filter. Duh have you ever used a magnifying glass to burn paper? The filter hoes on the entry lens or you get a filter made for the eye piece. I chuckled at simple stupidity. He seemed fine later on.

As it progressed, it got significantly cooler and windy. Clouds started rolling in and it looked like we may miss it. Around 98% the clouds dissipated.

Watched the shadow sweep across the fields then looked up. Awesome. Got dark like after sunset for about 2 minutes. Sun started peaking and it got bright pretty fast.

Bolted the spot and headed to Sidney. 65 mph to Bridgeport then about a mile gridlock through town, then 65 to Sidney. Watched a few stupid impatient mergers a few cars up.

Hit Cabelas around 130 and fondled the forbidden fruit, while cursing the morons in Colorado who banned their purchase.

Left at 300. Back in HR at 600.

Only slowdowns on i76 were 2 local cops with cars pulled over and the us85 interchange reconstruction.