Eclipse has come and gone, unseen, here in Minnesota.

[MineralMan]

As predicted, when I went out to view it with my holey cardboard box just before maximum occlusion, the sky suddenly clouded over, as it does every time there is a celestial sight to view. No joy. Fortunately, I watched the coverage from Oregon earlier, so...

So many missed opportunities here. Meteor showers, auroras, comets. If it's happening in the sky, Minnesotans will probably have to take other people's words for it, really.

As they say here, "if Summer comes on a weekend this year, we could have a picnic if it doesn't rain..."

[sarisataka]

1. But did you notice

Those blue skies over cheddar-land

[Moostache]

2. On the bright side, you don't have 110 degree days very often!

Small constellation (sorry, such a horrible pun)

[CentralMass]

3. I caught it here in Oregon out in the parking lot at work.

Last edited Mon Aug 21, 2017, 04:21 PM - Edit history (2)

We were not quite in the path of totality at this location. There was still a small crescent visible.

[shraby]

4. Don't feel bad. Long ago when I first heard of Haley's comet, I was in my early 20s.

I figured out I'd be 40 when it came around again. Looked forward to it all that time. When it came, I was in Vermont....in clouds. Never got to see it.
Now this, and it's cloudy here in Wisconsin and too far north to see any difference. It just looks like an ordinary overcast dull day.

[TeapotInATempest]

5. Cloudy in Chicago, too. :(

In 2024, I'm driving down to Carbondale, IL which I should have done this time!

[MineralMan]

7. That one will take a different path, though.

I don't know where it will be total, actually. But, I've been to Carbondale. Boring place, at a minimum.

Correction: I looked up the path of the 2024 eclipse and it looks like Carbondale is in the path. Wow! It's about the only place that will see both this year's and that year's eclipse.

[LeftInTX]

12. I'll be in the path of totality in 2024

Only thing: April weather is unpredictable almost everywhere on the 2024 path, except in Mexico.

[yallerdawg]

6. I didn't want to drive 200 miles...

to see it get dark like it has done everyday of my life!



How old were we when we stopped looking up?

For me, I think it was between my second divorce and third marriage!

[exboyfil]

8. Same in Iowa

Here is a 1963 Peanuts cartoon to cheer us up.

https://www.metv.com/stories/linus-offered-handy-tips-for-viewing-the-eclipse-in-a-1963-peanuts-comic-strip

[The Velveteen Ocelot]

9. Then there was that comet Kohoutek in the '70s.

It was supposed to be a BFD but it wasn't. I remember standing out on a golf course on a very cold night in January, watching for the damn thing and it never showed.

[MineralMan]

13. Yup. I finally did see it with a pair of binoculars, but

it was not a big deal, by any means. I've seen a couple of other comets, as well. I'm not that much of a sky watcher, really. I can identify a few constellations, but I'm an early-to-bed kind of guy, so I don't look at the night sky much any more.

Minnesota skies are obscured by clouds so often, it seems, and almost always when there is something to see up there. It's better than my old town in CA, though. It was foggy there most of the time.

[indigovalley]

10. Visible in SE MN

We were lucky to see it here along the Mississippi River in SE Minnesota. There were some clouds that alternated with sunshine but I got to see almost all of it including the peak at 1:10. It got really cloudy around 1:30 so couldn't watch it phase out but I'm glad we got to see what we did. It got darker (like early evening) and the automatic lights on my apartment building came on. Hope we see a total eclipse next time.

[MineralMan]

11. Cool!

[Grammy23]

14. Here on the northern Gulf Coast (Pensacola-Mobile area),

we were slated to have a 81-82% coverage. So my husband made a pinhole viewer from a large cardboard box and I set up shop in the backyard. It was hotter than a two dollar dollar pistol and the sweat running in my eyes all but obscured anything worth seeing. I took a few quick pictures of us and the box but we coudn't see much---even with our custom made viewer.

Then we heard rumbling in the distance and saw dark clouds northeast of us. It got cloudier by the minute and hopes of seeing anything worth seeing were starting to fade. The wind picked up, the clouds moved closer and pretty soon the sun was blocked---by clouds. 😔

So as the sweat ran down my face in little rivers and flooded my eyes with salty water, we began to rethink our viewing plan. I was melting into a puddle faster than a Hershey bar on your dashboard. So we retreated from the 113 heat index to the air conditioned inside. We finished viewing except for one brief moment when we went out at what was allegedly peak totality for us. The sky did appear somewhat darker and the blue shade was "off"---not the usual 1:30 in the afternoon color. And with that, we came back in, watched a bit more as the eclipse moved across the US to cheers and gasps. Then the diehards on tv watched as the edge of the sun was revealed as the moon moved on through space. The rest of us had some late lunch and a much needed cold beverage. A nap might have followed. 😴😴😴😴

I must say, even with the heat, sweat, clouds and the limited viewing, this was a welcome break from the nonstop bad news courtesy of tRump and company. For a little while no one mentioned tRump or anything to do with that monstrosity. And that my friends, was a good thing. We needed the reprieve---if only for a little while.