Datahopa

I not seen this on the forum so thought I'd mention for those able to see it.
Dave and don't know if anyone else on here.   Not me, I'm too far east.

http://weather.yahoo.com/ring-fire-solar-eclipse-occurs-may-20-141939202.html (http://weather.yahoo.com/ring-fire-solar-eclipse-occurs-may-20-141939202.html)

Yes we know about this Dusky, but thanks for the reminder, been quite a lot of talk here on site about it.

Dave was going to hold a party, but seeing as hes injured himself I wouldn't like to say for sure if the party is going to go ahead now.  

http://www.datahopa.co.uk/forum/general-discussion/2-weeks-till-the-eclipse/ (http://www.datahopa.co.uk/forum/general-discussion/2-weeks-till-the-eclipse!/)

http://www.datahopa.co.uk/forum/astronomy/solar-eclipse-party-20-may-2012/ (http://www.datahopa.co.uk/forum/astronomy/solar-eclipse-party-20-may-2012/)

ah yes,  I remember the discussion now.
I guess i was thinking that eclipse was past and this was another one. 
I will go out anyway on the 20th and see if I see any of it.  Probably not, this is the "sunshine state", they usually don't let the moon get in the way.    :LOL:

Oh, don't count me out for that eclipse party, Data! I've been planning on this party for seven years, now, and nothing short of a grisly, horrific death (or a new girlfriend {wishful thinking, there!}) will keep me from attending! :P And I'm bringing several friends/family, to help with the pictures and video, too!. One way or another, I'll be there!

Oh, and Dusky? the bad news is that it doesn't occur until the sun has been set for a while at your location. The eclipse itself sort of peters out around the panhandle of Texas.

With just over 24 hours before the eclipse, I'm into the final preparations. I went on a quick road trip yesterday on the bike to survey the party site, and everything looks great! I also found out that the Pagan holiday Beltane falls on the same day, and that, additionally, there's a HUGE "integration Festival" planned for this weekend, over on the west side of the lake, with expected attendance estimated at nearly 6 thousand. I've some good friends who are pagan, and have been told of the ceremonies for Beltane (as this is a family oriented forum, I can't describe them here. You're gonna have to Google it). It's too bad I'll have my family with me tomorrow, or I would go join in on their festivities after the eclipse! :P

Anyway, I'm going to head out and test the combination of the eclipse projector and a video camera, to make sure it all works as planned tomorrow.

Hope all tests goes well, Have a great time tomorrow.

QuoteI went on a quick road trip yesterday on the bike to survey the party site

Able to ride a bike so soon  :thumbsup: :thumbsup: 

I too hope it all goes well.

Really wish I could be there for the main event, would have been great to see the eclipse and of course Dave.

For people who don't live in an area that will get the eclipse you can view it live from the link:

             View the eclipse live (http://livestre.am/GDHl)

over Toyko now!

Tokyo and Mt Fuji have not got good viewing.

Cloudy and raining.

http://www.weather.com/weather/today/Tokyo+Japan+JAXX0085 (http://www.weather.com/weather/today/Tokyo+Japan+JAXX0085)

Doesn't make landfall USA until 01:23 GMT.

Hope they have better weather.

Slightly off topic but it's happening soon...

INTERPLANETARY SHOCK WAVE: An interpanetary shock wave possibly associated with the M5-class solar flare of May 17th swept past Earth on May 20th around 0200 UT. The shock's arrival caused geomagnetic activity around the poles, and several outbreaks of high-latitude auroras

The weather here was fantastic, and we had a GREAT time! :D I got some great footage of the eclipse's full annular portion, but had to do so with a lens from a spare set of eclipse glasses taped to the front of the camera, since the projector I made completely and utterly failed. I'm extremely tired right now (just got home), so I'll work on getting the pics out at some point tomorrow.

Although I'm not pagan, I'd have enjoyed the Beltane ceremonies. Would be additional reason for  trip .   But then,  wife wouldn't understand.  :(

Oh, I'm quite sure she would understand, Dusky. But I'm also quite certain she wouldn't put up with it. :P

Sorry to hear that your projector failed. Sounds like you did not let it ruin your party though  :thumbsup:

I ended up doing what several people had suggested strongly that I NOT do, and that's to tape a lens from a pair of eclipse glasses over the camera's lens, and I'm glad to say that it worked perfectly. There were other challenges, such as a tripod that didn't cooperate when I had to reposition the camera to follow the Sun's path, and a gust of wind that tried to steal the pavilion we were using for shade, but these were minor glitches.

I'm still working on the video upload, and I expect it will take me most of the rest of the day to complete it. I shot nearly 3 hours of video, and the resulting AVI files were over 25GB in size! And that's just from one camera, and I used 2! :o It's going to take me a while to reduce it all down to something that I can upload to YouTube, I'm afraid, and I still have to figure out how to add a voice-over and such. I'm plugging away at it, though, and I'll post a link here as soon as I get it done.

Good god, that's going to take some computer time to convert that lot  :o

Best of luck Dave, I hope it all goes well the first time  :thumbsup:


EDIT:
Looking forward to the results too.

By the time I get the results completed, I won't have any hair left! :headbang:

It, sadly, didn't go well the first time. :(

Or the second... :'(

Luckily, I saved my work prior to the second crash, so hopefully I won't have to re-do the whole thing again. I'll keep you posted.

Sounds like you have plenty of work. Good luck.

Found this pic...

The eclipse from the ISS.

Annular Solar Eclipse Casts A Shadow On Earth (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QJ25zCJlUm0#)

Lots of pics on Universe Today.

http://www.universetoday.com/95277/eclipse-images-from-around-the-world/ (http://www.universetoday.com/95277/eclipse-images-from-around-the-world/)

I'm uploading the video to YouTube as I type, but it's a large video (about 600MB), so it's going to take about 25 minutes to fully upload. I'll post the link ASAP. :)

Well, I guess it was TOO big. I'm going to have to trim a full third of the video, and try it again, from the looks of it.

Ok, after much frustration, and some excessive editing, I've finally got the video uploaded! :waveJump:

Eclipse Party, May 20th, 2012 Pyramid Lake, NV (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fKIXABu40ac#)

Sadly, Snowy, I didn't have the equipment necessary to produce images or video of the quality that would compare with what you've found. :( But, all in all, I like the results of my efforts. :)

Great movie. Fantastic actor. Thank you so much.  :thumbsup:

Quote from: GT40 on May 23, 2012, 13:43:47 PM

Great movie. Fantastic actor. Thank you so much.  :thumbsup:

Thanks, GT, but I'm not so sure about the "fantastic actor" part. The most frequently used word, by far, was "um". :)

Fantastic actor,  :LOL: GT.

You did well there Dave, very nice video.  :sign-great-job:

Probably a tough question to answer but how dark did it go during totality?     

Even with the moon covering about 94% of the sun, and with a faint, thin cloud covering it, the level of light reaching us never dropped below 75% (it seemed to me, at least). The temperature dropped by about 12-15 degrees Celsius, though.

Truly astounding Dave, bearing in mind all that life has thrown at you lately. Sod's Law, the inevitable, even Gravity had a go. Well done.  :worship:

By the way, I'm giving you all fair warning. There's going to be a TOTAL eclipse on August 21st, 2017, with both the center of the path of totality, AND the point of greatest eclipse situated within a few miles of my Niece's home in Kentucky, and I'm officially inviting you all to come. I would love to travel to England, to see one, but you lot are out of luck for a total or annular eclipse till February 5th, 2437! :o Sorry to say it, but sucks to be you. :(

BTW, you can check that out for yourselves by visiting http://eclipse.gsfc.nasa.gov/JSEX/JSEX-EU.html (http://eclipse.gsfc.nasa.gov/JSEX/JSEX-EU.html)

I might be going to that one in 2437, but I think it will clash with something else.

See your point Dave, if I'm still alive by then I might be a little grumpy.  :LOL:

Great video Dave, Sorry it took so many times to get it done.  in the end though the video results came out great thanks for sharing.  it looks like you had a really great experience, an awesome time, and most important fun with family and friends :)

I appreciate how much time and effort it takes to do this sort of thing. I have many hours with good intentions that have come to naught or poor fuzzy blobs.

Good effort and you caught all of the eclipse.

I did go to Cornwall to see a full eclipse in 1999. It was cloudy and rained as it went into totality. The main noticable events were the birds going quiet (quite eerie) and the temp dropping. I would love to see one with a clear sky.

Thanks for sharing.