WEBVTT
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00:00:02.668The temperature also.
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00:00:12.954You know that temperature change that you experience, the animals start making the noises like it's nighttime birds are chirping, insects are making noises.
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00:00:19.253It definitely does feel like it's about nighttime, but it's only for a few minutes.
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00:00:25.434Welcome to the Cosmos Safari podcast presented by Celestron.
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00:00:38.594In this episode, I co-host the last minute of Astronomer and I discussed the upcoming total solar eclipse on April 8th 2024 and our personal experiences and lessons learned during the 2017 total solar eclipse.
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00:00:46.874I'm Dave and I'm Rob, the last minute astronomer and we're going to talk about the 2024 eclipse.
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00:00:51.570Finally, dave, finally we're getting together and actually talking about this.
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00:00:56.503I am very, very excited about this one.
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00:01:00.453I did the one back in 2017 and I highly recommend five stars.
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00:01:03.448You know, do it again, and so that's what we're doing.
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00:01:03.950How about you?
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00:01:05.742Definitely, man.
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00:01:08.085I had a blast in 2017.
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00:01:28.561I've been trying to encourage everybody I know to make sure that they get a chance to go out and see the 2024 eclipse, whether that be actually going to travel and seeing it in you know, totality, or even if you know, if you have to stay home and you're not going to be able to be in totality, to just have the right equipment so that you can safely view the partial.
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00:01:35.825No matter what, it's a great experience and I'm excited because this time I'm going to be able to bring my family with me.
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00:01:46.191Last time it was just me, but this time it's going to be extra special, with my family along for the ride I want to talk a little bit about the 2017 eclipse that we both went to.
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00:01:54.016but before we do that, we've got a little trivia for you, a little pre-launch check out for you, all right let's do it so we've got three questions right here.
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00:01:55.662I'm going to see if you can get them correct.
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00:02:06.816As far as eclipses go, it's been estimated that only about one in every blank people will see a total solar eclipse in their lifetime.
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00:02:07.819What do you think that number is?
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00:02:09.203One in every how many?
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00:02:11.449One in a hundred?
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00:02:15.199One percent Now now gotta go higher.
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00:02:18.566One in a thousand.
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00:02:35.951One in 10,000 people will see a total solar eclipse and that honestly makes sense because it's so few people, because you have to be in the area, you have to travel to that place and it's such a small thing.
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00:02:42.227So I actually thought that was a little small, but I don't know, that's me All right.
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00:02:48.585Next one the 2024 eclipse has a maximum duration of totality of what?
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00:02:52.354What is the maximum duration of totality?
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00:02:55.903I know where I'm going to be.
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00:03:05.593It's over three minutes and 30 seconds and I believe I remember seeing in Mexico it was going to be over four minutes.
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00:03:10.365I can't remember by how much, but I know it wasn't dramatically more.
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00:03:14.373So I'm going to say four minutes and 15 seconds.
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00:03:17.324That's pretty close, I'll give it to you.
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00:03:18.447You were 13 seconds off.
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00:03:21.140It's four minutes and 28 seconds.
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00:03:23.907Oh, it is almost half, okay, halfway to five.
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00:03:26.473Yeah, and I believe that's either in.
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00:03:29.086Yeah, that's in Mexico, that's where that's happening.
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00:03:31.540All right, last one here it's a two parter.
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00:03:35.028The path of the 2024 eclipse that's coming up.
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00:03:40.662How long is the whole path in miles from beginning to end?
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00:03:46.734And then, how long do you think the just the United States part from Texas to Maine?
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00:03:47.360How long?
00:03:47.360 -->
00:03:48.743How long is that going to be?
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00:03:53.813Are we including ocean in addition to land?
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00:03:57.646Yes, so the entire path and then just the United States.
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00:04:06.262I'm going to go with for the entire path, 5,000 miles.
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00:04:10.528No 9,200 miles.
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00:04:12.572Wow, much longer than I thought.
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00:04:13.393Yes.
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00:04:17.567Yes, so is that quite a bit over the ocean then, on either direction, I'd imagine.
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00:04:25.692Yeah, I think more, definitely more on the Pacific side, because the maximum totality is in Mexico.
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00:04:33.286So, and there's a little bit of a pass now that you say that because that's center, that's like central, right On the eclipse path.
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00:04:34.930The maximum would be in the center.
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00:04:35.831That makes a lot of sense.
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00:04:39.406Okay, and then how much over the United States?
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00:04:42.860Well, that helps me a lot just to think of it that way.
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00:04:55.016So I'm going to go with 2,500 miles 2,142.
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00:04:56.918Good job, yeah.
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00:04:58.802So I mean that's going from Texas up to Maine.
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00:05:01.269I'm trying to think like orientation wise.
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00:05:10.062It's kind of tilted from Texas through Pennsylvania, where we live, and then up through by the Great Lakes and then it's out into Canada.
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00:05:19.553So you know, I know approximately how far it is to get to Florida and I kind of tilted on the you know the angle then to kind of think through that.
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00:05:22.002So, yeah, hard questions, but thank you for that.
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00:05:22.545That's helpful.
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00:05:30.490When we come back from this short break, myself and Rob reflect on the do's and don'ts that we learned through our experience with the 2017 total solar eclipse.
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00:05:34.153There's no better way to see the eclipse than with Celestron Eclipse Mart.
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00:05:53.572Observe smart.
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00:05:55.216Observe Eclipse smart.
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00:05:59.005Learn more at Celestroncom slash Eclipse watch.
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00:06:08.812Stay tuned to learn more about how to enter to win a four-piece solar eclipse glasses observing kit and solar binoculars for our Eclipse smart giveaway.
00:06:09.180 -->
00:06:14.913When I went in 2017, it my son was, I think, so he was three.
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00:06:16.237He was three years old.
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00:06:17.942Wow, yeah, it was.
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00:06:20.771It was his first plane ride, you know.
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00:06:22.317So we we get on the plane.
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00:06:24.927We actually made a vacation out of it because it was the last.
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00:06:32.432Like the last week before school we visited some friends down in Georgia or cousins down in Georgia saw my friend as well.
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00:06:33.956He was in the area.
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00:06:37.826So we we got to hang out with people, made sort of a whole week of it.
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00:06:51.516We flew down because we had the whole week to do it and driving down to South Carolina just is not appealing to me, but it was.
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00:06:53.781It was great time.
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00:06:57.269There was a lot of Eclipse stuff going on in South Carolina.
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00:07:07.925Like we went down to the city and there was there were some markets and then you saw different people with Eclipse stuff that they were making I bought.
00:07:07.925 -->
00:07:08.966I don't have it with me.
00:07:08.966 -->
00:07:14.754I have like a decal for one of my Yeti mugs that is like totally Eclipse and it's got the date and stuff.
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00:07:16.860You know there are people selling.
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00:07:21.250I got a bow tie and Eclipse bow tie down there in Columbia.
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00:07:21.670It was.
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00:07:29.673It was neat to just fly down there and immerse yourself in an area and then have a really cool event at the same time.
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00:07:32.384Now you, you didn't fly right.
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00:07:34.105No, I didn't.
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00:07:59.281I decided to drive and I drove from my home in Pennsylvania all the way to land of the lakes, kentucky, which I, you know, just looked for a campground that had an opening, and that's where I ended up and, kind of similar to what you did, I was able to visit a friend, or at least that was the plan, and we'll talk a little more about that later.
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00:08:04.410But long story short, it was a long drive.
00:08:04.410 -->
00:08:21.127I stayed at a campground, I was in a tent and it was extremely hot, like 96, 97 degrees, and so my, my sweltering experience was somewhat different than your experience, I believe.
00:08:21.749 -->
00:08:24.435Well, I didn't know.
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00:08:26.642You were in a tent, like I thought you.
00:08:26.642 -->
00:08:28.449You didn't have a camper back then did you.
00:08:29.012 -->
00:08:29.774I had a camper.
00:08:29.774 -->
00:08:32.384I decided not to use it, which is a terrible choice.
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00:08:35.493Oh, ouch, yeah, I'll tell you what it was.
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00:08:49.428I, we got lucky because we had an Airbnb and Danielle would never camp anyway Maybe not, but most mostly never, definitely not 95 degree weather.
00:08:49.428 -->
00:08:56.447But so we we got the Airbnb and we got one right on Lake Murray down in Columbia.
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00:09:00.797So we found one and I just asked before I booked it.
00:09:00.797 -->
00:09:04.168I was like, is there a clear view up in the sky?
00:09:04.168 -->
00:09:05.251Can you send me some pictures?
00:09:05.251 -->
00:09:05.933And it worked out.
00:09:05.933 -->
00:09:06.677It was good.
00:09:06.697 -->
00:09:10.668But the best part was is that I had air conditioning.
00:09:10.668 -->
00:09:13.135It was phenomenal, it was.
00:09:13.135 -->
00:09:15.222It was great because I could go out in the morning.
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00:09:30.159It was already like 85 degrees in the morning, but I could go out and just set all my stuff up and by I think it was like one o'clock or something, was was when the partial started and by that time I had everything set up and then I could go cool off in the house.
00:09:30.159 -->
00:09:35.038I could go sit under some air conditioning, you know, have some nice iced tea or whatever.
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00:09:36.803So that was nice.
00:09:36.803 -->
00:09:53.590I had all my camera stuff set up and the best part was in that Airbnb there was a skylight and it was just perfectly aligned that we could look and look up and just see the eclipse from inside the house and monitor it.
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00:10:08.971Not that we let let me just interrupt here for a second and give you a different taste of what I did, which I had an umbrella, that I could sit under and keep myself out of the sun, which was really nice.
00:10:10.634 -->
00:10:28.105I did get a chance to set up all my telescopes, and I was surrounded by hundreds of other people in the campground who had no idea what they were looking at, and so I played the role of explaining what it is they were looking at for the vast majority of my day, which I thought was great.
00:10:28.105 -->
00:10:38.490I set up cameras as well, of not just the eclipse but also of myself and others enjoying the experience.
00:10:38.490 -->
00:10:46.559So I think we have some similarities and some very different experiences on the side of our accommodations.
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00:10:49.869Yeah, I was very pleased.
00:10:49.869 -->
00:10:52.416Now, you know me, I love talking to people.
00:10:52.416 -->
00:10:55.104I love talking astronomy to people.
00:10:55.104 -->
00:10:59.037You know, you get under the stars and you just communicate, you talk and it's just awesome.
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00:11:07.100But, man, it was nice to just be there and be able to focus on just me, my wife and my son.
00:11:07.100 -->
00:11:13.232Right, and that's something that I think you told me that you didn't bring your son along.
00:11:13.232 -->
00:11:15.077Well, you didn't have a son at that point.
00:11:15.399 -->
00:11:18.416I did not have a son at that point, you did not have a son at that point, but I didn't.
00:11:18.436 -->
00:11:25.572He was three years old and it is that experience was just Cream of the crop.
00:11:25.572 -->
00:11:27.778I mean, he was three.
00:11:27.778 -->
00:11:28.842So he remembers it.
00:11:28.842 -->
00:11:31.250Oh yeah, absolutely he remembers it.
00:11:31.250 -->
00:11:40.337Yeah, now it helps that I have a video that I took with lots of different stuff, but, like he remembers it, we had a little workbook.
00:11:40.337 -->
00:11:51.388I would definitely advise anybody with kids, you know, get a workbook, like a coloring Type of thing, about eclipses and then they learn the words and they understand what's going on a little bit more.
00:11:51.388 -->
00:11:52.169Not totally.
00:11:52.169 -->
00:12:00.793I mean, in the middle of the eclipse, sikorso just was like was was that the day Right?
00:12:00.793 -->
00:12:02.220Like he thought the day ended.
00:12:02.220 -->
00:12:07.176Even though we told her right what it was going to be, he still felt like the the day had ended.
00:12:07.515 -->
00:12:07.697What?
00:12:07.697 -->
00:12:08.278Why is that?
00:12:08.317 -->
00:12:23.337for people who have never experienced an eclipse like what's happening, that would cause him to think that so the fact that the moon, just like, covers up the entire Surface of the Sun, the entire thing.
00:12:23.337 -->
00:12:31.169So none of the sunlight that's coming off the surface is actually hitting us and it's not hitting the air, the atmosphere which usually scatters it into blue.
00:12:31.169 -->
00:12:34.475So it's it's basically nighttime.
00:12:34.475 -->
00:12:38.683I could see Venus, I could see Jupiter.
00:12:38.683 -->
00:12:51.143I think, if I remember correctly, people might have been able to see Mercury, but that's kind of hard to see and you don't want to waste your time looking for a planet when you've got any clips right in front of you.
00:12:52.373 -->
00:12:54.123I'd yeah, I remember really dark.
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00:13:06.394I Just think they remember when you know you're looking up at totality but around you it looks like a big 360-degree sunset.
00:13:06.394 -->
00:13:08.120It's absolutely beautiful.
00:13:08.120 -->
00:13:12.171The temperature Also.
00:13:12.171 -->
00:13:14.917You know that temperature change that you experience.
00:13:14.917 -->
00:13:22.250The animals start making the noises like it's nighttime Birds are chirping, insects are making noises.
00:13:22.250 -->
00:13:34.600It definitely does feel like it's about nighttime, but it's only for a few minutes, right, only for three or so minutes, and then it's over and then it's daytime again.
00:13:35.591 -->
00:13:38.077Yeah, yeah, we, I notice I.
00:13:38.077 -->
00:13:43.037I actually had Temperature sensors, some veneer temperature sensors.
00:13:43.037 -->
00:13:52.673I could bring data back to my classroom and I actually tracked it and it was about a 10-degree drop, wow, which, yeah, I could definitely feel it.
00:13:52.673 -->
00:13:59.669You know, the Sun's not radiating down on you and it's not radiating everywhere else, so you're gonna get a little drop in temperature, so about 10 degrees.
00:13:59.669 -->
00:14:03.360I heard the cicadas, maybe a little bit louder than I thought.
00:14:03.360 -->
00:14:12.370I had not sure, but the way I think about it is, when you get into totality, like to me, it looked like up in the sky.
00:14:12.370 -->
00:14:23.303There was a black hole right like like you see in Interstellar not exactly like what you see in interstellar but kind of no, but I was far away, a little blurry ish.
00:14:23.791 -->
00:14:24.712But yeah, you just have this.
00:14:24.712 -->
00:14:33.278It's just dark and it's super bright around the outside and it's just a man it messes with you a little bit Now.
00:14:33.457 -->
00:14:37.154I know you used some Camera stuff.
00:14:37.154 -->
00:14:39.163You also had some other things that you were doing.
00:14:39.163 -->
00:14:41.070You mentioned the temperature sensors.
00:14:42.231 -->
00:14:52.315Yeah, yes, and I have a video too which will put in the show notes of of my experience there when you're doing the solar filter.
00:14:52.315 -->
00:14:55.302You had that on a what, what scopes did you have with you?
00:14:56.910 -->
00:15:02.283So I had a Schmidt cast of grain native Schmidt cast of grain with a solar filter on the front.
00:15:03.312 -->
00:15:08.095That gave me is the visual Telescopic view.
00:15:08.095 -->
00:15:53.525I didn't actually take any pictures through the telescope I had on top of the telescope I piggybacked my Canon T3i with a solar filter on just a traditional zoom lens and All of that was tracking with an equatorial mount so that, just like you said with your tracking mount that it would follow the Sun, so an equatorial mount for those of you who are kind of new to this is a mount that is Generally used for telescopes and astronomy, where the one pole of the telescopes axis Is pointing towards the North Star and over the course of 24 hours the axis will rotate one time in 24 hours.
00:15:53.525 -->
00:16:01.938So effectively it's tracking the Earth's rotation, which is what you're observing when you're watching day and night.
00:16:01.938 -->
00:16:09.529So it's like a Allowing you to keep it in the visual Range of your, of your optics.
00:16:09.529 -->
00:16:18.880So if you're staring through that you with your eyes, or if you're looking at it through a camera lens, it'll just keep it right there on the sensor or right there in your eyepiece.
00:16:19.932 -->
00:16:20.173Yeah.
00:16:20.173 -->
00:16:24.916So do you feel like the so you use the telescope?
00:16:24.916 -->
00:16:31.440Do you feel like that was overpowered, or do you feel like Like you didn't need that, or were you thankful that you had it?
00:16:32.182 -->
00:16:47.370I knew, going into it, what I needed in terms of the correct eyepiece To use to get the full view of the Sun, and I use that mostly for the partial eclipse.
00:16:47.370 -->
00:17:01.043So I never actually used the telescope to look at the Sun during totality because I first didn't want to bother taking the solar filter off the front and it's not really the right tool.
00:17:01.043 -->
00:17:10.215During totality you can just use your eyes and you get a much better experience without you know the need for a magnification.
00:17:10.215 -->
00:17:15.247So I Did take pictures with the camera during that time.
00:17:15.247 -->
00:17:19.396So I do have some really nice images of totality that I got.
00:17:19.396 -->
00:17:40.203But I did focus, I'd say, about half of my time to try to soak it in and Experience it with my own eyes, and then about half of the time I spent was to take pictures that I then later was able to process and look back on yeah, I think that's a way to do that.
00:17:41.051 -->
00:17:41.212Right.
00:17:41.212 -->
00:17:44.890I got the full lead up all the way to from all the partial phases.
00:17:44.890 -->
00:17:50.972I've got totality and then I've got the end Partial phases as well.
00:17:50.972 -->
00:17:59.480So I never actually went together and put it into any kind of simple image, but I do have the images leading up to and then after the totality.
00:18:00.250 -->
00:18:02.239Yeah, it's, it's.
00:18:02.239 -->
00:18:03.893I'll tell you what.
00:18:03.893 -->
00:18:16.542When I was watching it, I did make sure in fact, I think you warned me beforehand, you know don't be fumbling with your camera, don't be fumbling with your camera.
00:18:16.650 -->
00:18:20.961That's the last thing that you want to do and you were absolutely right.
00:18:21.590 -->
00:18:28.196One of the things I wanted to do is make sure that I was not spending too much time fumbling with equipment.
00:18:28.196 -->
00:18:39.618So I got the Program that would connect to my computer and then connect to my camera, which would then take only during totality.
00:18:39.618 -->
00:18:45.666It would only take the pictures, or it would take all the pictures I wanted of totality and then it would shut off.
00:18:45.666 -->
00:18:48.096Right, it would change all different settings.
00:18:48.096 -->
00:18:49.359You could pre-program at all.
00:18:49.359 -->
00:18:59.818But the nice thing was is that all I had to do was take the shroud off of that and then, basically for the next two and a half minutes, I was able to enjoy it.
00:18:59.818 -->
00:19:06.115I was able to point at things, I was able to Show my son what was going on, talk with him.
00:19:07.419 -->
00:19:11.144I was able to completely forget to use the binoculars that I brought.
00:19:11.144 -->
00:19:19.569Yeah, like it was, I had brought binoculars specifically because I was like I want to go look up and that's something I don't want to do this time around.
00:19:19.569 -->
00:19:27.755I don't want to forget to use the binoculars because I do want to use a pair of binoculars, just real quick and Take a look at it.
00:19:27.755 -->
00:19:31.457But yeah, it's sometimes you just you forget those things.
00:19:31.457 -->
00:19:36.780I'm gonna have a checklist of everything that I'm gonna want to do Did you do anything with.
00:19:37.061 -->
00:19:44.835You know the partial phases at all, so if you look at the video, you'll see that I did put them into a continuous video.
00:19:44.835 -->
00:19:48.282I didn't know how to keyframe at the time, so it's a jiggly.
00:19:48.282 -->
00:19:50.367I have a little bit of learning to do.
00:19:50.367 -->
00:19:58.403But yeah, other than that little video, I didn't really do the partial pictures, all that like.
00:19:59.151 -->
00:20:02.880How about the actual stuff, like with just looking at the ground?
00:20:02.880 -->
00:20:05.733You know, for example, I Watched for.
00:20:05.733 -->
00:20:11.902You know some of the things you would see, the little partial phases when light passes through.
00:20:11.902 -->
00:20:14.430You know trees and things like that.
00:20:15.372 -->
00:20:24.240Yes, yes, in fact, this is one of my favorite things is I wrote my son's name and then tapped little.
00:20:24.240 -->
00:20:30.061You probably can't even see it on here, but all I did was I put little pinholes in the shape of the letters in his name.
00:20:30.061 -->
00:20:57.125So then what I did is, during the eclipse, I held this out like this and the sun's behind me Okay, the sun's passing by my head I had passed all those little pinholes and I had a white sheet of paper on the floor, on the ground, that it was projecting onto, and so then each little pinhole Was a little picture of the eclipse, the partial eclipse at that time acting like a little pinhole camera.
00:20:57.769 -->
00:21:04.430Exactly, and that's one of the really cool things about this is you don't need much to just observe it and check it out.
00:21:04.430 -->
00:21:07.757Right, those pinhole cameras are pretty good.
00:21:07.757 -->
00:21:19.714Now, I did not notice the what, what they say about when the trees, the light comes through the trees and all the little leaves, the holes in between the leaves, act Like pinhole projectors.
00:21:19.714 -->
00:21:24.682Right Now, I never saw that at that point, but I have seen that work.
00:21:24.682 -->
00:21:27.049In fact, it was during the effort of parade.
00:21:27.049 -->
00:21:35.740I was in with the scouts and we were marching and there was a light, an LED light, above one of the trees and it showed on the pavement.
00:21:35.740 -->
00:21:41.642Oh wow, actual shape of the lamp, wow.
00:21:41.662 -->
00:21:44.190And I was like oh, my gosh, this is actually going to work.
00:21:44.190 -->
00:21:48.248So did you get to see any of those sorts of things.
00:21:49.320 -->
00:21:59.662I didn't bring anything along, but there were some other people around me that had similar things like colanders are a great thing, to use, because they're already got the little holes in them.
00:21:59.662 -->
00:22:00.785You don't even have to make them.
00:22:00.785 -->
00:22:01.767So you know.
00:22:01.767 -->
00:22:03.932People had colanders and that kind of stuff.
00:22:03.932 -->
00:22:08.680I saw the shadow bands on the ground, which was phenomenal.
00:22:10.324 -->
00:22:10.925What is that?
00:22:10.925 -->
00:22:13.092I don't quite get the shadow bands bit.
00:22:13.759 -->
00:22:24.176There's still some question as to exactly how they're formed, but basically it looks like little snakes almost that are on the ground at a very particular part of the eclipse.
00:22:24.176 -->
00:22:47.051Now I was using an app for this through Solar Eclipse Timer, which we had a previous podcast on with Gordon Telethon, and his app allows you to kind of just sit back and enjoy because it describes everything that's happening in words as you're going, which I believe did you use that as well.
00:22:47.051 -->
00:22:48.273Yes, yes, I did.
00:22:48.273 -->
00:22:54.358Yeah, so that was super helpful and you know, that was one of the things we looked at.
00:22:54.419 -->
00:23:01.119We looked at, like, the 360 degree sunset during totality, we looked for the different planets and stuff.
00:23:01.119 -->
00:23:06.380We listened and felt you know the temperature change, the birds, the bugs, all that kind of stuff.
00:23:06.380 -->
00:23:11.171But no, I didn't really bring a whole lot with me.
00:23:11.171 -->
00:23:37.366I really was trying to pack light because, as you said, this was the beginning of the school year and I had to be back at work as a teacher the next day because I actually had missed I had to get a special permission to miss that first day of school when it was the teacher in service day kickoff and it required me to go very light.
00:23:37.428 -->
00:23:38.029Tell us, how did that plan?
00:23:38.391 -->
00:23:52.078work out for you Not very great, and this is something that I'm definitely changing this time, as we kind of start to talk about some of the changes that I'm going to be making in 2024.
00:23:52.098 -->
00:23:55.386So we'll kind of use this as a transition here.
00:23:55.386 -->
00:24:00.599My experience on the way home was I hit some major, major traffic.
00:24:00.599 -->
00:24:05.414I had planned on going to a friend's house for dinner.
00:24:05.414 -->
00:24:09.166His wife created this beautiful Italian meal for us.
00:24:09.166 -->
00:24:21.005Didn't show up to his house till two o'clock in the morning because I hit six accidents and I think it was eight hours of driving, or something like that, till I got to his house.
00:24:21.005 -->
00:24:25.039He had to work the next day, so he's like here's your meal, warm it up.
00:24:27.184 -->
00:24:33.542There's your house, go, take a shower and I'll see you in the morning that we're changing.
00:24:33.542 -->
00:24:46.478This time we're actually going to spend the next day there and be able to relax and enjoy the day of the eclipse as well as be a little less rushed to get home.
00:24:46.478 -->
00:24:56.884So if I have to suggest any changes to anybody's plans, if you can't stay, just kind of consider traffic is going to be a little difficult.
00:24:57.948 -->
00:25:00.455Yeah, you can just see it on Google Maps.
00:25:00.455 -->
00:25:05.007There have literally been traffic studies done on the eclipse traffic.
00:25:05.007 -->
00:25:12.608I was looking stuff up, and there were literal studies in journals about the traffic caused by an eclipse.
00:25:12.608 -->
00:25:15.516I mean, it's wild.
00:25:15.516 -->
00:25:29.353And what's funny, though, is we're actually planning on leaving on Tuesday, probably super early in the morning on Tuesday, so not on Monday, because almost everybody's going to be traveling on Monday, but we're going to wait till that Tuesday.
00:25:30.753 -->
00:25:35.438So what do you plan to experience different this time?
00:25:38.344 -->
00:25:45.481So, number one, I'm driving, so I'm actually going to be able to take my telescopes Right.
00:25:45.481 -->
00:25:49.192When I flew, I couldn't bring any telescopes, I could only bring.
00:25:49.192 -->
00:25:51.667I brought a couple of cameras, I think.
00:25:51.667 -->
00:26:00.553I brought like three DSLRs and I brought a couple of GoPro's, and that's where all of my footage comes from, and this time I can actually have a telescope.
00:26:00.553 -->
00:26:04.654Now, which telescope am I going to bring?
00:26:04.654 -->
00:26:05.739Am I going to have something?
00:26:05.739 -->
00:26:09.371You know, there's all kinds of decisions ahead of me, right.
00:26:09.371 -->
00:26:15.185So I don't know exactly, but I do know that I can bring some telescopes with me.
00:26:15.185 -->
00:26:18.151Now, that's because I can drive.
00:26:18.151 -->
00:26:25.436What that also does is, if I need to kind of change where I'm at, I can drive somewhere with the stuff.
00:26:25.436 -->
00:26:26.961I don't want to do that.
00:26:26.961 -->
00:26:34.704That's like a last last ditch effort, right, because sometimes it kind of clears up right before the eclipse.
00:26:35.346 -->
00:26:39.221That's what I experienced last time, yep, and I think you had the same experience.
00:26:40.805 -->
00:26:42.709Yeah, it was cloudy, cloudy, cloudy.
00:26:42.709 -->
00:26:43.329But then what?
00:26:43.329 -->
00:26:44.814Like 10 minutes before the eclipse?
00:26:44.814 -->
00:26:46.826Yep, it was partial clouds.
00:26:47.307 -->
00:26:55.791Yep, I mean, I still got to see the partial phases, but there was cloud cover right before the totality and then all of a sudden, it just opened up perfectly clear.
00:26:55.791 -->
00:27:08.480As soon as the totality was over, partial clouds came back in and once again, as we discussed with Gordon Tellup and this is actually a known phenomena that he describes in that podcast so check it out.
00:27:08.480 -->
00:27:10.305So where are you going?
00:27:10.305 -->
00:27:14.354I know that we had some plans and then they got changed.
00:27:14.641 -->
00:27:15.424So do you have a plan?
00:27:15.424 -->
00:27:26.131Wait, wait, actually, before I get into that, before I get into that, I think we need to take a little break when we come back after this short break, we discuss our plans for the April 8th 2024 total solar eclipse.
00:27:28.640 -->
00:27:35.005So one of the big things that people would like to know is what am I going to be doing for the 2024 total solar eclipse?
00:27:35.005 -->
00:27:43.050So I have a number of different things here I want to show you, and some just tips and tricks that I've found along the way help quite a bit.
00:27:43.050 -->
00:28:05.614The first thing I have here is a dedicated solar telescope, the EclipseSmart travel 50 millimeter telescope that is dedicated for astronomy of the sun, and with this type of a telescope, the one thing I find that's kind of helpful that is not included is just a kind of sheet.
00:28:05.614 -->
00:28:13.483This is actually a piece of felt, and the felt is a little, you know, thick enough in order to be able to drape it over your head.
00:28:13.483 -->
00:28:15.027It does a number of things.
00:28:15.027 -->
00:28:26.284It provides you with some additional contrast because you're not having the sunlight from around you while you're looking into the telescope, which is helpful.
00:28:26.284 -->
00:28:36.633The other thing it does is it keeps you from accidentally looking towards the sun, because of course, that's a bad decision as it can damage your eyes permanently.
00:28:36.633 -->
00:28:38.826And over here I have the ultimate 80.
00:28:38.826 -->
00:28:46.768The ultimate 80 is a spotting scope, so this could be used to rest, really as well as with this particular solar filter.
00:28:46.768 -->
00:28:55.752On the front, we have the EclipseSmart universal solar filter, and what this allows us to do is to use it towards looking at the sun.
00:28:55.752 -->
00:29:19.297The cool thing about this is, if I just take off this little tape that I have on holding this in place, I can now use it to look at totality when it's actually safe to look at the sun without the solar filter, and then immediately I can put this back on and I can place my tape back down.
00:29:19.297 -->
00:29:31.558I recommend using painter's tape because it doesn't leave residue behind and it's meant to be peeled off and won't damage your equipment or leave anything behind that same universal solar filter.
00:29:31.558 -->
00:29:37.796I also have it on my camera and lens as well, so that I can be taking images.
00:29:37.796 -->
00:29:59.373I'll likely be mounting this onto a tripod and that way, once again, once the Eclipse hits totality, I can peel off my painter's tape and I can get the image of totality, place it right back on here once we get out of totality and continue shooting images of the partial phases as well.
00:29:59.373 -->
00:30:19.534Another thing I'll be bringing along is a colander, because each of these little holes in here is going to act as its own pinhole projector, so during the partial phases of the Eclipse, you'll be able to see the little shape of the sun and moon in each of those little holes projected onto the ground or a piece of paper or something.
00:30:19.534 -->
00:30:21.085So that's a kind of cool thing.
00:30:21.085 -->
00:30:32.202There's a lot of time during those partial phases, so there are a number of items you can be looking at while you're doing the observations of the partial phases through the telescopes.
00:30:32.222 -->
00:30:34.528I have an awesome giveaway for you guys.
00:30:34.528 -->
00:30:41.855One of you is going to be going home with a 12 by 50 pair of the Eclipse Smart Poro binoculars.
00:30:41.855 -->
00:30:43.598These things are awesome.
00:30:43.598 -->
00:30:52.306They are meant to look directly at the sun and they can do this because they have a built-in solar filter in the actual binoculars themselves.
00:30:52.306 -->
00:30:55.655It's the point of them, and I really like these.
00:30:55.655 -->
00:31:08.053They're super comfortable, and one of the things that you can be doing with this that is awesome even beyond the Eclipse, is the chance to look at the upcoming solar cycle.
00:31:08.053 -->
00:31:27.874As we're going into solar maximum, the sun has more sunspots than usual and, as a result, having a pair of binoculars like this allows you to zoom in just enough to be able to see those sunspots easily and that's really cool because that's going to be an event that's happening day after day after the Eclipse.
00:31:27.874 -->
00:31:34.776It actually happens, but if you are interested in winning these, celestron is going to be giving these a pair away.
00:31:34.776 -->
00:31:40.512To enter, visit Celestron on Instagram and click on the Eclipse giveaway post for more details.
00:31:41.736 -->
00:31:43.902I've got some trivia for you.
00:31:43.902 -->
00:31:45.626Excellent.
00:31:45.626 -->
00:31:47.111I got three pieces for you.
00:31:47.111 -->
00:31:48.654These are new ones.
00:31:48.654 -->
00:31:50.660Let's see what you know.
00:31:50.660 -->
00:31:57.871The greatest possible duration of a total solar eclipse is how long?
00:31:59.614 -->
00:32:05.114I'm not going to go for exact timing because that's difficult, but say somewhere around six minutes.
00:32:06.557 -->
00:32:07.961Seven minutes and thirty seconds.
00:32:08.603 -->
00:32:08.883Okay.
00:32:09.605 -->
00:32:15.997Yeah, the last one with over seven minutes was in 1973.
00:32:15.997 -->
00:32:25.060Second one it's been calculated that on average, a total solar eclipse is seen from the same place once every how many years?
00:32:28.184 -->
00:32:28.62518.
00:32:30.287 -->
00:32:32.150375.
00:32:33.310 -->
00:32:37.655Oh, I'm thinking sorrow cycle, I'm thinking 18 years for the sorrow cycle.
00:32:37.655 -->
00:32:44.785So you're saying from the exact same place, from the exact same place there's a repeating pattern every 18 years, I believe.
00:32:45.385 -->
00:32:46.828Yeah, there's something like that.
00:32:47.309 -->
00:32:51.964Okay, misunderstood the question, all right so last one.
00:32:52.005 -->
00:32:55.093Now this is good, you've got a one in 12 chance.
00:32:55.093 -->
00:33:03.973Based on 5,000 years of eclipse data, the most likely month for a total solar eclipse is which month?
00:33:04.796 -->
00:33:14.151Oh my goodness, which month Is it statistically significant, first off, or is it minor?
00:33:15.692 -->
00:33:21.145I just got these off of a website today, so I did not do any more background research.
00:33:22.189 -->
00:33:36.038I'm going to go with January simply because it's cold in the northern hemisphere, and it would be just you know how it of course has to be that they're going to make it one of the worst times of year to have to go out and look at it.
00:33:36.148 -->
00:33:37.951Okay, so you're going with the.
00:33:37.951 -->
00:33:40.813When I buy a telescope, it gets cloudy idea.
00:33:40.813 -->
00:33:43.915Yeah, no, you were very wrong it is.
00:33:43.915 -->
00:33:50.395May is the most common month and November is the least likely Interesting.
00:33:51.178 -->
00:33:55.892Yeah, I don't know Tell you how many like there were or anything.
00:33:55.912 -->
00:33:59.221it just says how many or at least I didn't look into that part.
00:33:59.221 -->
00:34:00.784I do know these.
00:34:00.784 -->
00:34:18.204All the trivia today comes from national eclipsecom, so that's where I got it from, and I didn't dive any deeper this time, so okay, all right, so you had asked where I was going for the eclipse, right?
00:34:18.724 -->
00:34:18.865Yeah.
00:34:18.965 -->
00:34:20.427Now my first.
00:34:20.427 -->
00:34:23.753My first inclination was Texas.
00:34:23.753 -->
00:34:41.059Right, like I actually sat in a coffee shop one day to actually start planning way ahead of time and I was looking at this and looking at that and way overthinking everything and I was like I got to go to Texas and I didn't say I'd go to Mexico just because they don't feel like doing international travel.
00:34:41.159 -->
00:34:45.911That's just a whole extra hurdle and I don't get that many days off.
00:34:45.911 -->
00:34:53.509So I was like, okay, I'm going to go deep in the heart of Texas, I'm going to go as far southwest as I can.
00:34:53.509 -->
00:34:58.650And I had a couple ideas and in fact I even started to buy tickets, like I was.
00:34:58.650 -->
00:35:02.563I went to buy plane tickets and I was looking for the cheapest thing.
00:35:02.563 -->
00:35:08.762I used Google flights or whatever, and and I get it and I'm like, oh yeah, boom.
00:35:08.762 -->
00:35:14.612And I buy the tickets and it says, no, those tickets are no longer available.
00:35:14.612 -->
00:35:16.737I was like what?
00:35:16.737 -->
00:35:17.947There's no way.
00:35:17.947 -->
00:35:20.454No way, because it took me two minutes to fill out the stuff.
00:35:20.454 -->
00:35:21.288So I did it again.
00:35:21.288 -->
00:35:22.713But I went super duper fast.
00:35:22.713 -->
00:35:25.554Less than like a minute later I had everything up there.
00:35:25.554 -->
00:35:26.969Boom by the tickets.
00:35:26.969 -->
00:35:29.135They're not available anymore.
00:35:29.135 -->
00:35:35.050I don't know, maybe I'm not as tech savvy as I thought I was Something going on there.
00:35:35.070 -->
00:35:35.876Maybe it was a sign.
00:35:37.146 -->
00:35:43.751Maybe it was, but then so that frustrated the heck out of me, so I was just done, tired.
00:35:43.751 -->
00:35:49.652So then I was like you know what, daniel, I need some help planning this thing.
00:35:49.652 -->
00:35:59.753And so we sit down and we figured out like maybe, with a tight turnaround and having to be back at school, maybe air travel is not the way to go.
00:36:00.545 -->
00:36:02.793Right, yeah, I kind of think that was a good decision.
00:36:04.005 -->
00:36:05.431Yeah, that's a tough one for me.
00:36:05.431 -->
00:36:10.376Maybe I just don't think about the possible consequences of actions that I take.
00:36:10.376 -->
00:36:13.193But you know I did.
00:36:13.193 -->
00:36:14.476I did have my heart set on that.
00:36:14.476 -->
00:36:18.152But she made good points and I think overall she's right.
00:36:18.152 -->
00:36:19.771Like let's drive.
00:36:19.771 -->
00:36:29.713And so we're going to drive to Ohio, we're going to go somewhere around Cleveland on the western side, and because we saw that that's the area.
00:36:29.713 -->
00:36:37.884Oh, by the way, texas the reason I was picking Texas was because at the least percentage of clouds, it was like only a 40% chance of clouds.
00:36:37.903 -->
00:36:39.585Yeah, that's why I avoided northeast.
00:36:39.585 -->
00:36:49.153I was originally going to go to the Adirondacks and I was going to try to spend time there, and I had even discussed it with some people from up in the Adirondack region.
00:36:49.153 -->
00:36:55.173They're hosting a big event in the Adirondack public observatory I believe it's called.
00:36:55.173 -->
00:37:12.364But I ended up going to Richmond, indiana, for the same reasons, because as you go farther towards the south and west, the chances of cloud cover is less, and so I went about as far as I was willing to go and that's where I ended up.
00:37:12.364 -->
00:37:15.650So Richmond, indiana, once again.
00:37:15.650 -->
00:37:17.820Just like last time, I'm doing a campground.
00:37:17.820 -->
00:37:22.945This time I am bringing the RV and, as I said at the beginning, I'm bringing my family with me.
00:37:22.945 -->
00:37:48.494We will have air conditioning and the campsite that I got is actually at the northern most point of the campground and it faces over a pond that they have, so I can kind of like look out and over the pond from my campsite and hopefully that gives me a clear view to the south.
00:37:49.177 -->
00:37:53.565Yeah, south, southwest, yeah Right, nice I like that.
00:37:53.565 -->
00:37:54.784I like that idea.
00:37:54.784 -->
00:38:00.585Now, are you thinking that you may have to pick up and go travel, or are you?
00:38:01.351 -->
00:38:14.585I refuse, I refuse, I'm going to hunker down and cross my fingers with the trailer and my son and just all that comes along with my setup that I'm going to want to do.
00:38:14.585 -->
00:38:22.862I just can't see the frustration of trying to pick up and move last minute.
00:38:22.862 -->
00:38:25.840Yeah, so I'm going to hunker down.
00:38:25.860 -->
00:38:28.028That's very smart, I know.
00:38:28.028 -->
00:38:34.565I remember like I think, 24 hours out I was kind of on the edge in South Carolina.
00:38:34.565 -->
00:38:38.903I was kind of like, oh, it might get cloudy tomorrow, it might do this.
00:38:38.903 -->
00:38:39.184Should I move?
00:38:39.184 -->
00:38:47.164And I'm so glad I didn't because I could set as I said before, like everything is just nice and easy there.
00:38:47.164 -->
00:38:50.436There's very little.
00:38:50.436 -->
00:38:54.782I feel like the juice isn't worth the squeeze for the most part.
00:38:54.802 -->
00:38:57.483Yeah, I think that makes a lot of sense.
00:38:58.188 -->
00:39:11.818Well when we talk to Gordon Tullipin, who's got numbers of these under his belt, he's saying like 500 miles minimum to get a real chance of actually getting significantly different weather options.
00:39:11.818 -->
00:39:16.295Yeah, I'm not driving 500 extra miles, and he said days in advance.
00:39:16.295 -->
00:39:28.585You know, like, make your call which of the two sites you're going to go to in advance, and I can't see booking yet another location or trying to end up on the side of a road or something.
00:39:28.585 -->
00:39:36.123So this way I can enjoy it and if it's cloudy, it's cloudy and I'll still enjoy my family and my trip.
00:39:36.143 -->
00:39:42.585Yeah, I'll tell you what that, even though he was three years old, he still remembers so much about that.
00:39:42.585 -->
00:39:46.585I mean, it's such a good experience with the family You're going to love that.
00:39:46.585 -->
00:39:48.463It's going to be fantastic.
00:39:48.463 -->
00:39:57.184Now we also decided again this time to do an Airbnb, but we had some tough issues with that.
00:39:57.184 -->
00:40:00.891I had, actually.
00:40:00.891 -->
00:40:10.423It was just tough because there's so many options and, like you kind of got to see their backyard and, you know, not all of them have pictures of the outside.
00:40:12.670 -->
00:40:17.565And we even finally sat down for like a whole day, whittling it down from like 50 to 50.
00:40:17.565 -->
00:40:21.585Down to 25, down to 10, down to the top two.
00:40:21.585 -->
00:40:37.978Let's make this choice and we booked it, we had a place, and then the next day I'm in the grocery store with my son and I get a message on my phone that says okay, I'm really sorry, but the property was already booked on another platform.
00:40:37.978 -->
00:40:41.585That's not fun, that's terrible.
00:40:41.585 -->
00:40:45.496Like I never get angry, but I was so angry at that time.
00:40:45.585 -->
00:40:58.097I never did tell him off, because I'm a good person, I guess I don't know, but that was just that I had that weight lifted off my shoulders because we booked it and then it just came right back down.
00:40:58.097 -->
00:40:59.447So I don't.
00:41:00.130 -->
00:41:03.585You told me all this, but I didn't know that you had found another place.
00:41:03.585 -->
00:41:06.077So, yes, we did find about it.
00:41:06.599 -->
00:41:07.585Yeah, we did find another place.
00:41:07.585 -->
00:41:18.077It's actually in a nice, in a neighborhood where I think, I think the people in the neighborhood are planning to leave and get out Instead of experience it.
00:41:18.077 -->
00:41:23.579But it's going to be a nice house and it's got it's on like three acres, so I'm going to have my choice of places to set up.
00:41:23.579 -->
00:41:28.242Wow, yeah, it's, there are some trees, but you know there's trees everywhere.
00:41:28.242 -->
00:41:34.585It looked like there was plenty of open space, just a beautiful house.
00:41:34.585 -->
00:41:41.565And yeah, it's going to be even better, I think, than last time, assuming that the clouds aren't there.
00:41:41.565 -->
00:41:52.972And yeah, now we are booking a hotel as a backup to oh OK, we're finding places that can you know.
00:41:52.972 -->
00:41:56.858You can cancel like up to a week beforehand without a cancellation fee.
00:41:58.545 -->
00:42:09.581Wow, that's surprising because I know a lot of the places that I've looked at were very much like I had to book for I believe it was four nights minimum, because they knew what was coming.
00:42:09.581 -->
00:42:12.610I'm getting a T shirt, by the way, with mine.
00:42:12.610 -->
00:42:16.398You know my campground is providing us T shirts.
00:42:16.398 -->
00:42:22.632They already contacted me and asked me what sizes we needed and Wow, so they're preparing something pretty cool.
00:42:22.632 -->
00:42:30.579I think I may have mentioned that I kind of know what I'm doing, but I'm trying not to get too involved.
00:42:30.579 -->
00:42:32.311I'm going to like enjoy it for myself.
00:42:32.311 -->
00:42:35.893I don't want to be there as a hired help that paid to be there.
00:42:35.893 -->
00:42:40.192Let me stay for free and I'll give you a talk.
00:42:40.192 -->
00:42:45.322You know, right, Right, yeah, I don't want to be known for knowing what I'm talking about.
00:42:45.585 -->
00:42:53.585I want to just kind of go under the radar here and unlike last time where I was presenting during this thing, I want to just kind of hang out and enjoy it.
00:42:54.405 -->
00:43:05.393You know what you still are going to present, but you're going to be presenting to your son, and that's going to be way more rewarding than anything else, so that's yeah.
00:43:05.393 -->
00:43:06.692So what, what?
00:43:06.692 -->
00:43:08.585What equipment are you going to bring?
00:43:08.585 -->
00:43:11.565Because I've got some things in my head as far as what I'm going to do.
00:43:11.565 -->
00:43:19.297I'm curious since you're going to have the RV, you can bring a ton of equipment, but you only want to manage so much, so like what?
00:43:19.577 -->
00:43:19.898Yeah.
00:43:19.958 -->
00:43:20.539What's your plan?
00:43:21.864 -->
00:43:22.226Well, ok.
00:43:22.226 -->
00:43:36.014So kind of cool thing about a new moon is not only are you going to have the eclipse, but that same night the potential for the darkest night of the entire Month.
00:43:36.014 -->
00:43:37.545The new moon is also there.
00:43:37.545 -->
00:43:46.565So I'm trying to make sure that I have not only the equipment for a solar, but also some equipment for nighttime observing as well.
00:43:46.565 -->
00:43:58.525I don't really often get an opportunity with my kid to look at the night sky, as horrible as that is, because of school nights and things like that.
00:43:59.327 -->
00:44:01.092They got to go to bed at some point, right?
00:44:01.885 -->
00:44:10.500And, as a result, especially during the summer when I'm off, gets dark very late and is not really conducive to proper bedtime.
00:44:10.500 -->
00:44:13.585So I'm going to keep them up and we're going to look at the night sky, hopefully.
00:44:13.585 -->
00:44:18.016And so I'm going to bring I think it's going to be the EVO 8 from Celestron.
00:44:18.016 -->
00:44:22.487The solar filter you know fits right over the top of it, it's in the.
00:44:22.487 -->
00:44:28.565I've done a few videos on my, my channel for YouTube If you're interested in checking it out.
00:44:28.565 -->
00:44:31.585But the nice thing I like about that is it's all self contained.
00:44:31.585 -->
00:44:38.585It has, like it's built in, battery and all that kind of stuff and as simple as possible but with the most capability, I think.
00:44:38.585 -->
00:44:47.414So that's one, and they have a little cool travel tripod I'm going to bring Okay, which makes it all real compact.
00:44:47.414 -->
00:44:49.873You know you sit on top of like a picnic table or something.
00:44:49.873 -->
00:44:56.056There's some solar binoculars that I'm going to bring along as well.
00:44:57.353 -->
00:44:57.978Those are good.
00:44:57.978 -->
00:44:58.585Those are good.
00:44:58.585 -->
00:45:00.034Now, are those the ones?
00:45:00.034 -->
00:45:01.585There's solar binoculars.
00:45:02.286 -->
00:45:20.565Let me tell you one thing to let me tell you one thing about that, though, especially if you're going to have your boy look through them and I've got a little terrible pair right here, but like the block out the sun, which is good, but you got to make sure that your son isn't looking into the sun when he's lining it up.
00:45:20.565 -->
00:45:37.257So you got what I did is I took a pizza box and I cut out eye holes and I shoved this in the pizza box, so he had a whole shade around him, but so that he couldn't damage his eyes Like it actually worked out really really well and it was just a greasy pizza box.
00:45:37.945 -->
00:45:55.721That's a good idea, so that I think you know the binoculars and the telescope with with the solar filter on the front, that I can also take off then at night to do, you know, visual observations of just nighttime stuff.
00:45:55.721 -->
00:45:59.510You know, of course, eclipse glasses, right.
00:45:59.530 -->
00:46:08.914Just the regular old eclipse shades and beyond that, I think I'm going to try to travel pretty light.
00:46:08.914 -->
00:46:12.559You know I'm going to send some stuff your way to check out.
00:46:12.559 -->
00:46:24.574So, yeah, I want to make sure I keep the load as light as possible and I really want to focus on the experience itself.
00:46:24.574 -->
00:46:28.989Right, right, I don't know if I'm gonna be doing a whole lot of images this time.
00:46:29.010 -->
00:46:33.818Oh, See, I think I'm gonna go video, but I don't know if.
00:46:33.838 -->
00:46:38.702I want to go crazy with it, like astrophotography For the actual eclipse itself.
00:46:38.702 -->
00:46:43.775Well, I can get it automated, like you had it last time, where it handles most of it.
00:46:43.775 -->
00:46:45.775I was doing it all manually last time.
00:46:45.775 -->
00:46:50.788No, and it would be one thing if it were just me, but with my family along.
00:46:50.788 -->
00:46:59.244I want to focus on that, in addition to Viewing it myself you got to have as much automatic as possible.
00:46:59.605 -->
00:47:02.757absolutely the, I'll share it.
00:47:02.757 -->
00:47:08.088It might be be a PC only thing I'll have to look into that for you, see, see if it'll work.
00:47:08.088 -->
00:47:17.500But yeah, I, I know I'm, I'm planning on having a ton of cameras and a ton of stuff set up, but again, all in advance.
00:47:18.141 -->
00:47:18.902I'll probably.
00:47:18.902 -->
00:47:24.197I say all this and it probably will end up that I have a lot more than I Planned.
00:47:24.197 -->
00:47:27.855You know, just last minute I'll decide that I want to do a bunch of stuff.
00:47:27.855 -->
00:47:32.286But yeah, if you can, if you can put that also in the show notes, that'd be great if you have a link?
00:47:33.436 -->
00:47:34.742Yeah, yeah, I'll have to see automatic.
00:47:36.617 -->
00:47:48.300So I'm gonna, I'm gonna push you right there, rob, that Don't wait till the last minute there, last minute of the strontum, or because we want everybody else to be able to plan for For this event, including my oh, I know.
00:47:48.501 -->
00:47:48.961I do need.
00:47:48.961 -->
00:47:51.949I, I'm working, I'm, I'm doing my best.
00:47:51.949 -->
00:47:54.367All right, it's just some things.
00:47:54.367 -->
00:47:56.938Just, you know it, you don't.
00:47:56.938 -->
00:48:03.846You don't do it till you feel like the intense pressure and for some reason, I'm not feeling the intense pressure yet which I need to.
00:48:03.846 -->
00:48:06.275I need to make myself feel that.
00:48:06.275 -->
00:48:27.987But yeah, no, I know I'm so I'm, I'm thinking I'll do something similar to last time, where I have at least one camera for the partial phases, just dedicated, one camera for totality, zoomed in, but GoPro To do the time lapse or another camera to do the time lapse.
00:48:27.987 -->
00:48:30.094That was fun to be able to just speed it up.
00:48:30.094 -->
00:48:32.659I'm not full video.
00:48:32.659 -->
00:48:46.224I'm definitely gonna have a 360 GoPro and one of my 360 cameras so I can get footage for a planetarium type show, and I know I want to record audio.
00:48:46.224 -->
00:48:48.875That was a thing that I definitely made sure of last time.
00:48:48.875 -->
00:48:57.340I wanted to get my audio with a lapel mic and I wanted to get my wife and my kids Reactions as we were going.
00:48:57.400 -->
00:48:58.021Yes, worked out.
00:48:58.021 -->
00:48:59.063Reactions are awesome.
00:48:59.063 -->
00:49:01.248I've got a reaction video.
00:49:01.248 -->
00:49:08.681That is super embarrassing, but it was because I was that excited.
00:49:08.681 -->
00:49:18.217I was like screaming at the top of my lungs and just in awe and and it's.
00:49:18.217 -->
00:49:23.047It's so, so over the top that it's embarrassing, but it's the real reaction.
00:49:23.047 -->
00:49:24.309It was that crazy cool.
00:49:25.195 -->
00:49:26.679Yeah, it really is.
00:49:26.679 -->
00:49:37.135I mean it's, it's like I said, you know, it's like there's a black hole up in the sky right and there's just brightness around it's, it's, it's just otherworldly, you know.
00:49:37.135 -->
00:49:46.581I mean I, I can see why eclipses have been known as these, like portents of bad luck and and bad omens and all that like that.
00:49:46.581 -->
00:49:54.523It's pretty wild to see your source of life Just Yep, just bloop out of existence for a bit, you know.
00:49:56.596 -->
00:50:13.092So I think you know, all in all, I really want to make sure that in 2024, I'm, I'm present, that's my, that's my goal is to be present and and really try to take in that experience.
00:50:13.532 -->
00:50:39.981And yeah, you, like you said, automate whatever I can automate so that I can do that right, right, yeah, and just, you know, hope that the clouds don't come and you know, I, I also I need to put that in the back of my mind like that's a possibility, right, and I need to be able to prepare myself so that I don't like Really feel terrible when that happens.
00:50:40.222 -->
00:50:59.128You know what I mean Like it's always a possibility, you know, and we will always have 2017, but you know well, if you're going for a backup plan with a black up backup hotel, have a backup plan, I guess, for if that Eventuality happens and and you'll be ready to go, then yeah, and you can feel like you're prepared for it.
00:51:00.820 -->
00:51:13.735You know, I think the cool, the coolest part about this particular eclipse is the proximity then to Neef, with you know, being that northeast astronomical forum is coming a week or we're taking us two weeks after the eclipse.
00:51:13.735 -->
00:51:23.826I think the buzz at that conference is going to be Really exciting.
00:51:23.826 -->
00:51:36.255You know, and a lot of the people that we know from the industry and From our hobby you're going to be there and I think everybody's who's going to have a chance to go see this is going to be just talking about what they did and and how awesome it was.
00:51:39.260 -->
00:51:44.634Yeah, I would say also for people who do want to take pictures and stuff.
00:51:47.880 -->
00:52:01.588You can use a telescope or a pair of binoculars with the smartphone adapters and you can actually place that through the eyepiece Of the telescope or binocular and you can actually get a pretty decent image then Once you're magnified.
00:52:01.869 -->
00:52:07.471And also, I'd say I know I'm guilty of this with my astrophotography and stuff.
00:52:07.471 -->
00:52:20.135Like I often see what other people are doing online and I think, man, there's no way I can do that and to be honest it's kind of true, there's no way that I can do that with the current time and stuff I have, right, like certain types of pictures.
00:52:20.135 -->
00:52:32.789But you know, I would encourage you try to go in with a mindset of I'm going to get a picture, you know, plan something out ahead of time and get a decent picture that is yours.
00:52:32.789 -->
00:52:41.505You don't have to do the Ultra dynamic range Composite and learn Photoshop.
00:52:41.505 -->
00:52:45.295Like don't, don't put that pressure on yourself to do the amazing thing that other amazing astrophotographers do.
00:52:45.295 -->
00:52:54.775Like, just go with what you know and can do and just get something that is good and is yours, that you can value and keep for the future.
00:52:54.775 -->
00:52:58.952That's just my advice, I think.
00:52:58.952 -->
00:53:01.313What do you think to dovetail on that?
00:53:04.121 -->
00:53:04.282In.
00:53:04.443 -->
00:53:14.293You said you know, don't worry about all of that like Photoshop and all that, if you get good quality data, you don't need to learn how to do all of that Immediately.
00:53:16.583 -->
00:53:36.240So I would focus if you're new to taking photos or just taking photos of like astronomy type events is just focus on the actually capturing the image, part of it, as the thing to do, and you can actually practice In advance of the eclipse With just the sun.
00:53:36.240 -->
00:53:43.927If you have the proper solar filters and everything already right, you can practice On the actual sun and get used to what to do and kind of.
00:53:43.927 -->
00:54:13.731If you get the solar eclipse timer app, it even gives you some options where you can Simulate what that would look like and I highly recommend to go through that practice, run Days, weeks in advance of the actual eclipse, if you can help it, and that that way when you get to the actual event, you're not fumbling around, worried about settings while you're trying to enjoy this amazing experience.
00:54:13.731 -->
00:54:23.135You just drove or flew or, you know, put lots of time and energy into trying to plan out, to just change your ISO to the proper setting, like that's not what you want to be doing.
00:54:23.135 -->
00:54:25.340Yeah, so take time to practice.
00:54:28.117 -->
00:54:31.905Yeah, how much, how much totality are?
00:54:31.925 -->
00:54:32.148you getting?
00:54:32.148 -->
00:54:34.740I think I'm getting, if I remember, a three and a half minutes.
00:54:34.740 -->
00:54:41.443So that's about what I'm at three and a half minutes or so, three minutes actually not much of a change.
00:54:41.463 -->
00:54:43.509Yeah, there's not much of a change as you go from.
00:54:46.001 -->
00:54:46.382Texas to Cleveland.
00:54:46.382 -->
00:54:55.126Like I think Texas might be four minutes and Cleveland's like three minutes and twenty or three and a half, like it's not that much that the biggest problem is going sideways.
00:54:55.126 -->
00:54:58.309Yeah, of course, but even that, you've got to go through that process.
00:54:58.309 -->
00:55:03.967Yeah, oh yeah, of course but even that, you've got a good corridor.
00:55:04.976 -->
00:55:06.882Yeah, I'm very, very close to the center line.
00:55:06.882 -->
00:55:09.320We're on that right right.
00:55:10.815 -->
00:55:16.394But, yeah, I just this is looking to be pretty, pretty awesome if the weather works out.
00:55:16.394 -->
00:55:25.168I mean, even so, it's gonna be fun to get out there and plan stuff and and actually like get something that we can bring home.
00:55:25.168 -->
00:55:26.112I thought that's.
00:55:26.112 -->
00:55:27.094That's what I'm hoping for.
00:55:27.094 -->
00:55:28.719Shouldn't be too hot, you know.
00:55:28.719 -->
00:55:33.820The Midwest in April should still be fairly cool, it's hope, but not snowy.
00:55:35.177 -->
00:55:36.559Here's an interesting question.
00:55:36.559 -->
00:55:41.914Yeah, what are you going to eat on the day of the eclipse?
00:55:42.496 -->
00:55:43.139I'm, you know what.
00:55:43.139 -->
00:55:46.315I'll probably just get like some kind of burrito from someplace local.
00:55:46.315 -->
00:56:00.454That's the part about the traveling, though I really really like it's finding some local places, finding like a good hoagie place, or I guess they call them heroes out there or something, I'm not sure but like just finding something local, something good and like experience in the culture.
00:56:01.335 -->
00:56:03.199Yeah, yeah, that's not a good idea.
00:56:03.961 -->
00:56:05.853Yeah, like in South Carolina.
00:56:05.853 -->
00:56:14.219You know, go to the market, see what kind of eclipse themed stuff people are selling and made in anticipation, and you know, you know, actually get into that culture.
00:56:16.030 -->
00:56:20.958When we come back after this short break, Rob tries one last time to stump me on eclipse trivia.
00:56:24.610 -->
00:56:36.096Get eclipse ready with the Celestron Eclipse Mart Travel Scope 50, a 50 millimeter solar telescope with tripod and backpack, or reach for Eclipse Mart solar binoculars with up to 20 times magnification.
00:56:36.096 -->
00:56:40.956You can even add an Eclipse Mart solar filter to your Celestron nighttime telescope.
00:56:40.956 -->
00:56:43.456They're available in 14 different sizes.
00:56:43.456 -->
00:56:47.936All Celestron Eclipse Mart products conform to the current ISO safety standards.
00:56:47.936 -->
00:56:51.998Learn more at Celestroncom slash Eclipse Watch.
00:56:53.070 -->
00:56:56.998As we're winding this down, I've got three landing trivia for you.
00:56:56.998 -->
00:56:58.052Okay, are you ready?
00:56:58.670 -->
00:56:58.952I'm ready.
00:56:59.730 -->
00:57:01.853All right, so this goes in.
00:57:01.853 -->
00:57:03.860You know slightly different areas.
00:57:03.860 -->
00:57:04.773I'll start with this one.
00:57:04.773 -->
00:57:09.201How about the earliest known record of a solar eclipse?
00:57:09.201 -->
00:57:14.717How old do you think it is and where do you think it was?
00:57:15.639 -->
00:57:29.958Oh my goodness, I would imagine that the Maya would have had some experience with an eclipse and I know that they were very much in tune with the astronomical events.
00:57:29.958 -->
00:57:36.425I believe that they would predate anything Chinese.
00:57:36.425 -->
00:57:41.452I know Chinese kept very good records Egyptians.
00:57:41.452 -->
00:57:43.878I think they would even predate Egyptians.
00:57:43.878 -->
00:57:47.599I don't know an actual date, but I'm gonna go with the Maya.
00:57:48.889 -->
00:57:52.514You know I don't think that's a bad choice, but it is not correct.
00:57:52.514 -->
00:58:04.478According to nationaleclipscom, they say that it was made in ancient Ireland over 5,000 years ago, Stonehenge like areas yeah.
00:58:04.478 -->
00:58:10.635Yeah, I bet you, bet you the Celts were really active, I guess at that time really popular.
00:58:10.889 -->
00:58:14.340That's like 10,000 or so.
00:58:15.050 -->
00:58:16.114Oh, maybe I don't know.
00:58:16.114 -->
00:58:17.478I'm looking it up.
00:58:17.478 -->
00:58:19.311This is.
00:58:19.311 -->
00:58:23.653It's interesting, like here's the thing.
00:58:23.653 -->
00:58:31.378Like I pull these together, the trivia together, and I always wanna go a little bit deeper, but even this, it surprises you.
00:58:32.750 -->
00:58:39.820So according to EnglishHeritageorg, the history of Stonehenge about 5,000 years ago.
00:58:39.820 -->
00:58:42.936There you go that's what this was saying too.
00:58:43.050 -->
00:58:44.054So Stonehenge time?
00:58:44.054 -->
00:58:52.371Yep, wow, fantastic, all right, let's get off of this planet, okay, jupiter, jupiter.
00:58:52.371 -->
00:58:57.532How often does a total solar eclipse occur on Jupiter?
00:58:58.170 -->
00:59:02.380What would be causing a total solar eclipse on Jupiter?
00:59:02.380 -->
00:59:10.320You would have moons, but are they sufficiently large to completely cover the sun?
00:59:10.320 -->
00:59:22.876I would, I guess, expect that they would be, and Jupiter's moon I let's do Europa and Ganymede.
00:59:22.876 -->
00:59:28.581I'm guessing it would be every day or two.
00:59:30.291 -->
00:59:31.293Not too bad.
00:59:31.293 -->
00:59:32.992Not too bad On Jupiter.
00:59:32.992 -->
00:59:37.853They occur every 42 hours, day or two.
00:59:37.853 -->
00:59:40.657Yeah, yeah, I'm impressed.
00:59:40.657 -->
00:59:43.219I thought you were going way off for a little while there.
00:59:43.219 -->
00:59:44.474It sounded like you were.
00:59:44.474 -->
00:59:45.036You were.
00:59:45.036 -->
00:59:46.735Where does the solar eclipse?
00:59:46.735 -->
00:59:47.496Well, they have moons.
00:59:47.496 -->
00:59:49.735Come on, dave, you've seen this.
00:59:49.735 -->
00:59:51.795You see a shadow transit?
00:59:51.795 -->
00:59:53.775I thought well that's exactly right.
00:59:54.277 -->
01:00:09.501Right, yeah, and you know I do a lab with students where they're watching the orbital timings and periods of the different orbits, of the different moons, and you know they go at different rates and I know that the closest one is about two days to go around.
01:00:09.501 -->
01:00:11.476So you heard it.
01:00:11.769 -->
01:00:18.079And the planet's so big that, like you always get an eclipse Right, you're never not gonna get an eclipse.
01:00:18.079 -->
01:00:23.494And you know, if you have a sky and telescope you can just look and see, or any kind of magazine you could look it up online.
01:00:23.494 -->
01:00:27.981You know, you can see exactly when those transits are going to occur.
01:00:27.981 -->
01:00:29.275It's really cool.
01:00:29.275 -->
01:00:36.193I mean, I've seen it a couple of times in my telescope and I'm like, hey, I'm seeing a total solar eclipse on Jupiter right now.
01:00:36.829 -->
01:00:37.172Right right.
01:00:37.192 -->
01:00:38.235From Earth.
01:00:38.869 -->
01:00:39.130But yeah.
01:00:40.010 -->
01:00:42.775Oh, how many can occur at the same time.
01:00:42.775 -->
01:00:51.320Four, three, this is three, I was thinking four or two.
01:00:51.320 -->
01:00:53.717This might require some extra work.
01:00:55.090 -->
01:01:06.653I would imagine that the one of the moons is sufficiently far that the umbra doesn't reach the surface of Jupiter, so it might be a penumbra, partial eclipse, but not totality.
01:01:07.309 -->
01:01:08.094Yeah, yeah.
01:01:08.931 -->
01:01:12.612So the cone of the umbra never reaches the surface of the actual.
01:01:12.612 -->
01:01:16.637Well, cloud tops not necessarily surface, but the cloud tops of Jupiter.
01:01:17.309 -->
01:01:27.465Yeah, now before I go into the next one, the last one before I do that when is the next total solar eclipse in America?
01:01:27.465 -->
01:01:32.295Oh no, I stopped him.
01:01:32.295 -->
01:01:33.755I thought he was going to have this one.
01:01:33.909 -->
01:01:39.083I believe in the 2040s.
01:01:39.409 -->
01:01:47.760Yes, Now there is a, I think, an annular in 44, but the next total solar eclipse is in 2045.
01:01:47.760 -->
01:01:54.797Wow, so we got another 21 years before we get a good, and that one's going to be a lot like the 2017 eclipse.
01:01:55.338 -->
01:01:55.579Okay.
01:01:56.170 -->
01:01:59.530Going from left to right, from top left to bottom right Now.
01:01:59.530 -->
01:02:04.097So get out there now, because you're not going to see one until 2045.
01:02:04.097 -->
01:02:23.516Now what we also know is that the moon is slowly moving away from the earth Right, and because it's moving further away, the moon's going to get smaller in the sky and eventually we will no longer have eclipses, total solar eclipses on earth.
01:02:23.516 -->
01:02:28.460How many years in the future is that likely to happen?
01:02:31.309 -->
01:02:34.380First instinct is to say it's going to be very, very far.
01:02:34.380 -->
01:02:49.199But we are at the point where the moon, at its closest point, is covering up the sun, but at its farthest point it's no longer covering up the sun, it's an annular eclipse.
01:02:49.199 -->
01:02:56.985So, earth, it's very difficult because this is a.
01:02:56.985 -->
01:03:05.000This is a as it gets farther away, the influence becomes less and less and less and it's like a limit, like a calculus limit.
01:03:05.000 -->
01:03:07.255So let's say a billion years.
01:03:11.170 -->
01:03:19.335You are not quite right, but I'll say actually kind of in the right realm, 500 to 600 million years.
01:03:19.335 -->
01:03:25.297Okay, so you doubled it, but we're talking about huge timescales, so I'm cool with that.
01:03:25.650 -->
01:04:04.815I was trying to figure out because, like I said, it's a limit in calculus and so as you get farther away the effect is less gravitationally and as a result, the relationship where the moon is picking up or speed because it's taking away the earth's slowing down in its rotation, scrubbing away the energy from the earth's rotation to cause the moon to leave, and so as you get farther away that effect becomes less and so the speed at which it moves away is slower rate over time.
01:04:04.815 -->
01:04:07.501So that's like really difficult to figure out.
01:04:07.501 -->
01:04:21.239I kind of was backtracking in my mind because I know the moon was very close initially, early in its formation, but that effect would be very, very great early on.
01:04:21.710 -->
01:04:25.335and then has dissipated over the last three and a half four billion years.
01:04:25.335 -->
01:04:29.835So yeah, that's an interesting question.
01:04:29.835 -->
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01:05:05.081The New Times.
