Total Solar Eclipse in US on August 21, 2017

[Yazata]

Hey MR! You need to visit Salem OR on Aug 21!

Why? Because there's going to be a total solar eclipse visible from there. (It won't be quite total, but it should still be impressive up there in Portland, reducing the Sun to a thin arc.) In Salem the Sun will start dimming at about 9:05 AM PDT and reach totality at about 10:17 AM. Totality will last about two minutes, followed by an hour of gradual brightening.

http://www.eclipse2017.org/2017/communit...m_1357.htm

It's going to be a certifiably big national-scale event. The path of totality will cross the entire US from NW to SE, passing over Casper WY, directly over St. Joseph MO just north of KC,  crossing the Mississippi just south of St. Louis and passing over Nashville TN (the largest city on its path) over Columbia SC leaving the US near Charleston SC.

http://stjosepheclipse.com/start.html

http://www.eclipse2017.org/2017/communit...e_1777.htm

http://totaleclipsecolumbiasc.com/

I saw a solar eclipse several years ago and it's weird when the day turns dark for a few minutes. It dims down and slowly brightens up but it isn't exactly like twilight since the colors are kind of wrong. The Sun is still there but it turns into this ghostly... thing... up in the sky. You don't feel its heat any more, beating on you. It isn't quite like sunset, it's stranger. Dogs get concerned and kids all seem to love it. There should be all kinds of amateur astronomy groups holding viewing parties when it happens.

There's a story about how in ancient times the Lydians and the Medes were fighting a war in what is now central Turkey. Then a total solar eclipse happened. The soldiers threw down their weapons and refused to fight, convinced the war had angered the gods. So the two ancient countries declared peace and the daughter of the Lydian king married to son of the king of the Medes.

[Image: TSE2017-usa.jpg]

[Magical Realist]

So many people are booking overpriced hotel rooms at the coast for this event. I figure I can park at a store near Salem and see it just fine. Once in a lifetime experience actually. Might as well soak it in.