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Attilla,

I was in Bromont, just south of Granby. My wife and I both saw detail in the coronal streamers, like the streamer was composed of thinner streamers, or maybe like veins in a plant leaf. It looked alive. I made a sketch, from memory. The scale and location is a little off on the prominences, but they were so bright that they stand out in my memory, I guess.

I concur on the forecasts. I stuck with Bromont, knowing we might get high altitude clouds (we did). The wisps did not seem to dampen the view, though this is the only eclipse I have seen, so I have no reference.

But Bromont made for a quick getaway, we had a clean drive on the 10 doing “the speed limit”, no traffic jams until the 30 (toll bridge) and the 417 (truck fire?!). I had two young kids in the car, so I made a tough call. It was a good one, for me.

I don’t think this will be my one-and-only :-)

-Adam

We should also restart sidewalk astronomy -- while we still have
jupiter to show.

I've seen only 1 total eclipse. But it was in a perfect sky.

I had spent a lot of time studying the forecasts. I prepared 6
different possible observing sites in Quebec and compared the ECMEF
and CMC cloud forecasts. I watched the forecasts for several days and
noted that each new forecast predicted the cloud bank a little further
east. The 6am update on the 8th pretty well forecast what people
observed: opaque in Niagra, lot's of clouds at Bob Olson's observatory
(but the inner corona was still visible). Thin cloud at granby. I
went to the very furthest (4 hours drive) site I had prepared because
it was the only one where ECMWF and CMC cloud forecasts agreed it
would be clear. That was near Coaticook. No clouds and good
transparency.

I felt pretty smart during the 3m20s of totality. Not so smart in the
giant traffic jam on Autoroute 10 on the way home.

Did i read correctly that observers at Granby, and other sites further
west, did not describe details in the coronal streamer? Was detail
visibe? I saw much coronal detail. I attribute it to the good
transparency at Coaticook.

I suspect that it isn't possible to guarantee a cloud-free eclipse
observation without a similar amount of preparation. We are lucky in
north america that we have good cloud forecast models. I'm don't know
about what's available for the Austrailian eclipse.

I can see why people describe seeing an eclipse as a
once-in-a-lifetime experince. Though I think it's the wrong words,
since most are adamant about wanting to see another one.
many-times-in-a-lifetime experience?

-ad




On Tue, Apr 9, 2024 at 3:45?PM Douglas B. George via groups.io
<dgeorge@...> wrote:

Gotta say, my track record isn't great. Only two perfectly clear eclipses out
of five.

1979 Gimli Manitoba - high cirrus but pretty good

1991 Baja California Mexico - saw totality briefly through a hole in the clouds

1994 New York - perfect - but Annular.

2006 Libya - perfect!

2024 Quebec - seen through thin clouds

Doug

Gotta say, my track record isn't great.? Only two perfectly clear eclipses out of five.

1979 Gimli Manitoba - high cirrus but pretty good

1991 Baja California Mexico - saw totality briefly through a hole in the clouds

1994 New York - perfect - but Annular.

2006 Libya - perfect!

2024 Quebec - seen through thin clouds

Doug

I was in Malaga, Spain, with my wife on an anniversary trip last year. No shots fired! But it may feel like you’re on the surface of the Sun in August.

After yesterday, my wife says she’s a “totality or bust” person. She’s not an astronomer, but that left an impression!

But I will avoid the other locations on the list.

There’s also northern Spain in 2026.

-Adam

Truly yesterday was a momentous moment for me, totally worth the 3.5 hour travel time to Mount Foster near Granby. ?

Upon reflection, it far exceeded my expectations. ?For example I knew to expect the corona, the diamond ring, the darkness, etc, but I did not recall at all that I would see with the naked eye any solar flares! ?That absolutely blew me away!

As usual with anything profound moments, they are best experienced with friends, families and likeminded individuals. ?Meeting Michael and Richard was awesome and thumbs up in letting all of us nearby look through the equipment. ?That solar scope is something else I’m def going to have to pick one up someday!

on a personal photography level, it was a “home run” day. ?My little Seestar smart scope did a fine job of aligning and taking pics of the event and my DSLR did its job too. ?If I had a do-over, I’d take off the solar filter off the Seestar during totality but I had the DSLR anyway for that and as others have said I wanted first and foremost to enjoy the experience and not get caught up too much on the technical side of things

Strangely enough, the next day I feel what was to be one less thing on the bucket list is no longer that. ?Instead the bucket list now reads “experience total solar eclipse… with family”

I have attached a few pics of yesterday’s?eclipse. ?They may not be the best but they serve a useful reminder of the experience we shared together. ?

Plan A was to view the eclipse with the kids in Brockville.? As the forecast changed, we planned to go to Cornwall, then Les Cedres just outside of Montreal.? I packed up the kids at 1pm and made it to Les Cedres by 2:30.? We?decided to keep driving south east until 3pm and ended up in Sainte Martine under mostly a clear sky.? The drive further south allowed us to experience totatlity for about 2min45seconds.?

This is one of the few recently expereinces which surpassed the hype.? My boys who are 5 and 7 were very impressed and don't yet understand how special this was.? They are looking forward to next years eclipse...

I made the decision not to bring any astro-photography gear to enjoy the expereince without distractions.? This was the right decision, as an astro-photographer it's easy to forget just how much better things look in person.

Greg

That was probably me.

Very nice!

Yesterday, clear sky chart page loads were 11.7x higher than normal.




On Mon, Apr 8, 2024 at 10:12?AM Richard McDonald
<ottawarichardmcdonald@...> wrote:

So, Attilla, is your CSC server dripping molten copper onto the floor?
Once the eclipse is behind us, love to see your CPU or access trends graph.

I don't have cpu usage data from my webhosters. But attched is a graph
of bandwith (from 1 of 2 servers).

By my own usage counts, clear sky chart page loades were 4x higher
than normal on April 7. April 8 isnt over yet.

Increased load, but doesnt qualitfy as melting.

cheers.
attilla danko, , danko@...,
attilladanko@...




On Mon, Apr 8, 2024 at 10:12?AM Richard McDonald
<ottawarichardmcdonald@...> wrote:

So, Attilla, is your CSC server dripping molten copper onto the floor?
Once the eclipse is behind us, love to see your CPU or access trends graph.

It didn't look anything at all like the zillions of eclipse photos
i've seen. No substitute for the dynamic range and the color
saturation (of the prominences) in the real time view.

Just got back from Magog, QC, where the skies were beautifully clear except for a deck of cirrus clouds in the south west.? Was planning to watch from Granby, but that cloud deck looked threatening when I arrived there. Kept heading east until I was certain the clouds wouldn't interfere with the show. And what a show! Venus at Jupiter were clearly visible well before totality. The cloud deck on the horizon made it easy to see where the Moon's shadow ended far off to the south. Beautiful view of two prominences through binoculars. Saw a wispy corona with a dark steak winding through it. And the diamond ring at the end was breathtaking.?

Traffic going in was very heavy but moving. We packed up and headed for home shortly after totality ended, and we faced surprisingly little traffic until we were almost at Autoroute 30 south of Montreal. However, according to radio traffic reports, by that time Autoroute 10 was stop and go from Magog right through to Autoroute 30. Glad we left when we did.? ?No spouses were consumed in this trip?