Scott ....I am sure you are south of this total eclipse, and I am north of it...but I am making the 3 hour drive to see this total eclipse that is going to completely cover the United States. At my location the sun is only going to be 88% covered. I want to experience seeing a total dark sun disc with Haileys beads. These are rays of sun light peaking through the mountain ranges around the perimeter of the moon. You can actually stare at it without sunglasses
. The stars will come out, birds roost, etc. Totality only lasts 2 minutes 40 seconds where I will drive to. I never have seen a total eclipse.

The moon is 1/400 the diameter of the sun..and is also 1/400 the distance during much of its orbit. This makes its apparent size equal to the suns, and this creates a total eclipse.

I have been waiting for this for over 2 years. You can just go google solar eclipse 2017
..and all kinds of ingo, maps and charts pop up.

I will take pictures!

Looks like South Carolina is a good spot.

The line down the center of the path is where the moon is exactly centered over the sun...but if you are anywhere in that band, you will see a total eclipse. The closer you are to the center, the longer the duration of the eclipse.

If the sky is mostly clear that day...I am driving about 220 miles down I-57 right dead center in this picture.

I am fortunate to live in the Saint Louis area, so only about 2.5 hours for me. I am going to be close to where you are Stan on I-57. Hopefully it will be clear.

Wasn't there a total eclipse in the southeast in 1969?
I missed that one because I was half a world away.
Missed the 1st lunar landing too.

Amed2004- This eclipse's northern edge hits St.Lois..If you drive just a few miles south you will see a total eclipse. You don't have to drive where I am going. I could drive to St Louis and be in the very north part of the total eclipse. It slices across the whole USA.

Here is the path that just touches St. Louis. This is where it is 100% total.

After further review, this event is getting traction amongst the general population. I am now fearing the Interstate getting majorally jammed up. The Illinois State police are already.planning for this. Motels have been booked for a.year near the total eclipse shadow line.

I contacted a friend today and offered to buy all the fuel for his Piper Arrow...and fly me to southern Illinois this August 21st.

He barely knew about it, now after educating him how MAJOR this is, he is excited. So, here we go. Even if its overcast, we are going to go on top....where they say we will actually be able to see the shadow going across the ground at 1500 mph.

I am near Winnipeg Canada .... which is 10 hours drive North of the "total eclipse" ... so we will only get a "partial eclipse" which will be pretty neat to see anyway.

I have already been through 2 total solar eclipses ... one in Feb 1979 .... and one when I was a kid on the farm .... likely late 1950's ..... I remember the chickens going into the hen-house to sleep when everything went dark.

Heli ..... I tried to find a historical list of total eclipses (North America) but could not find one .... if you know a link please post it.

I did find the wiki for the 1979 one. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Solar_ecl ... y_26,_1979

I found an animation of what we will see Aug 21 .... looks like the sun will be almost 75% covered. https://www.timeanddate.com/eclipse/in/canada/winnipeg

Where I live will have about 90% coverage. I have never experienced bring in the total eclipse area , and I have read there is a huge difference between 99% coverage, and 100% like I am going to experience next month. There is going to be another one crossing the whom USA seven years later in 2024.

Have a welding helmet with you so you can watch it before and after...

I did that last time it happened here... was awesome

We will have a partial Luna eclipse on the 8th August... so a chunk of the moon will go awol for a while

https://www.timeanddate.com/eclipse/in/ ... a/brisbane