May 20 eclipse details

[LMBSGV]

Since we have commitments on both May 19 and May 21 and so can't get further away, we booked Sky Camp at Pt. Reyes. We're hoping the fog stays away.

Thanks for the link, Tim.

[SSSdave]

Although the eclipse will occur over the West, it is going to be at a rather low sun angle so one needs to be sure one's view is not blocked towards the west. Will peak at Eureka at 6:28pm PDT Sunday May 20 at 279 degrees azimuth that is 9 degrees north of due west at an altitude of 21 degrees with 0.936 occlusion. Thus not a total eclipse since the moon will not be close enough to Earth during this annular event. Moon starts blocking at 5:12pm PDT so it takes 70 minutes to reach peak. From Eureka it would be unblocked off over the Pacific. Over the Sacramento Valley, one will need to be north of the Sutter Buttes and Yuba City with it being most centered over the northern end of Lake Shasta reservoir. So at a minimum that is about a 3 hour 170 mile drive north from where I live meaning driving home late and then going to work the next morning.

A lot of people are going to be trying to photograph the eclipse and that takes some special gear and solar precautions. Just web search on "how photograph eclipse". Personally I'm not going to bother making any serious effort for pictures because that only becomes really interesting for a total solar eclipse. Otherwise contrast is too strong and ND4 plus filters are necessary. So will leave that to the expert enthusiasts with massive gear. If I do make the trip will build a simple pinhole camera box and probably photograph that haha.