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**Maxmars** · 03-22-2024, 12:35 PM

(03-22-2024, 12:29 PM)ravenwatcher Wrote: I'm smack in the middle of the path NW Indy/Ohio but unfortunately there a 90% chance that the sky will be grey as it is most of the time .

It's a conspiracy I tell you! Lol

It feels like it happens more often than not, in my case....

((It will get dark though.))

**Maxmars** · 03-25-2024, 12:28 AM

One more note about this event,

From: Gizmodo - ‘Devil Comet’ Set to Align With Total Solar Eclipse for Unique April Display

You might be able to see this 80-year visitor during the solar eclipse... especially if the comet flares up as it is known to.

The “Devil Comet,” known formally as Comet 12P/Pons-Brooks, is set for a rare conjunction alongside the Great North American Total Solar Eclipse on April 8. For skywatchers, this raises the tantalizing prospect of capturing a highly unusual alignment, but it’s not yet certain if the comet will be visible to the unaided eye during the day, even at the height of the eclipse....

Prone to outbursts
Pons-Brooks has undergone several outbursts since its first tantrum on July 20, 2023. The outburst, which caused its brightness to increase a hundredfold, “struck awe in all of us because it was so intense and produced a weird shape,” Ariel Graykowski, a postdoctoral fellow at the SETI institute, said in an email. “As the dust from the outburst expanded, it looked like the shape of the Millennium Falcon.”

Good luck everyone!

quintessentone · 03-25-2024, 08:48 AM

Indeed if you also want to see the Pons-Brooks comet you will need binoculars/telescope as it is reported it won't be visible with the naked eye.

https://www.space.com/comet-12p-pons-brooks-march-2024

**Maxmars**

(03-25-2024, 08:48 AM)quintessentone Wrote: Indeed if you also want to see the Pons-Brooks comet you will need binoculars/telescope as it is reported it won't be visible with the naked eye.

https://www.space.com/comet-12p-pons-brooks-march-2024

I can only caution strongly against carelessness using binoculars or a telescope while a solar eclipse in happening.
Filters are crucial protection for your eyes.

Kaiju · 03-26-2024, 07:21 AM

For those in the NE, Niagara Falls appears to be in the "total" eclipse zone. So something else to do and not a total washout if it's cloudy.

quintessentone · 03-26-2024, 07:26 AM

(03-26-2024, 03:00 AM)Maxmars Wrote: I can only caution strongly against carelessness using binoculars or a telescope while a solar eclipse in happening.
Filters are crucial protection for your eyes.

What are the chances of the comet being near the solar eclipse location?

**Maxmars** · 03-27-2024, 08:33 PM

(03-26-2024, 07:26 AM)quintessentone Wrote: What are the chances of the comet being near the solar eclipse location?

You have a point. I just think of myself as the viewer, carelessly 'scanning around' and inadvertently blinding myself because: hey it's me I'm talking about here. So, the cautionary note was just a reflection of that. I can't imagine it's like they're going to be close, or you wouldn't see the comet at all... it just not that bright.

quintessentone · 03-28-2024, 02:39 AM

(03-27-2024, 08:33 PM)Maxmars Wrote: You have a point. I just think of myself as the viewer, carelessly 'scanning around' and inadvertently blinding myself because: hey it's me I'm talking about here. So, the cautionary note was just a reflection of that. I can't imagine it's like they're going to be close, or you wouldn't see the comet at all... it just not that bright.

It was information I got from an astronomy site where they were instructing people how to view the comet during the eclipse, to me it just seemed an okay thing to do because of them giving us instructions how to view it without any warning of protecting one's eyes. That's my reasoning at any rate.

ChiefD · 03-31-2024, 10:15 PM

Where I'm at, totality will be about 85%. Since I work outdoors, I went and bought a pair of solar eclipse sunglasses just in case it is a sunny day on April 8th. I just want to be safe on that day. It will be interesting to see how things go then. I've never been outside during a solar eclipse. The last time we had one, I was still working, and they had a setup where we could see it without looking out the window or anything.

**DontTreadOnMe** · 04-01-2024, 11:38 AM

(03-31-2024, 10:15 PM)ChiefD Wrote: Where I'm at, totality will be about 85%. Since I work outdoors, I went and bought a pair of solar eclipse sunglasses just in case it is a sunny day on April 8th. I just want to be safe on that day. It will be interesting to see how things go then. I've never been outside during a solar eclipse. The last time we had one, I was still working, and they had a setup where we could see it without looking out the window or anything.

The two I remember seeing, and not sure how close we were to path 100% darkness, all it got was dim. Not like it was getting dark at night, and not like a cloudy day with an approaching storm.
A different sort of dimming.