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Like looking into the eye of God... (Solar Eclipse)
8 years ago
General
Oh man, where to begin?
So, last week, I left for Oregon, to see Anjel, and also a TOTAL SOLAR ECLIPSE! Yes, you know the one... Now, I've been a lifelong astronomy buff, and since I was a little kid, I've always made it a point to catch as many awesome astronomical events as I can. Comets Hale Bop and Hyakutake, that crazy green comet that blew up about ten years ago and became the largest object in the solar system for a bit, numerous lunar eclipses, a few partial solar eclipses and even the annular solar eclipse and final Venus transit in 2012 (http://www.furaffinity.net/journal/3484762/ ). But nothing, not all of those experiences (except maybe the annular), nor all the drugs or mystical/esoteric systems in the world could compare to seeing the totality of a solar eclipse. It was literally the most profound experience of my life. If you don't believe me, here's a video of me "totally" losing my shit as totality hits and Double-Rainbowing like never before in my life:
(There's also a song our band did right before I left inspired by the whole thing: http://www.furaffinity.net/view/24589743/ )
Of course, the bizarre and uncomfortably intense Kabbalistic and YHVH-themed acid trip I was coming down off of from the night before had nothing to do with that, and I would have had that same reaction while stone-sober. I've been waiting literally three decades to experience that, and now I'm hooked. Since the vast majority of pictures do not capture even 5% of what you actually see, I've found a couple that get close:
https://pbs.twimg.com/media/DHzpYE3V0AA8BdE.jpg
And especially: https://visitidaho.org/content/uplo.....12/Eclipse.png
As I learned in 2012 during the annular eclipse, about five minutes before the sun is covered (generally after three-quarters of it is gone), you start having an intense and uncontrollable feeling of anxiety and awe, as your mind knows what is happening, but your body doesn't. However, it stopped there during the annular, and went a step further with the total. Instead of watching the fiery ring take and then lose shape, the last sliver of sun fades as the Diamond Ring Effect and Bailey's Beads pop in for a few seconds. Of course, if you're smart (and not the President), you have your little cardboard glasses on, so you don't see them. That doesn't matter though, as you take them off when they turn black.
Then you find yourself completely unprepared for what you see. None of the pictures you've seen even come close, except maybe the two I posted above. No comparison. However, instead of pure white, the corona and photosphere shine with an ethereal light blue and yellow color that you've never seen before. Not only that, the streamers shoot across the sky, a considerable distance from the sun. You see every wispy detail of the million-degree plasma flooding into space, making a loose shape of an eye in this case. In the middle, an almost-dark moon, illuminated just enough by the Earth's albedo to make out the mares and little else.
Finally, the most impressive display occurs at the end, as the gravity of the moon (I assume) bends the light along the leading and trailing edges of the lunar disk into the one of the few visible examples of the Doppler Effect (and General Relativity?) you can perceive with your naked eye. The leading edge is coated with a thin but bright blue light, while the trailing edge has the red light. In this red light then appear the prominences, equally red, followed by the Bailey's Beads shining through the valleys on the moon. These give way to the Diamond Ring again, and then the crescent sun. If you're lucky (like me, though not recommended), you didn't put your glasses back on until the Diamond Ring, and saw it all for a split-second. If you're also like me, it will be one of, if not the most profound and beautiful thing you will ever see in your life, and if you DON'T come out of it as a changed person, then I'm sorry. That really sucks for you. (I'm looking at you, Neil DeGrasse "Oh it was only a solar eclipse, I don't see what everyone's getting so excited about, they happen every two years!" Tyson. If you can't feel excitement at something like this you need to turn in your Astronomer Card and become an accountant or something!)
We are now planning subsequent trips to chase future eclipses. We are already looking into a ranch near Waco for the 2024 Texas total eclipse, and there's another annular one going by that area, I think, in 2023? After that I'm also thinking about northern Spain for 2026 and Barcelona or Gibraltar for 2027. Maybe Chile too in 2024 or 2027. I've already chased two of these, and I have to catch more...
What other fun details were there? Anjel got to take temperature measurements for NASA during the two hour process (more on that here: http://www.furaffinity.net/journal/8382262/) Oh yes, we got to see Venus come out just after one of the planes that was trailing the eclipse flew past. I didn't see the waves on the ground (since I was on a farm in the grass), but the bees went away, some flowers closed in the dark. Our furry friend in AZ DuBois stopped by for totality with his partner and took some awesome pictures. Afterwards, in an almost ridiculously patriotic display only suitable for the "Great American Eclipse", a good near-dozen bald eagles filled the skies above us, and I got to see them in the wild for the first time. Make of that what you will... ;3
At least until I flew back to Phoenix (more on that later), I felt that all of the personal and terrestrial hardships that we all have to face right now on this planet are very small and insignificant in the greater scheme of the universe (not that they aren't a legitimately big deal to us, of course). We live on a planet that has a moon that is almost exactly 400 times smaller, but 400 times closer than our sun. Moreover, our planet is not considered to be massive enough to have attracted an object with as much mass as the Moon, and the general consensus is that an asteroid plowed into the Earth, and the debris coalesced into an object that can perfectly occult the Sun, giving the domesticated primates on the planet the occasional view into the inner workings of the original God of humanity, the Sun, as he is joined with the original Goddess, the Moon. This was one of those times when the impressive scientific facts combined with the intensely spiritual nature of the actual experience came together in such a way as to completely prove the science vs. religion folks to all be a bunch of sophomoric assholes who can't comprehend how little we actually know about things. But we can learn, and this eclipse has given humanity just that, just when it needs it the most.
Heh heh, anyway... It was the peak of a great and exhausting weekend. We got to visit the Oregon Coast, as well as an awesome tall waterfall (one of many I hear) in the currently dry semi-rainforest in the coastal mountains near Tillamook, where all your semi-fancy cheese comes from. In addition to seeing a lot of the tall trees (and identifying a few potential incense-resin bearing trees, such as the Incense Cedar, and many, many sticky conifers), we saw what was probably the best Pink Floyd cover act on the night before the eclipse. Naturally, they played Dark Side of the Moon, but after that, they played all the good older stuff, especially a lot of the Live at Pompeii stuff, which fucking thrilled me, having never heard them live. We also helped a friend out who was so dedicated to seeing the eclipse with us that he drove up from nor-cal with a baseball-sized brown recluse bite and ensuing staph infection on his ankle. Thankfully, he got to the hospital and got on meds before we went out for the eclipse. I also managed to get great pics of Sedona, the Grand Canyon, Zion, and Mt. Rainier and some Cascade volcanoes on the flight in. A whole bunch of other things happened that were mentioned in Anjel's journal (once again, here: http://www.furaffinity.net/journal/8382262/ ), which I'll let her recap, since I haven't written anything this long since I finished college. :D
Oh yes, how can I forget the return trip? So the day that I flew back, the traffic was horribly congested around the Portland area, so I was really worried that I'd miss my flight which was due out of Portland at 2, and getting back to Phoenix around 5: 30. Fortunately, I missed my flight, and round up taking a later one and hanging out with Anjel for a bit. This was fortunate, as I come to find out when I'm getting on my flight, that the Asshole-in-Chief has decided to sully Phoenix with his presence, and had just landed right has my previous flight would have. Apparently, the flight I missed was stuck on the tarmac for an hour while that shitsmear landed. However, Phoenix Police were still gassing people downtown by the time I got back, and I was remarking to myself that the only other major western leader in modern times that still held rallies after they gained power was another diminutive and flatulent little sociopath who also had a gas-fetish...
Fortunately, the high from a total solar eclipse is not one that fades quickly, and I've found it easier to re-integrate myself into this increasingly fucked up society at the brink of civil and nuclear war. I've looked directly into the eye of the Divine, or God, or whatever you want to call it, and even if everything goes up in a thermonuclear cloud, I will die happy, imagining the Sun's glorious corona one last time as the technological equivalent wipes my atoms from existence...
...But since that's pretty fucking depressing and morbid, even for me, I'll leave it on the optimistic side of things. We live in a vast and immensely fascinating universe that far dwarfs us all. In it is new stuff to learn every day. This species in general needs to overcome this terrestrial primate herd mentality of "Everyone but my group isn't human and should be treated like filth or destroyed", and realize that once we manage to overcome the fascistic push to extremes in the sociopolitical sphere, and come to a place where everyone can be equal, we can finally evolve. Not just one group, but all of us, together. Once we overcome things like poverty and hatred, we can finally reach our true potential as a spacefaring species, no longer limited to only our, as a good friend once put it, gorgeous sphere. It's important that we work on this immediately to ensure the future of our species. Otherwise, this glorious sight shared by me and millions of others across the country might never be seen and appreciated by human eyes again.
That can not be allowed.
So, last week, I left for Oregon, to see Anjel, and also a TOTAL SOLAR ECLIPSE! Yes, you know the one... Now, I've been a lifelong astronomy buff, and since I was a little kid, I've always made it a point to catch as many awesome astronomical events as I can. Comets Hale Bop and Hyakutake, that crazy green comet that blew up about ten years ago and became the largest object in the solar system for a bit, numerous lunar eclipses, a few partial solar eclipses and even the annular solar eclipse and final Venus transit in 2012 (http://www.furaffinity.net/journal/3484762/ ). But nothing, not all of those experiences (except maybe the annular), nor all the drugs or mystical/esoteric systems in the world could compare to seeing the totality of a solar eclipse. It was literally the most profound experience of my life. If you don't believe me, here's a video of me "totally" losing my shit as totality hits and Double-Rainbowing like never before in my life:
(There's also a song our band did right before I left inspired by the whole thing: http://www.furaffinity.net/view/24589743/ )
Of course, the bizarre and uncomfortably intense Kabbalistic and YHVH-themed acid trip I was coming down off of from the night before had nothing to do with that, and I would have had that same reaction while stone-sober. I've been waiting literally three decades to experience that, and now I'm hooked. Since the vast majority of pictures do not capture even 5% of what you actually see, I've found a couple that get close:
https://pbs.twimg.com/media/DHzpYE3V0AA8BdE.jpg
And especially: https://visitidaho.org/content/uplo.....12/Eclipse.png
As I learned in 2012 during the annular eclipse, about five minutes before the sun is covered (generally after three-quarters of it is gone), you start having an intense and uncontrollable feeling of anxiety and awe, as your mind knows what is happening, but your body doesn't. However, it stopped there during the annular, and went a step further with the total. Instead of watching the fiery ring take and then lose shape, the last sliver of sun fades as the Diamond Ring Effect and Bailey's Beads pop in for a few seconds. Of course, if you're smart (and not the President), you have your little cardboard glasses on, so you don't see them. That doesn't matter though, as you take them off when they turn black.
Then you find yourself completely unprepared for what you see. None of the pictures you've seen even come close, except maybe the two I posted above. No comparison. However, instead of pure white, the corona and photosphere shine with an ethereal light blue and yellow color that you've never seen before. Not only that, the streamers shoot across the sky, a considerable distance from the sun. You see every wispy detail of the million-degree plasma flooding into space, making a loose shape of an eye in this case. In the middle, an almost-dark moon, illuminated just enough by the Earth's albedo to make out the mares and little else.
Finally, the most impressive display occurs at the end, as the gravity of the moon (I assume) bends the light along the leading and trailing edges of the lunar disk into the one of the few visible examples of the Doppler Effect (and General Relativity?) you can perceive with your naked eye. The leading edge is coated with a thin but bright blue light, while the trailing edge has the red light. In this red light then appear the prominences, equally red, followed by the Bailey's Beads shining through the valleys on the moon. These give way to the Diamond Ring again, and then the crescent sun. If you're lucky (like me, though not recommended), you didn't put your glasses back on until the Diamond Ring, and saw it all for a split-second. If you're also like me, it will be one of, if not the most profound and beautiful thing you will ever see in your life, and if you DON'T come out of it as a changed person, then I'm sorry. That really sucks for you. (I'm looking at you, Neil DeGrasse "Oh it was only a solar eclipse, I don't see what everyone's getting so excited about, they happen every two years!" Tyson. If you can't feel excitement at something like this you need to turn in your Astronomer Card and become an accountant or something!)
We are now planning subsequent trips to chase future eclipses. We are already looking into a ranch near Waco for the 2024 Texas total eclipse, and there's another annular one going by that area, I think, in 2023? After that I'm also thinking about northern Spain for 2026 and Barcelona or Gibraltar for 2027. Maybe Chile too in 2024 or 2027. I've already chased two of these, and I have to catch more...
What other fun details were there? Anjel got to take temperature measurements for NASA during the two hour process (more on that here: http://www.furaffinity.net/journal/8382262/) Oh yes, we got to see Venus come out just after one of the planes that was trailing the eclipse flew past. I didn't see the waves on the ground (since I was on a farm in the grass), but the bees went away, some flowers closed in the dark. Our furry friend in AZ DuBois stopped by for totality with his partner and took some awesome pictures. Afterwards, in an almost ridiculously patriotic display only suitable for the "Great American Eclipse", a good near-dozen bald eagles filled the skies above us, and I got to see them in the wild for the first time. Make of that what you will... ;3
At least until I flew back to Phoenix (more on that later), I felt that all of the personal and terrestrial hardships that we all have to face right now on this planet are very small and insignificant in the greater scheme of the universe (not that they aren't a legitimately big deal to us, of course). We live on a planet that has a moon that is almost exactly 400 times smaller, but 400 times closer than our sun. Moreover, our planet is not considered to be massive enough to have attracted an object with as much mass as the Moon, and the general consensus is that an asteroid plowed into the Earth, and the debris coalesced into an object that can perfectly occult the Sun, giving the domesticated primates on the planet the occasional view into the inner workings of the original God of humanity, the Sun, as he is joined with the original Goddess, the Moon. This was one of those times when the impressive scientific facts combined with the intensely spiritual nature of the actual experience came together in such a way as to completely prove the science vs. religion folks to all be a bunch of sophomoric assholes who can't comprehend how little we actually know about things. But we can learn, and this eclipse has given humanity just that, just when it needs it the most.
Heh heh, anyway... It was the peak of a great and exhausting weekend. We got to visit the Oregon Coast, as well as an awesome tall waterfall (one of many I hear) in the currently dry semi-rainforest in the coastal mountains near Tillamook, where all your semi-fancy cheese comes from. In addition to seeing a lot of the tall trees (and identifying a few potential incense-resin bearing trees, such as the Incense Cedar, and many, many sticky conifers), we saw what was probably the best Pink Floyd cover act on the night before the eclipse. Naturally, they played Dark Side of the Moon, but after that, they played all the good older stuff, especially a lot of the Live at Pompeii stuff, which fucking thrilled me, having never heard them live. We also helped a friend out who was so dedicated to seeing the eclipse with us that he drove up from nor-cal with a baseball-sized brown recluse bite and ensuing staph infection on his ankle. Thankfully, he got to the hospital and got on meds before we went out for the eclipse. I also managed to get great pics of Sedona, the Grand Canyon, Zion, and Mt. Rainier and some Cascade volcanoes on the flight in. A whole bunch of other things happened that were mentioned in Anjel's journal (once again, here: http://www.furaffinity.net/journal/8382262/ ), which I'll let her recap, since I haven't written anything this long since I finished college. :D
Oh yes, how can I forget the return trip? So the day that I flew back, the traffic was horribly congested around the Portland area, so I was really worried that I'd miss my flight which was due out of Portland at 2, and getting back to Phoenix around 5: 30. Fortunately, I missed my flight, and round up taking a later one and hanging out with Anjel for a bit. This was fortunate, as I come to find out when I'm getting on my flight, that the Asshole-in-Chief has decided to sully Phoenix with his presence, and had just landed right has my previous flight would have. Apparently, the flight I missed was stuck on the tarmac for an hour while that shitsmear landed. However, Phoenix Police were still gassing people downtown by the time I got back, and I was remarking to myself that the only other major western leader in modern times that still held rallies after they gained power was another diminutive and flatulent little sociopath who also had a gas-fetish...
Fortunately, the high from a total solar eclipse is not one that fades quickly, and I've found it easier to re-integrate myself into this increasingly fucked up society at the brink of civil and nuclear war. I've looked directly into the eye of the Divine, or God, or whatever you want to call it, and even if everything goes up in a thermonuclear cloud, I will die happy, imagining the Sun's glorious corona one last time as the technological equivalent wipes my atoms from existence...
...But since that's pretty fucking depressing and morbid, even for me, I'll leave it on the optimistic side of things. We live in a vast and immensely fascinating universe that far dwarfs us all. In it is new stuff to learn every day. This species in general needs to overcome this terrestrial primate herd mentality of "Everyone but my group isn't human and should be treated like filth or destroyed", and realize that once we manage to overcome the fascistic push to extremes in the sociopolitical sphere, and come to a place where everyone can be equal, we can finally evolve. Not just one group, but all of us, together. Once we overcome things like poverty and hatred, we can finally reach our true potential as a spacefaring species, no longer limited to only our, as a good friend once put it, gorgeous sphere. It's important that we work on this immediately to ensure the future of our species. Otherwise, this glorious sight shared by me and millions of others across the country might never be seen and appreciated by human eyes again.
That can not be allowed.
anjel
~anjel
I wish more people read journals on here, because this one is phenomenal. You articulate the experience really well, and I love your added content of the music videos and the phone video you captured during the moment of totality. It will certainly be an experience I will remember the rest of my life, and I am so grateful I got to experience it with you, my beloved.
