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Comment by aketchum | Hacker News Reader

I drove 2 hours to get into the path of totality for the 2017 eclipse. I just want to reiterate to anyone with a similar opportunity how worthwhile it is to make the trek to be in the path of totality. I had many friends that figured they would just watch from home because "it is going to be 98% eclipsed here". Let me dispel that logic. Anything less than total eclipse is basically unnoticeable, while the total eclipse is achingly beautiful and unique.

As to the article, I noticed many of the strange animal behaviors. Night time bugs came out and birds took to the skies in a hurry. It was quite the experience.

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I was there because I just happen to have relatives who lived right in the path, but I was totally blown away. I wish I could convey the experience to people who weren't there. It was interesting as it approached, but once it reached totality it was pretty shocking. It felt a bit like the end of the world. All of the sudden it's dark outside, but not quite the same darkness as night. There's a sunset on the horizon in every direction. Bats are randomly flying around. And in the sky there's this celestial body you've never seen. It's not like the sun and not like the moon. And while your brain is still reeling and people are still gasping and yelling and pointing everything out, it's over.

Anyways, 10/10 would recommend.

It's like being briefly teleported to another planet.

I have to +1. Got somewhat dragged to totality by my girlfriend at the time with a bunch of her friends. It wasn't my prime idea of a long weekend but she and her friends were insanely excited, and she was always very supportive of me, so I went along with minimal grumbling (including when we woke up at 4:30a that morning to go from our campgrounds to an open lake area to make sure we got a good spot).

Any ounce of annoyance I might have been harboring evaporated when the eclipse went from 99% to 100%. It was insane how incredible of an experience it was, and so suddenly. To feel this intense connection to other people who had seen it, or are seeing it...people were screaming and whooping, it was just incredible.

I had driven a full car to the totality zone ~3 hours. I wasn't even mad that the drive home took 7 hours instead. I just had a big grin on my face, it was so worth it.

I drove four hours out and eight hours back to get to totality. I slept in the bed of my truck alone on the side of the road.

It was absolutely worth it. There are a lot of experiences like being in love or eating an amazing meal where the visual obviously doesn't convey it. And there are some like seeing a comet where an image of the experience isn't too far from "being there".

A total eclipse lies in the uncanny valley between those where you can see lots of neat photos that make you think you can imagine what the experience is like. But you cannot. The difference between a picture of a total eclipse and being in the path of totality is like the difference between a picture of the moon and walking on the moon.

It is an incredible, enveloping, irreplaceable experience. It's about as close to magic as we get on Earth. I don't like telling people lists of things they "should" do before they die, but I am sure as hell glad I can now put it on the list of things I did do.

For what it's worth, here's a timelapse I took:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WsuxK81KnPw

But, again, the video doesn't really convey anything about the experience, especially not because the camera automatically adjusts to the massive change in light levels. To get a sense of how much darker it is during totality, here's two photos I took at the same vantage with the same settings before and during totality:

https://imgur.com/gallery/fuGS6

Yeah, we perceive "brightness" on a roughly logarithmic scale, and most people don't intuitively understand what that means.

In a total solar eclipse, it takes an hour or so to go from full sunlight to totality, but the majority of the apparent change in brightness happens during the last minute. And in turn, the majority of the change during the final minute is compressed into the last few seconds.

If you're just a few miles outside the path of totality, those final seconds are what you're missing, and the difference is literally night and day.

Quite a few of our senses are logarithmic and I think keeping that in mind serves us more than most realize when analyzing some sensory phenomena.

Agreed! As luck would have it I was in the Carolinas for the 2017 eclipse so I drove to be in the path of totality. What an incredible experience, I am so glad I had the opportunity and made the effort, it's so worth it. And yes, absolutely, there's a massive difference between 98% and full eclipse -- if you're that close, make the trip!!!

The next eclipse in North America is on April 8th 2024 [0] I'll absolutely be making the trip even if I have to hitch-hike or walk!

[0] https://www.space.com/great-american-solar-eclipse-2024-four...

I was several hundred miles north of the path of totality for the 2017 eclipse. I walked around the path outside my office during the event. Even though it wasn't total, there was a noticable dimming outside and it actually started feeling cold. I'm sure the effect would be far more pronounced had it been a total eclipse, but it was definitely noticable where I was.

“Seeing a partial eclipse bears the same relation to seeing a total eclipse as kissing a man does to marrying him.” - Annie Dillard

I also got a partial and was surprised at how cold it got quickly (this was August in Utah, normally blazing hot).

If you can't make it to totality (it was my first day at a new job, definitely couldn't make it), do experience the partial because it's cool. I'll be journeying next time tho to experience totality.

We took a flight to South Carolina to stay at a cheap motel with a grubby pool patio, where we set up shop with our welder's goggles - so cheap, we brought a huge pile for giving to kids who might not know they were super lucky astronomers that day.

The thing that really made the trip worth making was the /incredible/ temperature drop. It was as though outer space was reaching down to give the slightest of taps on the shoulder "I'm always right there, no matter how bright blue it is".

If you're an armchair astronomer - I heavily encourage you to make the trip to be at ground zero of a total eclipse if you find yourself fortunate enough to be able to. I'm not sure I'll need to do it twice in this life, but wow, what an incredible event.

> achingly beautiful

Wonderfully put. I didn't get to observe any particular changes in animal behavior out in the desert, but the change from partial to total eclipse is dramatic and incomparable.

The stars come out against a sudden twilight blue sky with the eclipse blazing overhead. And when it suddenly ended, I could understand why some people become eclipse chasers.

Definitely worth driving out--plus the long drive back in all that traffic--and sleeping in the car that weekend!

Yes, I completely concur. A partial solar eclipse or a total lunar eclipse are just funny meteorological phenomena, like a meteor shower or a double rainbow. Neat, but not a big deal. A total solar eclipse is a completely mind melting experience. It feels like the end of the universe.

It was unreal to be on higher ground, and see light on the horizon all around, but have it be dark above. It also became eerily quiet. I will make an effort to be in the path of a total eclipse again before I die.

I was outside of the totality in 2017 but only just barely. My friends who were in the totality insist that what I saw wasn't as good but their pictures look identical to what I saw.

Considering they were in a farm field and I was on top of a mountain with a view of several volcanoes, I'm not sure I would trade my view for theirs just because it was a little darker.

With that said, maybe you've seen an eclipse from just outside the totality and maybe it is truly different?

There is very much a "light switch" effect that occurs when totality hits. It's a very discrete moment of time -- an obvious discontinuity which is part of what makes the phenomenon seem so otherworldly. If you didn't have that kind of nearly-instantaneous "lights out" experience then yes, you did miss out on the main event. In any case I definitely recommend getting into the path of totality in 2024.

I remember a similar effect, but maybe it wasn't as pronounced as if I had been in totality.

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