2024 Solar Eclipse Superthread

[TTL News 308]

Several local and state agencies, as well as other businesses, have announced plans for the upcoming solar eclipse that will take place on April 8th.

This will be a total eclipse, something that only occurs in the same place once every 400 years and New York state will be directly in the path of it. 

New York State Police Troop E out of Canandaguia will be that agencies outpost for this event. State police will provide a comprehensive and uniform presence, ensuring the safety of both visitors and residents as they experience and travel home from the eclipse. Members of the State Police will implement security measures appropriate for large gatherings and take all necessary actions to maintain order and smooth traffic flow.

"Building on past experiences, the planning process for this event has been proactive, aiming to address potential impacts within Troop E. Our goal is to minimize any adverse effects associated with the large influx of visitors to the local area. This approach is based on the lessons learned from the 2017 solar eclipse, where some regions experienced a 100 percent increase in their population in the days leading up to and during the eclipse."

Area schools have also announced plans to release students early througout Chemung County. The approximate time when the sun is expected to be completely blocked out will coincide with the time when schools would normally dismiss students. School officials say that dismissing students early will not only allow them to watch the eclipse with their families ( using safety glasses the district will provide ) but also ensure the safety of students, particularly those who walk to and from school, when it's dark. 

In Chemung County, officials have been meeting to prepare for any challenges that the eclipse may present to the area such as a sudden influx of travelers from out of the area. 

"We've been told the hotels in those areas are packed. So what we're looking for in this area is there might be some overflow or people traveling to those areas to get the best view of the eclipse," Chemung County Executive Christopher Moss recently told WENY News. 

In addition, Wegmans has announced that they will be closing 48 stores across New York State for a half hour during the eclipse. Stores and all services, including the pharmacy and Meals2Go pickup, will be closed from 3:00 until 3:30pm on April 8th so employees will have an opportunity to witness this rare event. 

[TTL News 308]

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“Until you’ve seen totality, until you have actually experienced it in person, it’s really hard to describe in words.”
If Deb Ross, the leader of Rochester’s eclipse task force, can’t fully describe the majesty of a total solar eclipse, you know it’s a tough task.

That’s my job, too — to use words and sound to bring you to places you might never know about otherwise. It turns out I’m not the only journalist who finds himself struggling to make the words rise to the task.

David Baron was working for NPR when they sent him to South America.

“I saw my first total eclipse in 1998 and I kind of knew intellectually what was going to happen,” he says. “The moon was going to go in front of the sun.”

You’ve heard this how many times by now? It gets dark for a few minutes in the middle of the day and then it gets light again. Big deal.

Except something happened to Baron that day.

 

Read more here.

[TTL News 308]

We'll put all eclipse related news here in one thread now. 

 

[TTL News 308]

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Gov. Kathy Hochul and her top aides on Monday announced the state’s preparations for the upcoming solar eclipse, which is occurring in two weeks and will be visible in 29 counties in western and northern New York. 

Hochul said while it promises to be a fun, once-in-a-generation event, people need to take some precautions — and be prepared for traffic gridlock.

State campgrounds will open early and are almost fully booked, she said, and there will be viewing events at state parks and historic sites. The Buffalo Bills have cut a special public service announcement, and the state has even compiled a special Spotify playlist— which includes the Beatles classic “Here Comes the Sun” as well as “Black Hole Sun” by Soundgarden and other songs by Jay-Z and Taylor Swift, among others.

“This is going to be great for our tourism,” Hochul said. “It's going to bring in thousands, if not millions, of people to localities all the way along the trajectory of this.”

 

Source

[TTL News 308]

 

[TTL News 308]

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Preparations for April’s solar eclipse have ramped up as the highly anticipated astronomical event nears — those preps, it turns out, include New York’s prisons.

The New York State Department of Corrections and Community Supervision announced its plans to cancel visitations at nearly two dozen facilities in the path of totality on April 8.

In total, the department said 23 facilities “will experience total darkness ranging from approximately one and a half minutes to approximately three and a half minutes.” Those sites will be closed to visitations all day, while facilities not “directly” in the path will end visits early at 2 p.m.

The DOCCS solar eclipse plan doesn’t just affect visitations. According to Hell Gate, a “system-wide lockdown” will be put in place during the eclipse “as a safety precaution.”

 

Source

[TTL News 308]

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99 percent of the time, 99 percent is just about as good as 100 percent.

But when it comes to a solar eclipse, the math doesn't work that way.

“Going to an eclipse but not going into totality is like driving 99% of the way to Disneyland, looking at your kids in the back seat, and then turning around and driving home because it is not the experience,” says Deb Ross, chair of Rochester’s eclipse task force.

She picked up that analogy at the national eclipse meeting we both attended last fall in San Antonio.

Remember the Alamo, because it's one of the places where that 99 percent will make a huge difference come April 8th.

 

Read the rest here.

[TTL News 308]

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NEW YORK (AP) — Inmates in New York are suing the state corrections department over the decision to lock down prisons during next Monday's total solar eclipse.

The suit filed Friday in federal court in upstate New York argues that the April 8 lockdown violates inmates' constitutional rights to practice their faiths by preventing them from taking part in a religiously significant event.

The plaintiffs are six men with varying religious backgrounds who are incarcerated at the Woodbourne Correctional Facility in Woodbourne. They include a Baptist, a Muslim, a Seventh-Day Adventist and two practitioners of Santeria, as well as an atheist.

“A solar eclipse is a rare, natural phenomenon with great religious significance to many,” the complaint reads, noting that Bible passages describe an eclipse-like phenomenon during Jesus' crucifixion while sacred Islamic works describes a similar event when the Prophet Muhammad’s son died.

The celestial event, which was last visible in the U.S. in 2017 and won’t be seen in the country again until 2044, “warrant gathering, celebration, worship, and prayer,” the complaint reads.

 

Read more here.

[Chris 2,162]

[MsKreed 1,182]

On 4/3/2024 at 4:44 PM, TTL News said:

NEW YORK (AP) — Inmates in New York are suing the state corrections department over the decision to lock down prisons during next Monday's total solar eclipse.

The suit filed Friday in federal court in upstate New York argues that the April 8 lockdown violates inmates' constitutional rights to practice their faiths by preventing them from taking part in a religiously significant event.

The plaintiffs are six men with varying religious backgrounds who are incarcerated at the Woodbourne Correctional Facility in Woodbourne. They include a Baptist, a Muslim, a Seventh-Day Adventist and two practitioners of Santeria, as well as an atheist.

“A solar eclipse is a rare, natural phenomenon with great religious significance to many,” the complaint reads, noting that Bible passages describe an eclipse-like phenomenon during Jesus' crucifixion while sacred Islamic works describes a similar event when the Prophet Muhammad’s son died.

The celestial event, which was last visible in the U.S. in 2017 and won’t be seen in the country again until 2044, “warrant gathering, celebration, worship, and prayer,” the complaint reads.

Unless the State provides glasses for every single inmate in DOCCS, they will get sued by a thousands claiming they have 'eye damage' from NYS allowing them to be exposed to danger. And even if they do give them all glasses, there would still be a large number who wouldn't use them and require medical care.

Woodburn Correctional is a partial eclipses (less than 95%) anyway. If they weren't expecting an eclipse, chances are they'd have just thought it was heavy cloud cover.

By the way.....any word on where these guys were in 2017? Were they all in prison then, or did any of them feel a strong enough religious urge to bother to travel someplace and "witness that sacred celestial event"?

[Andy 70]

Well if it wasn’t for a paywall it’d be easier to tell maybe but they’re gonna be able to see it

[MsKreed 1,182]

6 minutes ago, Andy said:

Well if it wasn’t for a paywall it’d be easier to tell maybe but they’re gonna be able to see it

Thanks for the heads up...I found a non-paywall news update:

https://www.nbcnewyork.com/news/local/eclipse-ny-watch-time-lawsuit-prisons/5292707/

[Chris 2,162]

This is pretty cool:

[MsKreed 1,182]

How Do Animals React to a Total Solar Eclipse? Scientists Document Strange and Surprising Behaviors

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“I was really skeptical. I didn’t think that animals were going to have a particularly strong reaction,” Hartstone-Rose says. After all, clouds and passing rainstorms regularly dim the sun’s light. “And animals don’t have a very strong reaction to that.”

Still, he stationed students across zoo exhibits of animals spanning 17 species and had them observe the creatures for two days before the eclipse and on the day of totality. To his surprise, about three-quarters of the species showed a measurable response—and, in a few cases, the animals did something completely unexpected.

The Galápagos tortoises, which are usually very sedentary, displayed one of those unusual behaviors: “During the peak of the eclipse, they actually started mating, which was remarkable,” Hartstone-Rose says. “That was bizarre.”

Meanwhile, the Komodo dragon had spent the two days prior to the eclipse sitting still as a statue. “It could have been a taxidermy animal as far as we could tell,” Hartstone-Rose says. “[It] didn’t move one inch,” even on the morning of the eclipse. But once the moon blocked out the sun’s rays, the reptile moved toward the door to its indoor enclosure, which was closed, then began running around the exhibit, “almost, like, climbing the walls,” until the sun reappeared.

Across the zoo, many other animals responded to the total eclipse, disproving Hartstone-Rose’s initial impression. Gorillas collectively approached their evening habitat. Flamingos gathered together, putting their young at the center of their huddle. Two cockatoos began touching beaks and preening each other. A sleeping tawny frogmouth—a nocturnal, “goofy little bird”—woke up and started foraging during totality as if it were nighttime, though the creatures usually just “try their best to look like a tree stump” during the day, says Hartstone-Rose.

Some of the animals didn’t react at all or didn’t seem fazed—one bear that had been lazing around simply lifted its head a moment, then returned to sleep. And even when creatures did react, especially when they showed signs of anxiety, the eclipse might not have been the only driver of that response: Increased visitor activity at the zoo could have unsettled them, for example.

 

Read more: Smithsonian Magazine

[Chris 2,162]

Meanwhile, a lot of humans are freaking out about tomorrow being The Rapture or something.

[MsKreed 1,182]

13 minutes ago, Chris said:

Meanwhile, a lot of humans are freaking out about tomorrow being The Rapture or something.

Sure, when it occurs (without warning and/or explanation) it would sure seem magical. And I imagine the first few people who predicted (“prophesized”) the event were seen as somehow godlike.....back in ancient times (or perhaps a few isolated tribes in modern times).

 

But now?

The whole idea that it can be precisely forecast by mere mortals of every stripe (good, bad and indifferent) should dispel any theories of a deific Apocalypse.

 

Perhaps Darwin will step like we saw happen with Heaven's Gate.

[Chris 2,162]

I simply don’t understand the people who say, “Oh who cares” or proudly proclaim they won’t be watching it tomorrow.

How can anyone not be at least a little interested in such a rare event?

[Chris 2,162]

[Hal 341]

12 hours ago, Chris said:

I simply don’t understand the people who say, “Oh who cares” or proudly proclaim they won’t be watching it tomorrow.

How can anyone not be at least a little interested in such a rare event?

I get what you’re saying , I really do . Although I find it interesting and will watch ( thanks for the glasses Abbey) just to say yes I saw it . But I have seen so , so many Interesting and wonderful things in my short 70 trips around the Sun … too many to list lol , that if per chance I miss it I won’t be all that broken up , disappointed, yes but … 

Edited April 8 by Hal

[Chris 2,162]

There’s a difference between “can’t” ( there’s a lot of people working who won’t be able to step away ) and the pervasive willful ignorance about a once in a lifetime event and the scientific opportunities it provides, from the backyard observer to NASA.

[Hal 341]

Ummm , so not arguing your point at all . And certainly not part of the pervasive ignorance , just my own personal opinion. 
Those that can’t because of work , etc . thats not on me ( and i don’t believe it was meant towards me ) . 
And I have had  enough “ once in a lifetime “ events to last me a … lifetime . 
Shoot , i saw the Lunar Landing and have been waiting a lifetime to see us go back ! Thats the one I’m looking forward to lol .

[Chris 2,162]

6 minutes ago, Hal said:

And certainly not part of the pervasive ignorance , just my own personal opinion. 

I am referring to countless people on social media. 

[Chris 2,162]

[Hal 341]

2 hours ago, Chris said:

I am referring to countless people on social media. 

I haven’t been looking at comments but can only imagine … shall i sacrifice one of the neighbors chickens ?! 😆 

[Ann 264]

Disappointed 😔