Monday, December 19, 2016

245 Days Until Eclipse Day

I'm a fan of the sky!

I love looking at the night skies, watching the changes throughout the year, staying up for meteor showers and lunar eclipses, and learning about the constellations and deep sky objects.
I also enjoy the daytime sky. I watch the progression of the sun as it makes its way northward during the spring and southward in the fall. I like the sun dogs and rainbows that are seen in the clouds.

In just a few days, the sun will reach its southern most point as we make our annual trip around it.
This marks the beginning of winter and starts our journey towards spring.

In August of 2017, the moon will pass directly between the sun and the earth and we will have a total eclipse that will be visible through the middle of the US.
Columbia MO is right on the center line and a nice motorcycle ride away. I can't tell you how disappointed I will be if it is overcast at 1:12pm on that day!

If you want to check out where you might view the eclipse, here's a good site to help you.

Typically, Chris has Mondays off and if she is wanting to make the trip, it will mean leaving the motorcycle at home, but will still be a great day for a ride. Some people would say that six hours in a car (round trip) is hardly worth the 2 minutes and 36 seconds of eclipse viewing, but I've actually gone farther and taken the kids out of school and a day off of work to see an annular eclipse many years ago.
Maybe I'll see if the kids want to take a day off from work and meet us for an eclipse picnic! We could meet in Kansas City on Sunday afternoon and watch the Royals take on the Cleveland Indians and then drive to Columbia or St Joseph for the eclipse on Monday.
Hmmm...might be time to start working on a plan!

Just having some summer thoughts on this cold December day in the Ozarks.

John <><
#readyforspring

1 comment:

Mike said...

I'll be expecting a reminder post because I know I'll forget about this.