Start looking for a boondocking site: eclipse (Aug 21 2017)

profdant139 wrote:
Astro, you are right that it is visible in the daytime. But since it is an eclipse, it is also a new moon, which means that the stars at night are at their best. So that is why I want a boondocking site where I have completely dark skies and also a good vantage for the eclipse -- hopefully on a mountain top, where we can see the moon's shadow moving across the landscape. (That is what I have heard, anyway -- I have never actually seen an eclipse.)

The eclipse is actually August 21 of 2017. You are right about the new moon since the moon will be between the earth and the sun during the day and, in the Pacific Northwest, will set at approximately 7:16 pm and not rise till around 6:30 the morning of August 22. A high vantage point, if you can find it, might be nice for the eclipse as well.

I didn't really consider the nighttime viewing conditions on August 21, 2017, as an additional attraction, since we travel to dark sky sites on a monthly basis for our club's monthly "Dark Sky Star Party". Sometimes I'm not sure why we travel to other sites since we also have a limiting magnitude of nearly 7.0 from our driveway at home. This is actually better than some of the star party locations to which we travel with our club and we'd hold the star parties at home if we had enough flat ground upon which folks could set up,

If the path of totality was anywhere near our local area we'd schedule a big day and night star party with the club but with it being so far away I think everyone is just going to scatter to the winds and do their own thing. For those staying in the area, the eclipse will be only 40%.

This is the data on our planned viewing location for the eclipse in Corvallis, OR. Just enter a selected locale into the search bar to see what it will look like from somewhere else.

http://www.timeanddate.com/eclipse/in/usa/corvallis?iso=20170821