The DU Lounge
Related: Culture Forums, Support Forumsring of fire - maybe a possible meet up in Albuquerque?
I would love to do something like this. It might even be feasible...
Mark your calendar. On Sunday, May 20th, the sun is going to turn into a ring of fire. It's an annular solar eclipse--the first one in the USA in almost 18 years. Tucson will be able to see much of it, but northern Arizona and southern Utah will have the best show.
An "annular" eclipse occurs when the Moon passes directly in front of the sun, but the lunar disk is not quite wide enough to cover the entire star. At maximum, the Moon forms a "black hole" in the center of the sun."The ring of fire:" Astrophotographer Dennis L. Mammana photographed this annular eclipse behind palm trees in January 1994. Copyright D. L. Mammana.
The "path of annularity" is a strip about 300 km wide and thousands of km long. It stretches from China and Japan, across the Pacific Ocean, to the middle of North America. In the United States, the afternoon sun will become a luminous ring in places such as Medford, Oregon; Chico, California; Reno, Nevada; St. George, Utah; Albuquerque, New Mexico, and Lubbock, Texas.
Outside of this relatively narrow zone, the eclipse will be partial. Observers almost everywhere west of the Mississippi, including Tucson, will see a crescent-shaped sun as the Moon passes by off-center.
vid: 3:09
Ptah
(33,030 posts)MiddleFingerMom
(25,163 posts).
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
pacalo
(24,721 posts)The eclipse, as beautiful as it is in that picture, would be my secondary reason for going.
[IMG][/IMG]
Capn Sunshine
(14,378 posts)denbot
(9,899 posts)May, hmm. I'm sure Alley would be up for it..
denbot
(9,899 posts)Last edited Wed Feb 1, 2012, 09:30 PM - Edit history (1)
I emailed the text of your post to my wife last night (she was asleep when I logged on DU last night). She called me at work and said she reserved Va-Ca time for the eclipse. We were thinking of the Gallop area (closest point from L.A.) but Albuquerque area would be fine. We would be camping so if you know a good campground nearby let us know.
LynneSin
(95,337 posts)It's my birthday on the 14th.
Tikki
(14,557 posts)The Tikkis
MiddleFingerMom
(25,163 posts)Capn Sunshine
(14,378 posts)you can run the hamster wheel
TheCruces
(224 posts)bluedigger
(17,086 posts)This sounds like a great idea. Might I suggest someplace like Chaco Canyon? It should be on the track, and would provide better photographic opportunities, I bet. (Abq can be a little smoggy sometimes.)
abq e streeter
(7,658 posts)And therefore kind of hard to get to...Albq generally isn't very smoggy that time of year unless the forest fires have started. (generally a when not an if).
bluedigger
(17,086 posts)I've only gone through there a few times, but always in the winter when it is really obvious. Inversion layer?
I guess Chaco is way off the beaten track as in the middle of nowhere, but then again, it's less than a two hour drive north of Gallup (off the Interstate).
Abq is fine, though. Clearly a better variety of meet up places. I was just throwing an idea out there.
abq e streeter
(7,658 posts)But those winter days are much more likely to be that way.
back at ya.
abq e streeter
(7,658 posts)Obviously I'm in Abq (which I highly recommend over Lubbock, except we don't have a Buddy Holly Visitors Center), and would be thrilled to meet up with any DU members who should decide to come here to see this.
Kali, I'm guessing this is what the PM was about (?)
sorry about the missing link. Ima doofus. (shhhhh don't tell MFM)
abq e streeter
(7,658 posts)MiddleFingerMom
(25,163 posts)denbot
(9,899 posts)Alley and I tend to camp as opposed to hoteling it. Here is a link to a Albuquerque adjacent campground that would have room for us.
http://www.townofbernalillo.org/depts/campground.htm
Anyone with local knowledge want to chime in?
abq e streeter
(7,658 posts), in other words it's very close to Albq; about 15 miles maybe .So it would be very convenient.
abq e streeter
(7,658 posts)And as I said, Bernalillo is very close, so, while not knowing anything about this particular place, it is very close and would probably be a good choice. If there is other "local knowledge " that you'd like, let me know here or on a PM and I'll do my best to be any help and/or source of information that I can.
UnrepentantLiberal
(11,700 posts)If I still lived in Las Vegas I'd be there.
abq e streeter
(7,658 posts)to do that for anyone interested who's never been here before.
Kali
(55,011 posts)abq e streeter
(7,658 posts)Damn Arizona infidels...