What does a solar eclipse at 99% totality look like?
People smarter than me say the sun will be 99% covered during the 2017 solar eclipse where I live (Portland, OR metro). I am curious to know what it might look like (photo or drawing). Does this photo approximate 99% coverage? Or will there be slightly more sun? Will I still see some of the corona?
At 99% the sun will be reduced to a small sliver. There are simulations on the internet. It will become very notably darker. However, the sun is 400000 times brighter than the full moon, so 1% of the Sun is still 4000 times brighter than the Moon, and so no corona will be visible. You can still damage you eye looking at that sliver.
Since the centre of totality is less than an hour's drive from Portland, if you have a car, and can get out early, you can see totality and the corona (weather permitting)
You would be daft not to. There is a huge experiential difference between 99% and 100%.
@RobJeffries - The roads will be literally gridlocked. Ugh. Not only will everyone from Portland will be heading south on I-5, so will Seattle which is a couple hours north of here. That normally one hour drive to Salem (in totality zone) will probably take 3-4 hrs or more. Then head back home afterwards.
@iMerchant There are people I know from the UK travelling significantly longer and further...
3-4 hrs drive to see a total solar eclipse? Nah, I wouldn't bother if I were you. I mean, a couple of hours would be totally worth it but that's just getting silly.
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Content dated before 7/24/2021 11:53 AM
barrycarter 5 years ago
You might want to use stellarium.org (free) for a more accurate (though still not necessarily 100% accurate) simulation.