Lincoln City, Oregon and the total eclipse of the sun on August 21, 2017

[David Lockmiller]

Residents and visitors of Lincoln City, Oregon in Lincoln County will be among the first United States citizens to view the total eclipse of the sun today, August 21, 2017, assuming fog and clouds will not be a problem. The shadow from the total eclipse of the sun, that occurs when the moon passes in front of the sun to cover the entire surface of the sun from view (an event called “totality”), touches land in the United States first on the Oregon coast between Lincoln City and Newport at approximately 10:15 A.M. Pacific Time (PT). At this Pacific Ocean coast location, the greatest duration of totality on the line at the center of the shadow will be exactly 2 minutes and as the eclipse exits Oregon, the duration of totality will have increased to 2 minutes and 10 seconds. At 10:17 AM PT, the Moon's shadow will be moving across the landscape at 2,413 miles per hour. And, at 10:25 AM PT, the rate of movement for the Moon's shadow will slow to 2,109 miles per hour because the sun will be higher in the sky at that time. The Moon's shadow exits Oregon at 10:27 AM PT.

An amazing viewing scene will take place in Oregon from the top of Mt. Jefferson (10,479' elevation) during the solar eclipse, assuming clouds would not be a problem. If one were there, not only would one see the “totality” of the eclipse, but also the Moon's shadow racing across the landscape as it approaches Mt. Jefferson. One would be able to see distant places to the west darken before totality reaches the mountain and then after two minutes of totality, one would be able to see the shadow racing across the landscape to the east. I hope to see some good photography of this natural phenomena on the internet after the event, or even during the event on TV.

At 10:17 AM PT, the moon’s shadow will have a path width of 61.5 miles and the longest duration of “totality” within the shadow at that time being 1 minute 58.7 seconds (the shadow is a tilted oblong shape). Illinois and Kentucky will experience up to 40 seconds more of “totality” than other sections of the country. The moon’s full shadow will exit at Charleston, South Carolina at 2:48 p.m. ET, for a total elapsed time of the moon’s full-shadow journey across the United States being approximately 1 hour and 33 minutes.

Lincoln City, Oregon is named after Lincoln County, which itself was created by the Oregon Legislative Assembly on February 20, 1893 and named in honor of former U.S. President Abraham Lincoln. Lincoln City was incorporated on March 3, 1965, uniting the cities of Delake, Oceanlake and Taft, and the unincorporated communities of Cutler City and Nelscott. These were adjacent communities along U.S. Route 101, which serves as Lincoln City's main street. The name "Lincoln City" was chosen from contest entries submitted by local school children. The contest was held when it was determined that using one of the five communities' names would be too controversial. The area where the downtown region now lies was historically home to land belonging to the Siletz Tribe.

[Thomas Kearney]

https://twitter.com/ThomasE_Kearney/with...es?lang=en

Check out my Twitter page for pictures I took from the National Mall through the lens of my glasses

[RJNorton]

Thank you, David and Thomas!

The link in Thomas' post did not work on our computer as Vicki and I are not Twitter members. If anyone else has problems following Thomas' link please try this:

https://twitter.com/thomase_kearney?lang=en

[Thomas Kearney]

The plus is Meg McNamara (and other weather girls I have MASSIVE crushes on) knows I exist. They all will battle for my affection with Britney Eurton on the undercard of the Mayweather-McGregor fight Saturday!

[RJNorton]

Many thanks to Bill Binzel for sending this amazing image of the eclipse. The photo was taken by Bill's brother, Richard P. Binzel, Professor or Planetary Sciences, MIT. He led a group of MIT alumni to a small town in southern Idaho to experience the total eclipse yesterday.