Early Solar Eclipse reports

Tem, whom I know to be an aficionado of weather conditions, noted several days ago on Facebook that the solar eclipse was on the Midheaven in Houston and eastern Texas, the site of Hurricane Harvey’s biggest impact.

On Sunday morning, a spokesman for the National Hurricane Center said: “Everything that we had hoped wouldn’t happen but was forecasted is happening. We have a catastrophic, life-threatening flood event taking place over southeastern Texas, including the Houston metropolitan area. It’s bad now and it’s getting worse.” Torrential rains are forecast for days to come.

I am writing this blog at the time of the above dire announcement — the Moon is in Scorpio and will square the North Node and Mars (24° Leo) and the eclipse degree (29°) early Monday morning (Pacific time).

Transiting Mars has been conjunct the North Node (August 26-27) and will reach the eclipse degree (29° Leo) on September 3, followed by Mercury’s direct station on September 5 at 28°25′ Leo.

Our thoughts and prayers are with all our friends and families — known and unknown — in Texas.

Here are a few other early stories from the eclipse:

On Science Alert site, How Did Animals React to the Solar Eclipse? includes this report from the Memphis Zoo (93% visibility):
“Visitors and staff observed the black bears running around during totality, then calming down after the sun returned, the giraffes moving toward the barn like it was nighttime, and African black-footed penguins vocalizing.”

For those of you who may have been on the internal prayer/ritual path and missed the excitement of watching the eclipse, here’s a well-done 5-minute video from Madras, Oregon.

And these guys at Smarter Every Day caught the space station transit across the Sun from Wyoming — “There’s good people all across America, y’know.” They had great equipment, and at totality the photographer got so excited his “brain stopped working.”

A reporter from N.Y.’s station PIX11 went to Oregon for the eclipse. Read his report and watch the video clip: The emotions and impact of seeing a total solar eclipse – a reporter’s first hand accoint.
“I had heard, and seen on TV, my entire life, reports and dramatic images of total solar eclipses and the effect they can have on people fortunate enough to view them. And then I was one of the fortunate ones Monday … The 1 minute and 38 seconds of totality that I had was … again, there are no words for the emotions, the feelings.”

And, from Richard Quinnell, editor-in-chief at Electronic Products website, here’s another account: Solar Eclipse 2017: My first hand account of witnessing totality
“The moment has arrived. Solar glasses come off and the awesome spectacle of a black hole in the sky surrounded by a white nimbus becomes visible to the naked eye. The crowd around us cheered; small children shrieked and danced with excitement. People pointed out the brightest stars that suddenly appeared (“There’s Venus, the morning star!”). I felt like I was suddenly in another world, or at least on the set of a science fiction movie. Others simply grew profoundly quiet, perhaps contemplating how truly small we are and how vast our universe is.”

Nick Anthony Fiorenza, creator of Lunar Planner works with the sidereal zodiac. He has a very detailed look at the sky configurations surrounding the solar eclipse.
“In addition to the Total Solar Eclipse, another equally significant event occurs within this lunar cycle: the Ceres Jupiter-Haumea Eris T-Square.” He has a beautiful graphic ephemeris (from May 2016 through October 2017) of Ceres Uranus-Eris Opposite Haumea-Jupiter & the Jupiter-Pluto Square.

Also, a 2-minute video of the angles for Harvey’s landfall in Rockport, Texas as “a ‘Grand Square’ forms on the location’s angles … Pluto-Midheaven (MC) opposite Ceres (IC) and Eris-Uranus rising (ASC) opposite Moon-Haumea-Jupiter setting (DSC).” (This is very easy to follow with his graphic.)

And, from TMA‘s (newly formed) Planning Ahead department, here’s a short video that shows every upcoming solar eclipse until 2040 (created by Tech Insider).

We look forward to hearing from more of you about your eclipse experience for a future blog.

Until then, stay safe out there, everyone. And, in deference to Saturn’s direct station (August 25), enjoy the passage of time.