Space Weather & Football: Solar Eclipse this Saturday
The moon's shadow will sweep across the country Saturday morning/afternoon and will significantly darken some noon games.
In Ann Arbor, the eclipse will go from 11:45 am to 2:25 pm, peaking at 1:03 pm when the sun will be about 35% obscured by the moon (0.47 magnitude*). Combine that with the forecast calling for a lot of clouds and rain and this may feel more like a night game.
Notable teams/darkness (all 12n kicks):
- TEM @ NTX (0.86m)
- ARK @ ALA (0.69)
- SYR @ FSU (0.67)
- UGA @ VAN (0.62)
- OSU @ PUR (0.55)
- IND @ MICH (0.47)
- MSU @ RUT (0.36)
Notes:
- North Texas should be the best eclipse viewing (most obscured + clearest skies)
- FSU or even MICH could be the darkest game depending on the weather
- Even east coast games like MSU @ RUT will probably appear noticeably dim/weird on TV
- Too bad UCLA @ Oregon State (0.94) and SJSU @ NM (0.97) take place well after the eclipse has finished :(
*Pop-POP!
October 11th, 2023 at 11:47 AM ^
Is this the one where if you look at the sun you'll burn your retinas out?
October 11th, 2023 at 1:12 PM ^
Yeah, solar eclipses are the ones that come with a danger of solar retinopathy. I am sure that, all goes well, Tom Allen will wish he had it by halftime.
October 11th, 2023 at 5:38 PM ^
This is the Ring of Fire eclipse. The moon is a bit further away from the earth, so more of the sun is exposed. You can’t look directly at it without harming your eyes.
The eclipse 7 years ago allowed viewers (like me and the fam) to look directly at the eclipse (for a brief period of time) without eye protection. It was so dark that cicadas got fooled and went into full night time noise making.
October 11th, 2023 at 11:49 AM ^
Once upon a time there was light in my life. Now we only play Indiana in the dark.
October 11th, 2023 at 11:56 AM ^
Total eclipse of Mike Hart?
October 11th, 2023 at 11:59 AM ^
Then said Ryan Day: "Buckeyes have toughness at heart"
October 11th, 2023 at 3:05 PM ^
Turn around, bright eyes. Every now and then Ryan Day falls apart.
October 11th, 2023 at 11:56 AM ^
Why North Texas? This map says San Antonio, but I'd love it if it were a little further north.
https://www.greatamericaneclipse.com/texas-2023-eclipse
October 11th, 2023 at 11:59 AM ^
UAB @ UTSA is a 8pm kick... many hours after the eclipse.
October 11th, 2023 at 12:00 PM ^
UTSA also plays in the Alamo Dome.
October 11th, 2023 at 12:25 PM ^
#FACTS
October 11th, 2023 at 1:46 PM ^
Sorry. I meant for general viewing, CFB aside.
I thought you could only view the solar eclipse from within those bands, but that's incorrect.
October 11th, 2023 at 2:37 PM ^
Wait until next year, It might occur in April when 98% coverage in A2 and then 100% at Toledo. The max will go from about east TX to Lake Erie as the path of total eclipse. (Don't quote me on the exact date, will have to look it up, but it will be big news as we get closer to that event)
Edit: the date will be April 8th, see the comments from Nittany Fan down below.
October 11th, 2023 at 6:29 PM ^
A friend of mine lives near Buffalo and said a lot of people have already made hotel reservations for next year’s eclipse. They’re expecting thousands of people in the area come April.
October 11th, 2023 at 11:58 AM ^
Unfortunately, I think you might be over estimating how much this will have an affect on perceived brightness. Brightness typically varies by orders of magnitude from inside to outside and with cloud cover etc.
October 11th, 2023 at 12:11 PM ^
While there's no guarantee how things will actually appear in each location (clouds, rain, humidity, camera settings, etc.), blocking 80% of the sun (Denton, TX) should definitely be noticeable.
In other areas like AA (where the sun will 35% obscured) perhaps it'll make a gloomy, overcast day appear more so.
In either case, this should be somewhere between unnoticeable and the apocalypse. 🤣
October 11th, 2023 at 2:19 PM ^
I don't like being the downer here, but:
Blocking 80% isn't noticeable, our eyes adjust. To put this in perspective, cloud cover blocks 90% of light and we still see fine on a cloudy day.
Ann Arbor will be interesting light wise if the cloud cover is present, but even then it still won't seem like a night game from this.
Unless they mess with TV feeds, we won't notice differences on East Coast games with such small amounts being blocked.
In other words: eyes being incredible 1, space 0.
October 11th, 2023 at 8:31 PM ^
I agree. Anecdotally, during the total eclipse a few years back, I didn’t notice it getting darker until about 10-15 minutes before total block out. Surely we were experiencing over 90% blockage during that time.
October 11th, 2023 at 2:40 PM ^
1/3 coverage of the sun will have a noticeable dimming effect. It will make a gloomy day even darker for a short while. It will look like a big storm is coming as the skies darken.
October 11th, 2023 at 11:59 AM ^
Further proof, there's no such thing as "normal" when OSU visits Purdue.
------
FWIW, even if it was a cloudless day in AA, the sun being 40% obscured wouldn't really be noticed by anyone at all. You need it to get to 90%+ to be distinctly noticeable levels.
October 11th, 2023 at 12:02 PM ^
You’ll never notice.
October 11th, 2023 at 12:06 PM ^
For those not aware ---- parts of America will experience a TOTAL solar eclipse next spring, on Monday April 8, 2024.
The sun will be 98-99% obscured in AA and Detroit. The path of total eclipse will just barely brush the southeastern corner of Monroe County: that's the only portion of Michigan within totality.
San Antonio, Austin, Dallas-Fort Worth, Little Rock, Indianapolis, Dayton, Toledo, Cleveland, Buffalo, Rochester NY, Syracuse and Burlington VT are among the cities that get the full show.
Hopefully the weather is good that day! IMO, it's an event worth traveling for (I traveled to Nebraska to see the August 2017 total eclipse).
The difference in the experience between 99% totality (Ann Arbor) and 100% totality (Toledo) is HUGE: this is definitely a case where "close enough" absolutely is NOT "close enough."
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Solar_eclipse_of_April_8,_2024
October 11th, 2023 at 12:54 PM ^
Cant agree with this more. I've seen a total and 90+% partials and they are not even remotely in the same ballpark. Partial eclipses are a 1 minute curiosity and total eclipses are absolutely mind-blowing.
October 11th, 2023 at 7:23 PM ^
I hadn't seen a total eclipse until I took my son to Madrid, OR for the 2017 eclipse. It was truly spectacular to see. We car camped on a local farm which was great. They even did big pig roast. My son still talks about it. Highly recommend doing it at least once in your life.
October 11th, 2023 at 1:43 PM ^
So even with southeastern Monroe County, you might still have to drive from Michigan through Ohio to get to Michigan (couple of weird peninsulas there by Toledo).
October 11th, 2023 at 1:59 PM ^
The Lost Peninsula! There's a bar (that sells Michigan lottery tickets), a few dozen homes and a marina there, I made a field trip there once out of curiosity.
For the geography nerds, there are a few other small oddities like that:
- Kentucky Bend: a part of Kentucky only reachable by land via Tennessee.
- Carter Lake, Iowa: a town of ~ 4000 that is fully west of the Missouri River and fully surrounded by Omaha, but it's still part of Iowa.
- Point Roberts: a part of Washington State only reachable by land via Canada. (John Tortorella chose to live here when he coached the Canucks, which was a point of contention with management)
- Northwest Angle: same situation, this is a part of Minnesota.
October 11th, 2023 at 3:09 PM ^
We're already prepping for this in Burlington. We've had this event circled on our calendars for a while.
October 11th, 2023 at 12:07 PM ^
I will be at the game Saturday but I'm waiting for the big eclipse in April where the eclipse will be total if you are willing to venture into Ohio.
October 11th, 2023 at 12:13 PM ^
eVeRyBoDy PaNiC!!!
October 11th, 2023 at 12:17 PM ^
The ultimate M00N game!! Never forget!!
October 11th, 2023 at 12:22 PM ^
How will this eclipse be impacted by the weather - which at this time - appears to be cloudy with a pretty good chance of rain?
October 11th, 2023 at 12:29 PM ^
WEATHER, BITCHES. WEATHER.
October 11th, 2023 at 12:30 PM ^
+1 for Community
October 11th, 2023 at 12:40 PM ^
Me at 1:03
October 11th, 2023 at 12:46 PM ^
As noted above there is a big change between partial and total. We viewed the 2017 eclipse in Columbia SC. Living in Virginia it was a relatively short trip so thought would be fun to do but it was WAY cooler than I anticipated. It was a very hot day and maybe at 50% ish coverage you could start to feel the difference in heat but change in daylight wasn’t very dramatic. From memory the noticeable difference in diminishing daylight was almost all after 90-95%.
If you haven’t experienced one I recommend. We decided that day we would do Austin in 2024 for the next one.
October 11th, 2023 at 1:46 PM ^
We are going to the western suburbs of Cleveland which is in the center line of the path. Toledo is on the western edge of the total eclipse. Michigan is outside of the total eclipse except for a portion of Erie Township.
October 11th, 2023 at 12:47 PM ^
May the shadow of the moon fall on a world at peace.
This poetic line from the ABC News Anchor in 1979 is a little haunting - but also a reminder. We always have something to aspire to.
October 11th, 2023 at 1:42 PM ^
maybe these guys are available for half time.
October 11th, 2023 at 1:46 PM ^
I am heading to the centerline of the path of "annularity", west of SA, TX. Hoping the sky will remain clear. I expect some dimming, almost an eerie lighting where I am going. I do not expect the lighting to be too different outside the band.
This would be the closest I get to the totality since my first and so far last one in 1995. Excited. Very excited.
October 11th, 2023 at 2:25 PM ^
If you're not in totality, it's hard to notice much visually unless you are wearing eclipse glasses and staring directly at the sun. Do not stare at the sun if you do not have eclipse glasses.
However, if you happen to be in a very dry or desert area, you can notice the temperature dropping even though the sun looks the same. Since dry areas cool down quickly without sunlight, when the sun is 50% covered, you can't see it with the naked eye but you can feel it. Pretty neat experience if you can find a dry climate to observe the eclipse in.
October 11th, 2023 at 2:26 PM ^
Good info on this. Given the very thick cloud cover and the rain, the scene will certainly look like a night game sometime in the 2nd and 3rd quarters. It will look eerie outside.
October 11th, 2023 at 3:36 PM ^
I bought my glasses. We are in the path for this annular and the springs total eclipses.
October 11th, 2023 at 7:46 PM ^
MSU @ RUT (0.36)
It would be better for everyone involved if we could get the magnitude cranked way up for this one. The darker the better. We've got to protect the children.
October 11th, 2023 at 9:54 PM ^
It reminds me of the Space Lord Mother Fucker song, .from Monster Magnet. It was changed to Mother, Mother for radio play. LOL
October 12th, 2023 at 8:28 AM ^
Too bad Michigan Stadium doesn't have lights.