Great Eclipse of 2017

Here's a fun game:

Is this a 2024 path of totality or a 1976 Kiss tour?

 

2024 should be an extravaganza to dwarf this year, with mid-game observances at 5-6 MLB Opening Day games.

 

Somebody will be winning an award for that one.
Very well done.

 

They got it right, didn't they?

 

Hmmm . . . .

The eclipse is mighty big in that image, which suggests a telescope.

But the climber in the foreground obviously was shot with a regular camera (although zoomed somewhat, perhaps).

The size of the two things just doesn't make sense. What am I missing?

 

The Greeks were predicting them with incredible precision 3,000+ years ago.

 

Long lens, probably 600mm, shot from a distance. Think of it like this: The sun is so large and so far away, that no matter where on Earth I take a shot of it, it will appear a certain size when photographed at 600mm, probably nearly filling the frame. If I shoot it at 85mm, it will always appear to be a dot in the frame. So the "trick," if you can call it that, is the distance you stand from your subject. The further away you stand and the more you zoom in, the larger the sun will appear relative to the subject.

If I shoot a portrait of a person using an 85mm lens from 10 feet away, they'll take up probably 2/3 of the frame and the sun will be a dot in the distance. If I step back 300 feet and zoom in with a 600mm lens until the person again takes up 2/3 of the frame, the sun will, as always, fill a significant portion of the frame and look relatively huge next to the person.

 

The formula for predicting lunar eclipses has been around awhile too.

How a Total Lunar Eclipse Saved Christopher Columbus

 

For @BTExpress and anyone else interested in how Studer got the shot (it was 512mm, not 600, FWIW):
A Quick Look Behind the Scenes of an Amazing Solar Eclipse Photo

 

Looks like the cover of David Bowie or Pink Floyd album.
"Dark Side of the Eclipse"?

 

I was wondering if anyone followed up to see if anyone did the Carly Simon.