ok, whilst messing with my astro code, i discovered there's a total solar eclipse that goes through Corvallis in 2017! specifically, 2017 August 21 about 10:10 local time.
as you know, total eclipses have a "central line" that moves across the globe. If you're on the line at the right time = total darkness! i had my program emit a google earth KML file. check this:
http://www.voidware.com/tmp/eclipse10-25.kml
just open google earth and load this KML file. what you will see a number of yellow lines across the globe. each one is a central line. if you zoom in, each line has little pushpins. click on these and it will tell you the date and time for the location.
some notes:
all the times are in GMT (ie no summer time correction too), for example the 2017 line hits Oregon at around 17:10 GMT (so -8 + 1 = 10:10 local time).
the line thickness is not to scale. when im feeling really keen i might add this to my program. depending on your zoom, you could be off the line and still see totality. in fact that's quite likely unless your zoom is way out!
where's the conference that year :-)
