Oregon Eclipse Festival 2017

From 17th to 23th August 2017, a Solar Eclipse Festival was organized where people were assembled to watch the total Solar Eclipse. The festival was officially known as the Oregon Eclipse Festival, organized at Big Summit Prairie, Oregon, USA. Big Summit Prairie is a private ranch of over 55,000 acres featuring flat campgrounds, forested areas, and 52-acres lakes. The WorldView-3 satellite captured pre and post images of the Oregon Eclipse festival to show the staggering size of the crowd gathered at this event.
 

                                           Fig.1: Location of the Oregon Eclipse Festival 2017. © Google Earth

A solar eclipse is a type of eclipse that happens when the Moon passes between the Sun and Earth, when the Moon fully or partially blocks the Sun. This can happen only at new moon when the Sun and the Moon are in conjunction as seen from Earth in an alignment referred to as syzygy. In a total eclipse, the disk of the Sun is fully obscured by the Moon.

In total Solar Eclipse, the moon completely covers the disk of the Sun. Only the Sun's corona is visible. This is the most wonderful stage of a total solar eclipse. At this time, the sky goes dark, temperatures can fall down, and birds and animals often go quiet.
 

                                                     Fig.2: Image of total solar eclipse

Oregon Eclipse Festival 2017 was a weeklong festival and about 30,000 people gathered on 20th August 2017, at Oregon to witness the full solar eclipse which stayed for just a few minutes. Oregon was the first state in America to experience the eclipse, where the sun appeared completely covered by the moon. It was the first total solar eclipse to sweep coast-to-coast across the US in 99 years. Before and after satellite images were captured by WorldView-3 Satellite courtesy – DigitalGlobe, showed the staggering size of the crowds gathered at the Symbiosis Gathering, taking place on the Big Summit Prairie, and of the Oregon Star party.
 

                                                  Fig.3: Before and after Satellite images of the festival. © DigitalGlobe

Summary:

Oregon Eclipse Festival was organized on 20th August at Big Summit Prairie, Oregon. It was the first total solar eclipse to sweep coast-to-coast across the US in 99 years. The report states that the solar eclipse was the most observed and photographed in history. To avoid an unpleasant event, Oregon state police reminded people hoping to watch the solar event that stopping, standing, and parking on highways is prohibited.