GotAU?

Thank you for the compliment, it was pretty exciting to get decent photos of it. But to be honest, I only I shot just a few photos then had to stop and just look around as well because it was really cool seeing the edges of daylight around us in the horizon while we were in a dark shadow, and you really can see stars during them while the sun looks like a black hole in the sky. I can see why people panicked and even sacrificed their young when they didn’t know what was happening during an eclipse, they could be seen as rather scary if you didn’t understand it!

Where to go online to get lessons on shooting eclipses? Why you need to go to Mr. Eclipse- seriously! It’s a silly name for a website, but the guy’s got it nailed down: https://www.mreclipse.com/SEphoto/SEphoto.html The main thing I learned is you have to use exposure bracketing to get the best shot, but he takes it further and uses them to process into an HDR image. I only used one of my best exposures for the shots above.

Buy your glasses soon- they sell out fast and unfortunately the price gouging has already started. I was in Idaho for the 2017 eclipse and it was wonderful. Better in person than on television for sure, everyone should see at least one in their lifetime! So this one will be number three for us including the annular eclipse that passed through Utah a couple years ago. We are going to be west of Waco on a friend’s ranch for it- and have the week off for spring break to take our time coming home. Will be traveling through New Mexico and AZ and hopefully will have some time to use the detectors along the way home too. I used a Baader solar filter on my lens for the three bright solar images I took leading up to totality, if you zoom close, you can see sun spots on the sun. No filter was necessary on my camera nor to look at it directly during totality on the last photo to the left.

Gerry, even though you might have removed your ring and think it was your great personality and looks that gathered all those girls, did you remember to take that nugget out of your mouth? That’s OK, for most prospectors, the best types of girlfriends and wives can also be gold diggers! 😉

Interesting… the ad feeds here on DP must be reading the content - a $.74 tungsten carbide ring sounds like a bargain!

Yeah, it’s pretty obvious when you see Joshua trees or sagebrush, and some show certain types of pines as well but plants can only really show a region. I’m sure it’s the same for those in other places of the world like in Australia. The AI programs do use large geologic features that are shown in Google Earth, but not smaller ones - local rocks or outcrops that are unique enough that someone familiar to an area knows. I have to admit it is sort of fun trying to figure out where photos were taken, that’s why I’m volunteering to do it from my wife’s company. It just got a lot easier to do these days.

That was an impressive modification and I wanted to try it also when you first posted about it. Someone will like it!

Sure, hope it helps others out there to be careful about sharing too much online. It’s also amazing how many people forget to turn off their location sharing option (GPS tag) when texting or sending photo files- the GPS tags can be useful for personal use but they do pinpoint the location very well for anyone who was given a copy. One of my buddies was good at doing it until I showed him what he was accidentally sending out. It’s good that this website does not keep the EXIF data (GPS tags or location information) on any of our posted photos, so it’s safe to post other types of photos or those that don’t show too much of the horizon.

Well it’s here and probably here to stay so people need to understand and live with its abilities. Not only is AI great at programming and writing, it has become advanced enough to find locations by matching landscape photos that people post online to Google Earth images and others, and with fairly good accuracy. This does not depend on the GPS tag location information that is also stored on your smartphone photos, it is actually an image search and analysis of the horizon features shown in the photo that it is doing. I am into Geography and GIS, and use a publicly available locating program to help with my wife’s historical archaeology work to find locations where old photos were taken (it only works if there hasn’t been too much development of the area in the meantime) and it has been fairly accurate. Anyways, just a heads up if you like to post landscape photos online but also want to keep your locations safe, as it is no longer just those people who are familiar with an area that can recognize where your landscape photos were taken, AI can now do it for for anyone almost as well as long as there’s a horizon shown with some features in the skyline (mountains and valleys and other unique items in the skyline).

Hi Chris, Anthony here and welcome! As others have helped me out I’m happy to pass on some of what I learned. For a good where to look, go where gold has been found before - start out here: Then browse this section: And also read up on all you can about using your detector. Also hook up with a local club and find some local experts there to learn how to look, and also consider a class from a dealer if you can as well. good luck!

Thanks Doc! I don’t really use over the ear headphones due to wanting to hear my environment while detecting, but I often wear over the ear hearing protection while doing yard work and other loud hobbies while outside and always curse having to try to put wide-brimmed hats over them.

A foot and a half for an aluminum can isn’t bad, at least you know when you finally put your coil over the big one you’ll be able to detect it! I was going to suggest you should spend the night out there guarding it, but it’s good you didn’t. 😉

To be honest, I think getting more grab samples across the area would be more effective than drywashing in fewer spots for testing to verify the presence of gold. Keep track of where you got all the samples, and if any of them turn out positive, then bring the drywasher there. Also, if youre sampling gravel and dirt fines, then dig a hole because any of the gold is buried below it.

If you’re thinking gold, why don’t you grab a bunch of samples and hand pan in it? These little piles in the center are kind of interesting, if I saw them in person I would be sure, but could they maybe be drywasher piles? Can’t quite tell from the photo.

There was a photo floating around the internet of a guy’s 7000 with a crushed case from doing just that.

…or when you can’t figure out why a target is still there under a bush when you dig and dig and dig, only to notice then that there’s a little bit of wire tucked away up inside the branches of the bush?

Hi, my name is Anthony and I watch Jeff Williams. OK there since no one else has openly admitted it! 🙃

Also keep in mind that the hills were most likely not there when the gold deposits were formed, so as for placer gold, it could have come from an area above you that is now just sky…

And if you use it and like it, be sure to throw them a bone or two also! Thanks Clay!

I was in a narrow and low mine adit once that had so many daddy long legs on the ceiling that it looked furry. Then my idiot coworker touched them causing them to panic and they all started falling down on us in a wave as we ran out of the mine. It was like Indiana Jones and the tarantulas. That was pretty funny.

Travertine with plant fossils mixed in?

Are they a mineralized part of the rock or a separate recently deposited organic thing like an insect casing that you can pick off with a pin?

Knowing more about the age and type of formation of the surrounding rock it came from would be really helpful, e.g., marine or terrestrial?, but I think it’s a fossil - maybe a tooth or horn coral? http://earthsci.org/expeditions/fossil_shapes/fossil_shapes.html

You’re right… good way to help out!

Remind him not to break the meteorite, it’s worth more that way! 😉 What an interesting find, any photos and has it hit the local news yet? Keep us posted!