annular Solar Eclipse Sat Oct 14

[LCHIEN]

Anyone going to watch the solar eclipse Saturday?
This one is special because its annular... the moon is far enough away you can see a ring of sun around it.
From my house it will be partial... 86%
In Houston it will start at 10:27AM and end at 1:37PM with the maximum obscuration at 11:59AM (CDT)
Clear skies predicted.


If you miss this one,.
There's one in April 2024, total not annular crossing the continental US
One in 2039 only visible in Alaska
and one in 2046 from the Continental US

You cannot look directly at it, you must use protective solar capable glasses and photo equipment.

https://www.nbcnews.com/science/space/rare-ring-fire-solar-eclipse-will-cross-us-saturday-see-rcna108104

[leehljp]

IF you can, enjoy it with the family and grandkids. Great moments when Grandpa gives great (and sometimes joking misguided ) information on the event!

LOML and I went to Missouri to be with our middle daughter and watched the 2017 from the epicenter. Next year's April 8 solar eclipse epicenter will be within about 20 mile of my oldest daughter in Arkansas and that day has been set aside for that. In the early '80s, there was a total eclipse in Louisiana and we lived about 10 miles from the epicenter. I have watched several lunar eclipses.

Can you tell that I enjoy these special nature events?

[cwsmith]

While I'm over here in the NE, I would only see about a 25% coverage, it is overcast and raining!

[LCHIEN]

Some pictures. Used a 100,000:1 ND filter stack for the direct image with a 600 mm equivalent focal length lens




Light filtering through leaves of tree show the light source pattern

[leehljp]

I used a welding helmet for the one in the early '80s in S. Louisiana. A GOOD welding helmet works well but does look odd in a group!

[capncarl]

Our family had a great view of the total solar eclipse in Aug 2017 in S Carolina. Everyone had the cute paper solar glasses, which I kept for future eclipses! I guess I’ll save them for the total eclipse in 2024, if I can arrange a trip to its path.

[twistsol]

Extended family and I were on the deck of the Carnival Breeze for it. Nephew brought eclipse viewing glasses for all of us. An awesome view.

[Mumphi]

While I'm over here in the NE, I would only see about a 25% coverage, it is overcast and raining!

I also noticed that when I was in the NE

Fun Games

[taniba]

I also noticed that when I was in the NE

same like me!

[Pappy]

I'm looking forward to the eclipse in April. KI ran latitude and longitude for the house and I'm supposed to have 99.91% blackout. 2 hours and 41 minutes duration with maximum eclipse and 1:36.

[LCHIEN]

Its always exciting! Rare enough to be noteworthy. Cool, some natural phenomena you don't see just every day.
Make sure you are prepared with the right stuff and a place to see it.

[Pappy]

"Make sure you are prepared with the right stuff and a place to see it."

Loring, if the weather is good enough I plan to watch it floating in the pool with an ice chest of beer floating nearby!

[LCHIEN]

Well, Cool!

[cwsmith]

Today was the 'big' solar eclipse that I've been waiting for. Loring's post above inspired me to gather my stuff and schedule the time.

Got my tripod ready, a fluid panning head that I bought a few years ago, and of course my Canon 80D dslr. I've never photographed anything beyond a nice shot of the moon that I posted three or four years ago. But shooting the sun takes a lot more skill and of course equipment.

Frankly I was impressed with Loring's skill and thought I'd see if I could even come close, although the best lens I have is only a 400 mm focal length zoom.

So doing some reading I bought a KF Concepts ND 1000000 lens (that's with six zero's !) and it arrived two weeks ago. Would you believe I haven't seen a clear sky or direct sun since it arrived! I was hoping I'd at least get a couple of practice shots, but it the weather hasn't cooperated. Well near the end of last week the forecast was for an 80% chance we'd see that this morning.

Yesterday was sunny but quite hazy, worse I was busy all day with other priorities, unfortunately.

This morning I set up the tripod, and got my camera and lens together. At 2:08 the moon was to just shadow the lower edge at about the 5 o'clock position, I was going to be ready, even had my solar eclipse glasses, and I bought a few to share with my neighbors.

Well at just about 1:30 the clouds moved in and by 2:00 there was probably 90% coverage. Enough blockage that all I could point to was a bright area in the clouds. Not enough light to penetrate my very dark filter. The camera registered nothing on the screen.

At about 2:20 using the solar glasses I spotted a pencil-sized image of the sun and the crescent of the moon's shadow was just slightly evident. Pretty neat, but even that lasted only a few seconds; and, there wasn't enough brightness to penetrate the lens filter. From there the clouds increased dramatically and it looked like any other normal winter day in the Northeast.

At that point I said 'the devil with it' and we went about our normal routine. At 3:23 the eclipse was at its point of totality, here in Binghamton that was 97.4%, and it would have been nice to capture that image.

At that particular time I was at my local Harbor Freight store talking to one of my friends there. On of the guy's in line said, "Oh was that today, I was wondering when that was supposed to happen?"

That's how our weather is all too often. It gets dark at 3:30 and some people just don't see it as unusual, just another stormy day.

Guess I'll have to use this lens filter to catch another sunny day, and see if I can see any sun spots!

[LCHIEN]

I hoped to see the Corona at totality, too. I visited my son's family in north Austin this week... his house in just inside the path of totality but I went 30 miles to Bertram to get an extra minute of totality. Unfortunately is was overcast and only got a few shots of the eclipse before totality and missed the entire Corona view. It did get dark as night rapidly and for 4 minutes and all the street lights came on.
two cameras, two telephoto. Two sets of solar filters.
I still haven't got a look at what I got... when I get home I'll upload to the computer and see.
here's a good picture from someone in my camera group at facebook:
credit Noah e. Moses iii.

[cwsmith]

Hi Loring,

That is certainly a beautiful picture!

As mentioned in my post, I've never attempted to photograph the sun, to I searched and found this on Amazon, as their 'Amazon Choice', https://www.amazon.com/Concept-ND1000000-Multi-Layer-Waterproof-Resistant/dp/B0CRTYBH75/ref=sr_1_2?crid=T5COJF28NMPG&dib=eyJ2IjoiMSJ9.oRle b0rIBhCZYf7juOjvaM-BHYPlC2yilYFuSDTbY39g4DmgiZWBYdWV2cbk3s2Hc3lFupszZ cONfr3wRHBXtvUuyLsAPw-BysNGiiz9PtevTIxQ4_zQwYzkWUYBFWc6wHtnIkqqKIBR0rG1B 504MVfaMVwJ3HEfjo-VysBh1Utbc1mDCzTD_1fOYdZIaFS1VgVi04PWA2J-XLLjuWKE_I-9LfH05s_Z4H-mb2IHN5I.jlOqNcXm76s4JE2ibKvMKL50wTrEvUeGy5Bwn757z c8&dib_tag=se&keywords=kf%2Bconcepts%2Bsolar%2Bfi l ter&qid=1712629887&sprefix=KF%2BConcepts%2Caps%2C1 57&sr=8-2&th=1

Without actually seeing the sun, this filter was much too dark. With it in place, even shining a bright flashlight into the lens, showed nothing. And seeing nothing, my camera wouldn't take the picture with it covering the lens. Obviously I don't know what I'm doing or some setting isn't right. I was disappointed. I will be trying it on a full sun to find out what the problem is, the lens, the camera, or is it me! I think I should stick to what I know, but I couldn't pass up the challenge... as the song says, "The clouds got in my way".

CWS

[leehljp]

Something that I had not thought of in my two previous total eclipses that was pointed out in some eclipse news that I read on Saturday or Sunday before the eclipse on Monday: If IN the path of totality - but close to the edge of the totality path, there would be some tiny peaks of light shining through for a few seconds near the bottom (or top), and these could be the sun shining through a valley or rill on the moon. I wasn't expecting this per se, but it did happen and figured immediately that was what it was. But several of my family of 9 and myself, meeting at my daughter's home about 4 miles inside the very edge of totality - they all saw it and at first exclaimed the "diamond", but one of my sharp grandsons pointed out that it was a probably a rill on the moon that the sun was shinning through. I was so proud of that 3rd grade grandson. Everyone else was going "Huh?"

[LCHIEN]

Something that I had not thought of in my two previous total eclipses that was pointed out in some eclipse news that I read on Saturday or Sunday before the eclipse on Monday: If IN the path of totality - but close to the edge of the totality path, there would be some tiny peaks of light shining through for a few seconds near the bottom (or top), and these could be the sun shining through a valley or rill on the moon. I wasn't expecting this per se, but it did happen and figured immediately that was what it was. But several of my family of 9 and myself, meeting at my daughter's home about 4 miles inside the very edge of totality - they all saw it and at first exclaimed the "diamond", but one of my sharp grandsons pointed out that it was a probably a rill on the moon that the sun was shinning through. I was so proud of that 3rd grade grandson. Everyone else was going "Huh?"

They have a name: Bailys' Beads

[leehljp]

You know, I have seen the term "Bailey's Beads" many times but never read what it was except the edge of the sun light passing through. Age is catching up with my mind!