Partial Phase Eclipse with Sunspots

With the adrenaline rush of racing 11 miles south at the last minute with Beau Hartweg to see totality through relatively clear skies, after we returned to Camp Drake, base of operations for Project Stratoclipse, I almost didn't have the presence of mind to take advantage of the fact that the clouds had finally cleared and take any shots of the partial phase of the eclipse. I guess it felt like since I'd missed the first half and totality to clouds, shooting any close-up shots was anti-climatic.

And then I remembered the sunspots. The show was almost over by the time I was set up again but I did manage to get a few decent shots before the end. The first shot is from about 6 minutes before the end of the eclipse and the second one is from less than a minute before the end (4th contact or C4). Note that in the second one there is another group of sunspots visible that were covered by the moon in the first one.

Pretty cool! Can't wait for 2024!

For anyone interested, these were shot with a Nikon D7000 and a Nikon 80-400mm lens on a (roughly) polar-aligned equatorial mount. The shots were taken through a home-made Baader film solar filter.

About 6 minutes before end of eclipse (C4), one sunspot group. 

Less than a minute left before C4, second set of sunspots now visible.

Total Eclipse Time Lapse

This is a first pass attempt at creating a time lapse video of the eclipse using wide-angle shots taken in Marshall, Missouri.

The entire first half of the eclipse was obscured by clouds with the sun just peeking through at totality. Ironically, for most of the end of the eclipse (starting about 15 minutes after totality ended) the Sun was shining against a clear, blue sky.

Notice the umbra moving in from the right and then moving off to the left. In mid-totality, notice how distinctive the Sun's corona is, even as small as the Sun is in the overall image.

Not entirely satisfied with this, yet, but sharing while I continue to work on a "final" version. 

Went for the eclipse, extreme weather was a bonus

I came home from Missouri with more than just eclipse shots. Also got some interesting shots of the Milky Way and storms. I'll post the Milky Way shots in a few days but here are two of the best storm shots. It's incredible how much thunderstorm activity they get up there. 

And, no, I was not storm chasing... these were shot from the door of the machine shop in which we were working (and eventually sleeping thanks to one of the storms) while there. Thanks to Ron Drake for his hospitality!

The weather alert app on my phone said the lightning in the first shot struck just a little over a half-mile away. We heard it at same time as we saw the flash (and we weren't even facing in its direction when it hit). In fact, that is what got my attention and when I realized it had started to rain a bit so needed to get the camera put away.

The second one from the night of the eclipse looks bigger but it was about 4-5 miles away so didn't get our attention the same way.

Click on image for large view. 

Late post, originally posted to Facebook.