2024 Total Solar Eclipse Anniversary

It's hard to believe it's already been a year since this incredible event. The pace of life has certainly changed. In the years, months, and especially days leading up to the eclipse, there was such a sense of urgency. So much to do to get ready and always the nagging feeling that something was being left undone, the worry if everything would go as planned, if the weather would cooperate. In some ways, it's a nice break to not live with that constant anticipation, but I would happily live with that again to be able to see another total eclipse! It's not all behind us, though. The journey continues as we process and learn from this astronomical marvel.

 

Copyright Nicolas Lefaudeux

Although I spent untold hours post-processing images of totality, I continue to run across information and examples of pulling out even more detail through advanced processing techniques. For example, although French optical engineer and amateur photographer Nicolas Lefaudeux doesn't publish his techniques, his images are great inspiration to delve even deeper into the science and art of eclipse image processing. I continue to experiment with new techniques on my own images so perhaps may have new versions to share some day.

On the science front, one of the activities I am the most proud of is having participated in the NASA-funded 2024 Eclipse Megamovie project. As with the 2017 project, the goal is to use images taken throughout totality, all along the eclipse track, to create a unique time lapse view of the Sun's corona - something we can only view from Earth during a total solar eclipse - to study its behavior. Unlike the 2017 eclipse where I got clouded out, this time I was able to capture all the images needed for the project. 

While the eclipse just lasted a few hours, the scientific analysis using the images and data collected that day will go on for years! You can read the one year anniversary update from principal investigator Dr. Laura Peticolas for more information on progress to date and what's still to come.

To mark the anniversary of the eclipse, the project sent each of the volunteers our own mission patch! Be sure to read the backstory of NASA mission patches and the EM2024 mission patch. We were also each recognized with credit for our contributions to the project on the Eclipse Megamovie web site. It's pretty cool to see my name on the list!

To revisit my stories from preparing for and experiencing the April 8, 2024 total solar eclipse, see the link under Quick Links in the sidebar. 

Below I've included a gallery of some of the highlights of my eclipse experience. 

Capturing fine detail in the corona and the lunar surface illuminated by Earthshine

Baily's Beads and Solar Prominences

Time lapse of totality

Lunar umbra (shadow) passing over landscape captured from drone

April 8th 2024 Total Solar Eclipse: Sungrazer Comet

Click to enlarge

Some news headlines leading up to the total solar eclipse last week suggested we might be able to see the "Devil Comet" (12P/Pons-Brooks) during totality, though with binoculars or a telescope, not naked-eye. We didn't see it but then we even forgot to use our binoculars to look at the eclipsed sun during totality much less remembered to use them to look for the comet.

I was asked whether the comet might appear in the photos I was taking with my telescope and my answer was, unfortunately no, it was well outside the field of view of my equipment. 

However, I was excited to see an article in my news feed late last night describing a comet passing close enough to the sun to fit in a telescopic field of view. Called SOHO-5008, it was a sungrazer, a comet passing so close to the Sun it would appear in coronagraph images by the SOHO solar satellite. This one had been identified in SOHO images the morning of the eclipse and several people found that they had captured it in their eclipse images. Later that day, it had burned up in the Sun. 

This morning, I pulled up my own images from totality and found that I had captured it, too! It took bumping up the exposure far more than I usually would but, once I did that and made a few other adjustments to bring out more detail, there it was. Here is an edit with labels similar to an image from my last post, noting some of the brighter stars visible from constellation Pisces and adding an enlarged inset for the comet. 

I may do another edit later on to balance out the overall image but i wanted to go ahead and share this now. 

Pretty cool, huh?

April 8th 2024 Total Solar Eclipse: Fine Detail in Corona

I went down a bit of a rabbit hole this week, assuming that to really get sharp detailed images of totality I needed to go through the rather involved process of using calibration frames to process all of the images I planned to stack before trying to stack, register and merge them. After spending a few evenings starting down that road, I took a break and in reviewing tutorials on processing solar eclipse images I ran across several that describe doing everything directly in Photoshop without the use of registration frames. 

Following the process described in this Sky & Telescope article, I created the image above using a set of images shot at 2 stop intervals from 1/4000th of a second to 1 second, all shot at f/5 and ISO 100 with my Nikon D750 through our Sky Watcher Evostar 72ED telescope. 

Click on it to enlarge and check out the incredible detail. You'll find features like:

• Plenty of detail in the solar corona
• Solar prominences
• The lunar surface illuminated with light reflected from Earth (Earthshine)
• Several stars from the constellation Pisces

This is just the first phase of edits described in the article so more to come. In the meantime, I did a separate version with features labeled. 

April 8th 2024 Total Solar Eclipse: Sun Funnel in Use

As described in a previous post, I assembled a Sun Funnel to use on our Parks 60mm refractor with the tracking motor running to keep the Sun in the field of view as it across the sky during the April 8th total solar eclipse. 

Our family members who gathered to watch the eclipse enjoyed having an alternative to staring at the Sun through eclipse glasses. It worked great! 

In this clip, you can see the partially eclipsed Sun, a sunspot and even clouds drifting by.

April 8th 2024 Total Solar Eclipse: Timelapse of Totality over Ellis County, Texas

UPDATE: Now that I've had time to work on some of my other images and videos, I went back and remixed this one to fix some things I rushed the first time around. In this edit the sky appears darker, closer to what we saw that day, so the coronal ring around the Sun stands out better. 

Another total solar eclipse imaging projects I planned to do is a timelapse sequence of the eclipse. In 2017 I tried shooting the entire eclipse but this time I just focused on the 5 minutes before totality, the 4+ minutes of totality and the 5 minutes after. Unlike 2017, we had much clearer skies and this came out pretty much just as I planned. Thanks to Alan Dyer (amazingsky.net) for the tips in his book on shooting the eclipse, specifically the tips on shooting a wide-angle timelapse!

To capture this, I set up my son Brian's Nikon D750 with our Irix 15mm f/2.4 wide-angle lens on a tripod at the corner of my son Chris' yard where we were observing the eclipse. My D750 was in use on the telescope so a big thanks to Brian for the use of his camera!

The sequence was shot with the internal intervalometer set to capture an image every second for 15 minutes with the timer set to start it at 1:35pm so that I didn't have to remember to start it on time. I set exposure ramping on so the camera would automatically adjust the exposure as the sky got darker and brighter, then set the exposure compensation to +1.33 so that it wouldn't be heavily overexposed during the pre- and post-totality shots. 

Once at home, I processed the 900 images in LRTimeLapse and Lightroom Classic to create a video clip from the images and then added titles, adjusted track speed and added music in DaVinci Resolve. This is the finished product! 

A few things to watch for in the video:

• At about the 18 second mark, look for the small star to lower right of the Sun. That's not a star, it is the planet Venus!
• The contrail at lower center is probably a commercial aircraft, possibly one of the one flying along the eclipse path to prolong how long they could watch totality. 
• At about the 36 second mark, the "insect" flittering about above us in the drone landing after shooting the arrival and departure of the lunar umbra. 

Enjoy!

April 8th 2024 Total Solar Eclipse: Preliminary Sensor Data

As I shared in an earlier post, one of the many projects I planned for the total solar eclipse involved doing data collection with a variety of sensors based on ESP32 microcontrollers. I haven't done any detailed analysis of the results yet but based on a quick review of some of the sensor data there are clear changes that are in line with what I expected. 

First up is the ambient air temperature measured with a BME280 sensor for temperature, relative humidity and air pressure. 

The air temperature certainly dropped which makes sense given the gradual and then sudden drop in UV sunlight. Interestingly, the drop lagged the eclipse by about 15 minutes with totality starting at 1:40pm local time and the lowest temperature being reached at about 1:55pm. The higher temperature in towards the end of the eclipse makes a little sense given before totality had been mostly cloudy and after totality was mostly clear. I am not yet sure what explains the dip at 2:55 or the temperature reaching over 110 at the end of the eclipse. It wasn't that hot where we were so I have some research to do. 

For air pressure, it appears there was a general trend down. Obviously, air pressure changes are related to broader atmospheric conditions. I suspect I needed to have data from a much longer period before and after the eclipse to have any chance of seeing any form of correlation.

As relative humidity generally has an inverse relationship to temperature (though it can be influenced by other factors), these results are what I would have expected. 

Next up is light level measurements. I used two sensors, an AS7341 color spectrum sensor and a TSL2591, a light level sensor. The AS7341 data will take more analysis to make sense of though it does show light levels in all frequencies it measures dropped to nearly zero during totality. The light levels in lux from the TSL2591 are pretty easy to understand. 

This completely aligns with totality which in the location in Ellis County, Texas, where we were started at 1:40pm and ended 4 minutes 16 seconds later. The left side of the graph makes sense as it was mostly overcast with the Sun occasionally poking through in the period prior to totality, hence the graph peaks and valleys before 1:40pm. The right side of the graph also makes sense. It was generally clear for about an hour after totality but with it turning partly cloudy again in the last half hour. Unlike the start of the eclipse, it was mostly clear skies with large clouds blocking the sun here and there. 

Although this is all very preliminary, just taking a glance at data results via the Home Assistant UI, these seem very much in line with changes expected during a total solar eclipse. If I find other meaningful results as I get time to do a more detailed analysis, particularly the sound level data and the color spectrum data, I'll post that, too. \

Click on a graph to see them enlarged. 

PS. 
As I expected, the magnetometer data collected with a QMC5883L doesn't appear to show any magnetic field changes that might correlate to the eclipse. I'll leave that science to the professionals!

April 8th 2024 Total Solar Eclipse: Lunar Umbra View from Drone

This is a aerial view of the arrival and departure of the Moon's shadow, the lunar umbra, over Ellis County Texas during the total solar eclipse on April 8th, 2024. 

We launched the drone just ahead of totality programmed to hover till the arrival of the lunar umbra and then orbit to film the horizon during totality. 

The sky got darker than I remembered from the 2017 total solar eclipse but the way things looked as the umbra arrived, growing darker first from one direction, and then as it departed, growing light first from the direction it had arrived, was the same as to 2017. 

Thankfully, we had relatively clear skies but the effect would have been similar even if it had been completely overcast. I had hoped that as the drone orbited it would capture the full 360 degree sunset effect along the horizon but it was too cloudy. You can get just a sense of it at the 58 second mark in the video. 

The total phase of the eclipse at this location was 4 minutes 16 seconds. However, as the focus for this video is on the visual experience of the sky getting dark with the arrival of the umbra and growing light again with its departure, the duration of totality is edited down to about 22 seconds. As the Sun was about 65 degrees above the horizon, it was not possible to include the eclipsed solar disk in this video. 

PS.

After posting this, I ran across a similar drone video from 2017 that doesn't show the lunar umbra arrival and departure but it does show the 360 degree sunset effect. Check it out here. 

Details:

Filmed from a DJI Mini 2 drone using DroneLink flightplan

Processed on Mac OS with DaVinci Resolve 

Music

"Eclipse"

by 1st Contact

Shared under Creative Commons License

Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International License

Data Collection Plan for Total Solar Eclipse 2024

First of all, if you've been watching the weather forecasts, you may have concluded that the total solar eclipse passing through Dallas on Monday will be a bust. Well, don't give up hope, yet. Even though we got clouded out in 2017 on our trip to Marshall, Missouri, as you would see in my post from back then, I still managed to capture of view of totality through the clouds. All it takes is for the clouds to part a bit at just the right time or the clouds to be high altitude and thin for us to still be able to see totality. Regardless of the forecast, be sure to get outside to see what there is to see!

Even if we are clouded out, you'll still experience one aspect of a total solar eclipse: it will get dark! With that in mind, I expect to have a successful day whether I get to see the total eclipse or not. I have a bunch of microcontrollers (ESP32) with sensors that I'll be using to collect data that day. 

That said, you may find that my approach to data collection is a bit unorthodox. Here's part of my setup for data collection. Yes, that is a Nonni's biscotti box. :-D

Seriously, here's the type of data I'll be collecting:

- light levels for visible light and near infrared (lux)

- light spectrum levels in various wavelengths

- environment: temperature, humidity, air pressure
- sound level changes (dB)

- magnetic field changes

WARNING: you may be a geek if you keep reading beyond this point. 

TL;DR

The architecture I'm using builds on infrastructure I already have in place. I use Home Assistant running on a Raspberry Pi for my home automation, control and historical data. Home Assistant supports integrating data sensors using microcontrollers called an ESP32 via a system called ESPHOME. By attaching various sensor components to an ESP32 then configuring it in ESPHOME, it makes it simple to automatically collect sensor data in Home Assistant for storage, retrieval, monitoring and analysis. 

Here is an example of a historical data graph in Home Assistant. The beauty of this besides being able to quickly visualize data is that Home Assistant also makes it easy to download the data for analysis in other tools. 

My original plan was to set things up to collect data through three full days, the day before, of and after the eclipse. Given the prospect of clouds and, more importantly, the forecast for rain on Tuesday, I've scaled back to just trying to collect data in the hours around the eclipse. I considered creating weatherproof enclosures for the sensors but that would have turned a shoestring-budget project into something quite a bit more expensive. 

After things have wrapped up, I'll pull up history for all the sensor devices in Home Assistant and download the data for further analysis.

As for the details of the sensors I'm planning to deploy, let's start with the light sensors. You can see details of the code plus the specific sensors in this gist on github.com. For this sensor package, the ESP32 and the sensors are mounted on a breadboard that is in the bottom of the biscotti box.

The reason is that my goal is to measure changes in ambient light. For various (and technical) reasons, direct sunlight would be more challenging to measure with these sensors. Given we should see a drop in ambient light levels (and color levels) during totality even if it is cloudy, I think the data will be more predictable and meaningful just measuring ambient light. Pointing the sensors straight up and blocking them from direct sunlight should accomplish this. 

One thing you'll see in the ESPHOME code for each sensor package is that they generally report data back to Home Assistant once a minute but include a switch I can turn on that tells the sensor to send measurements every second (or faster). I have Home Assistant automations set up to flip the high speed data collection switch on for each sensor package a little while before the eclipse starts and turn it back off a little while after the eclipse ends. That way once I set things up Sunday evening or Monday morning, I can focus my attention on the eclipse, leaving the data collection to happen automatically. 

On one side of the outside of the box is another ESP32 mounted on a breadboard with a sensor to measure the environment. Here's the gist with the ESPHOME including details on the sensor.  It will collect data on temperature, relative humidity and air pressure. The code also derives absolute humidity and dew point. 

Based on things I have read including published eclipse science projects, we should certainly see a change in temperature as the Moon's umbra passes over us during totality. Relative humidity has an inverse correlation to temperature so I expect to see changes to it that are similar to the temperature changes (but inverted). I have no idea what to expect in terms of changes in absolute humidity, air pressure and dew point but it will be interesting to see if there are changes that match the timing of the eclipse. 

On the other side of the box is an ESP32 with a digital microphone. This one is set up to measure changes in sound levels throughout the eclipse. You'll see in the gist, this is based on a custom ESPHOME component. It provides sound levels in several forms but my interest is in just having the unfiltered (raw) sound levels. 

Measuring changes in sound levels that can correlate to the total phase of the eclipse may be challenging. Although it may "get quiet" in terms of reactions to the darkness by birds and insects, my guess is that loud expressions of joy during totality by folks gathered with us to observe the eclipse may offset any drop in sound levels by nature. 

The last sensor package I've put together was an afterthought. I had one more ESP32 and also had a sensor that is a magnetometer, one that measures changes in magnetic fields in 3 axis. See this gist for the ESPHOME code which includes details of the sensor. The ESP32 I'm using in this case also happens to be much smaller than the others which seemed like to a good idea for a sensor trying to measure changes in local magnetic fields. 

Based on my research, there have been changes in magnetic fields around Earth measured during past total eclipses but those measurements were performed with sophisticated equipment in the upper reaches of the atmosphere or in space. I don't have any reason to expect that I'll measure any changes that correlate to the timing of the eclipse with my simple magnetometer setup but I figure I'll do the data collection and see what happens. 

For this sensor package, I've mounted the sensor on top of a wooden yardstick with the ESP32 below and a Wi-Fi antenna below that. My plan is to have this mounted on a stake well away from structures and people to minimize other magnetic fields nearby. However, that means it's further to the Wi-Fi router, hence the extra antenna. I'm also using a power pack instead of using a power adapter plugged into AC power. This means the only limitation on where I can put this will be how far from the house I get before the Wi-Fi signal drops. 

Sometime next week when I have had time to review and analyze the data collected on Monday, I'll write up my conclusions and share them here. 

Just two days and a wake-up before show-time!

Stay tuned!

Countdown to April 8th: Sun Funnel Project

As I mentioned in my last post, I have a lot of irons in the fire for the April 8th 2024 total solar eclipse! One of those is all about viewing the overall eclipse: building a "Solar Funnel" or "Sun Funnel". 

Our old telescope,  a Parks 60mm refractor we bought about 30 years ago, happens to be on an equatorial mount and has a sidereal motor. All that means is that I can point it at something in the sky and the motor ensures that the object remains in the eyepiece (with only an occasional need to adjust the direction the telescope is aimed). 

Normally, we would never point a telescope at the Sun without a solar filter but in this case it is OK: we won't be looking directly into the eyepiece. Instead what would appear in the eyepiece is projected onto a piece of rear-projection screen material, allowing us to see it safely. Better yet, more than one person can watch at the same time!

We have used a similar approach in the past, projecting the Sun onto a white piece of poster board to check out sunspots but that was kind of cumbersome. This Sun Funnel design is much easier to use. 

Ironically, while the Sun Funnel does a great job of showing the solar disk including sunspots and the Moon taking a bigger and bigger "bite" out of the Sun during the partial phase of an eclipse, it won't be something we'll pay any attention to during the "Big Show"; it will be useless during totality since the Sun will have disappeared behind the Moon!

Still, the partial phase of the eclipse lasts hours compared to totality which only lasts minutes so the Sun Funnel will get a lot of use on the 8th. 

If you have a small telescope (even if it doesn't have a motorized mount) and you'd like to build your own Sun Funnel, they are pretty simple to make and don't cost much, either. One of the most commonly referenced sets of instructions is this one from American Astronomical Society, Nightwise.org and NASA:

BUILD A SUN FUNNEL

It has full instructions on building it, how to use it and details like the calculations for how to determine the right size eyepiece for using a Sun Funnel on your telescope. 

I finished ours the other day but today was the first time the Sun was out long enough for me to test it. If you look closely at the second picture (click on it to see enlarged), you'll see that the bright circle in the middle is the Sun, pretty much filling the entire field of view. You'll also see a number of sunspots, several just above center and another one down at the bottom.

Whether you build your own Sun Funnel or not, I hope you will be someplace in the path of the eclipse on April 8th and wish us all "clear skies"!

Countdown to the April 8th 2024 Total Solar Eclipse!

It's just a month away! Actually, as of the time of this post, the next total solar eclipse visible from North America is 30 days 10 hours and 43 minutes away!

Although we had to travel to see the Great American Eclipse in 2017 - the first and only total eclipse I have seen so far - this time the eclipse is coming to us. In fact, we could just step outside in our back yard in East Dallas and enjoy almost 4 minutes of totality. However, we have family a little south of here who live closer to the centerline and will get 4 minutes and 16 seconds of totality so our plan is to spend the day with family enjoying the view. As long as the weather cooperates, of course!

The last time, I was hoping to capture images with a long lens and also a wide angle time lapse. See link above for posts about that experience but unfortunately I had to skip taking pictures to still be able to see the eclipse with my own eyes (something everyone needs to see at least once in their lives). I did get the wide angle time lapse with a glimpse of totality through the clouds but the real treat was seeing it. 

This time I hope to both see totality as well as capture the experience through many other means. The primary goal is to capture the full eclipse, start to finish, through our small telescope, shooting with a solar filters for most of the eclipse and removing it only for those few minutes where the Moon has fully eclipsed the Sun. 

The list of other ways I plan to capture the eclipse isn't final and I am sure I'll have to give up on some of my plans but right now, in addition to the telescopic images, my tentative plans include:

• a wide angle time lapse of the eclipse from beginning to end with our son's family chicken coop in the foreground
• a long-exposure shot on film with a Brownie camera (a family heirloom) outfitted with a pinhole lens
• the family being able to view the sun, sunspots and eclipse through a solar funnel attached to our other small telescope
• video of shadow bands on a white sheet
• aerial video captured with a drone of the lunar umbra moving across the landscape 
• data collection before, during and after the eclipse using a variety of home made digital sensors based on a low-cost microprocessor called an ESP32, collecting information on the environment (temperature, humidity, pressure), sound levels, light levels and light color spectrum 

Stay tuned for more updates on my progress getting all this ready to go!

Geek Break: Calculating Elevation of Jet Transiting the Sun

Brandon Ghany on Flickr

After my last post about capturing a jet flying in front of the Sun, I saw this image Brandon Ghany posted on Flickr of a jet crossing in front of the Moon and what caught my attention is how much smaller the jet is than in my video. 

From Brandon's description, this jet was flying at about 12,500 feet. Clearly, the jet I caught was flying much lower. But how low? I was curious enough to try figuring it out. 

The first factor to consider is that the Sun and Moon are similar but not exactly the same size from our viewpoint. Actually, the distance to the Moon varies a little at different points in its orbit so sometimes it is closer and thus a bit larger than the Sun (necessary to have a total solar eclipse) and sometimes it is farther away and thus a bit smaller than the Sun (leading to views like the Ring of Fire of an annular eclipse such as the one on October 14th this year). But in general terms, they are both roughly a half a degree across viewed from Earth. That means if Brandon had captured a jet at 12,500 feet passing in front of the Sun instead of the Moon, his image would have looked similar, at least in terms of the relationship between the size of the jet and the size of the celestial orb it passed in front of. 

The second factor is that while I know the angular size of the sun (reported by Stellarium as 31.68 arc minutes at the time of my video), for me to determine things like the jet's altitude, I need to know the jet's angular dimension, too. 

To calculate this, I captured a single frame from my video, cropped and rotated it then used drafting software (FreeCAD) to measure the relative difference between the width of the jet's fuselage and the width of the Sun. The ratio came out to 55.25% which means the width of the jet body is 17.5 arc minutes. 

So, how did you do in high school or college trig class? I muddled through but that was also so long ago, I just don't recall the exact formula to use. Thanks to Google, though, it was pretty easy to find what I needed.

d = ( w / θ ) * 60

Simple, right? Well, except I'm missing one variable: w, or width. Google to the rescue again. If I assume that this jet was something like a Boing 737 or an Airbus 320, both pretty common models used by airline companies flying out of DFW and Love Field, then the width of the fuselage is approximately 13 feet. Plugging that into the formula as w and converting arc seconds to degrees and using that as θ, that tells me that the jet was approximately 2,674 feet away when it passed over our neighborhood. 

But was that how high it was flying? Not exactly since it wasn't directly over my backyard. Again checking Stellarium, I found that the Sun's altitude (its angle above the horizon) was about 62.65 degrees.

Dusting off more trigonometry, that gives me two variables of a right triangle, the angle and the hypotenuse. From those, I can calculate the jet's elevation (the opposite side of the triangle) and the distance over ground to the jet's position when it transited the Sun. 

o = h * sin(θ)

a = h * cosin(θ)

Solving these is pretty straightforward with a modern calculator or using spreadsheet software like Google Sheets. Note that these formulas require the angle to be expressed in radians but spreadsheets have a function for that, too, so you don't have to remember the formula for converting degrees to radians:

θ radians = θ degrees * π / 180

So what's the answer? Based on the numbers above, at the time it passed in front of the Sun that jet was flying at an elevation of approximately 2,377 feet and its position over land was about 1,225 feet from my backyard, about a quarter of a mile to the southwest.

I would have thought the jets flying over East Dallas would be higher than that but the data and formulas say it has to be somewhere between 2,000 and 3,000 feet up. To see for yourself, make a copy of my spreadsheet and play around with what happens when you change the jet fuselage width (cell B7). Even if you change it to the size of a jumbo 747, 21.3 feet, the calculated elevation of the jet is still well under 4,000 feet.

Another interesting exercise would be to play around with the ratio of the jet fuselage width to the orb size to see what it has to be for the jet in Brandon's image to be flying at 12,500. Give it a try.

Remind you of one of those math word problems you hated solving in school?

Yeah, but pretty cool, huh?

Note

It's been decades since I was in school so if you find that I've made a mistake in my calculations, I'd be happy to hear about it in the comments.

Solar Transit of a Jet

UPDATE: I've replaced the previous video with a new version that includes the sound of the jet flyover from the original audio track. 

While out filming the sun to practice for the total solar eclipse next April, I was photo-bombed by a jet! 

The technical term is "transit", when an object crosses in front of an astronomical body. There is plenty of air traffic over our house with Love Field and DFW serving the area so I guess this shouldn't have surprised me but observing a transit (like this one, or this one) takes being in just the right place at just the right time so it's a pretty rare thing to have happen. 

One reason I happened to be shooting at this time is that I'm working out exactly what equipment I'm going to be shooting with for the total solar eclipse. This video was shot using:

• Sky Watcher EvoStar 72ED refractor
• Baader film solar filter
• 2" mirror diagonal
• Celestron 1.25" 2X Barlow
• T2-ring
• Nikon D750 DSLR
• Focusing with DeepSkyDad AF3 autofocuser
• Sky Watcher Star Adventurer 2 tracker
• Radian carbon fiber tripod

I have a new 2" 2X Barlow and I plan to shoot straight-through (i.e., no diagonal) but I am still working out what combination of components will allow me to properly focus with the new Barlow. Once I have that worked out, I'll start working on automating my astrophotography workflow using a small computer (a Raspberry 4 running software called StellerMate).  

The quality of this video isn't great but that's basically because I was focusing (pun intended) more on getting the equipment working right than on the finer details. Next April may see a long ways off but it will be here in the blink of an eye and as I know from my experience in 2017, being ready to catch a full eclipse end-to-end, most importantly those few minutes of totality, takes an incredible amount of practice. So, I'll be shooting pretty regularly over the next few months to make sure I have everything working perfectly. 

Anyone have a way to ensure that April clouds don't spoil the eclipse for me, er, us?

Seriously, you'll notice from the video that the Sun is pretty active with quite a few sunspots showing. Over the next few weeks, if I can get a day with good "seeing" (i.e., where there is minimal air turbulence), I'll get some shots with lots of detail, everything in focus, and the sunspots should jump off the page at you. Stay tuned!

Warning 

NEVER look directly at the sun without proper protection. This video was shot using a telescope and camera equipped with a special solar filter.

Solar Eclipse Log

www.eclipse-chasers.com

With at least one more total solar eclipse to look forward to (April 2024), it seems like a good time to start logging...

Nathan's Solar Eclipse Log

Total Solar Eclipse Revisted

Almost two years ago, I experienced my first total solar eclipse. My plans for capturing the eclipse were a bit of a bust but I was able to get to clear skies and witness totality with my own eyes which was, in a word, awesome!

One of several citizen-scientist experiments I planned to participate in was Eclipse Megamovie, a partnership between Google and Berkeley in which photographers along the path of totality would submit their photos to be stitched into a movie that would give scientists a view of changes in the solar atmosphere throughout the eclipse. Since I was not able to capture any suitable photos during totality, I didn't have anything to submit. Still, the movie was cool to see when it came out as was the promise of the scientific discoveries to which it might contribute.

This past week there have been two new solar eclipse-related events. At the end of June, the Eclipse Megamovie project released a new version of the movie. This one has the advantage of all images being synced using the star Regulus which was visible near the sun during the eclipse. They also used a false-color technique that brings out a lot of interesting detail. Check it out below.

Next, on July 2nd, there was a total solar eclipse that crossed Chile. One thing that was special about this eclipse is that the path of totality went right over the ESO La Silla Observatory on the edge of the Atacama desert. Early reports indicate observers had a very successful eclipse viewing. See video below.

New Megamovie

2019 Total Solar Eclipse on Chile

365 Days After Totality Over Marshall, MO, 2057 Days till Totality Over Dallas, TX

One year ago, I stood in awe watching something I'd never seen before, a total eclipse of the sun. It was an awesome adventure - plenty of information on that in previous posts - but for that I had to travel all the way to Marshall, MO.

In a little less than 6 years, I will walk outside my back door and have the opportunity to see the same thing. As with the eclipse of August 21, 2017, the one on April 8, 2024, will cross a significant portion of North America, this time slicing north east from South Texas to Northern Maine, providing millions of people the opportunity to see such a rare sight.

Stay tuned...

A Small Place in Celestron Eclipse Highlights Video

I received an email today that said "Congratulations! Your footage was chosen to be featured in our Eclipse video."

Awesome!

Well, sort of...

Yes, part of the time lapse video I shot while at Camp Drake in Marshall, MO, as a member of the Project Stratoclipse team is included. It's even the background for the main title of the film! But it's just the clouds that obscured our view of the eclipse racing overhead. Not the umbra racing over the clouds. Or the Sun's corona shining through the clouds.

Not complaining... how could I when I have my name in the credits?!? Seriously though, check out the Celestron video. Apart from my footage, there is a lot of other great scenes from the eclipse. I really like how they focused not just on views of the eclipse through telescopes and cameras but also on people and their reactions.

After all, it really was AWESOME!!!

Celestron Video Page

Mission Success!!!

Just a little over a month ago I trekked to Marshall, MO, to be a part of something HUGE!

Yeah, there was the total solar eclipse but I'm talking about PROJECT STRATOCLIPSE! Two guys from North Texas decided sending a weather balloon over 20 miles up into the atmosphere to take video during the eclipse would be a great adventure, a way to capture a rare astronomical event and use the results for science education.

They SUCCEEDED!

If you hadn't seen my previous posts on this, didn't follow along as we shared parts of the adventure live on YouTube and Facebook, didn't subscribe to the project YouTube channel, then CHECK OUT THIS VIDEO!!!

It's of the shadow of the Moon, the umbra, moving across the face of the Earth as the Moon eclipsed the Sun. Shot from near-space. Nothing above but the black of night and, far below, all those clouds that spoiled our view from the ground. Did I mention the umbra?!?

Beau Hartweg, Jake Vaught... thanks for allowing me to be a part of your adventure. Ron Drake, Leah Townsend and the rest of Jake's friends and family in Marshall, thanks for hosting us, for making us feel at home while there. I went expecting to make new friends but I had no idea how many! Timothy Kimsey and your friends at Outpost Worldwide including Michael Wunsch and Kelcie Matousek, it was great getting to know you and I'm looking forward to seeing the film-to-come.

Thanks to Dr. J, Rosalie and everyone at the Frontiers of Flight Museum for helping support Project Stratoclipse.

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. 

Cloudy Totality

Due to the clouds, I didn't get the close-up shots of the sun that I'd prepared for, instead making a last minute dash 10 miles south for a spot with clear enough skies that we could at least see totality. While I'm disappointed in not capturing that view of the eclipse,  the experience of seeing totality with my own eyes was pretty incredible!

However, I did get a sequence of wide-angle shots for a time lapse. The first half is nothing but clouds and from about 15 minutes after totality until the end of the eclipse the sun was sitting in clear skies but the sequence still shows the movement of the umbra across the field of view and, as you can see in this shot from roughly the middle of totality, there is enough detail to be able to see the corona around the sun.

Still working on completing the time lapse... will post when it's complete.