Here for the eclipse...

This was my live reporting from on-site in Missouri during the early phase of the Great American Eclipse, waiting for totality (and worried about the clouds).

Late post from the day of the eclipse, originally posted live on Facebook. 

Waiting Patiently for Eclipse

We arrived at base camp for Project Stratoclipse, a farm in Marshall, Missouri, on Thursday evening and have been busy preparing for Monday's big event ever since. I am still refining my technique for capturing the eclipse but in the mean time I'm taking a break from the sun and reviewing some of the other images I've captured in the past few days.

Most of these have very little editing, just some basic tweaks to brightness and color, so later on (i.e., after the eclipse) I'll go through all my shots in detail and post (or repost) the best once after I've had time to take a closer look at them and do some fine tuning.

What's amazing is how much less light pollution there is here than at home. Marshall's not a large town but it's also not that far from places like Kansas City, Springfield, etc. so I was a little surprised at how dark the skies are... it has a Bortle Scale of 4 compared to 8 for home (Mesquite, Texas). That's a huge difference!

Enjoy! We're less than 48 hours from the eclipse!

Sunset the first night. This is a high dynamic range (HDR) image
created by combining 3 images taken at different exposures.

Same tractor, this time with Milky Way instead of the Sun. 

Last night we got hit by a thunderstorm but it was pretty mild.
However, after it rolled by us it really exploded with activity.
We watched it carry on like this for a half-hour or more. 

The storm was still going on but had moved far enough to the
south-east for our skies to clear, allowing me to capture both the
distant storm and the Milky Way. 

A similar view of the storm in the distance with the Milky Way
rising above farm equipment. 

My Eclipse Adventure: Project Stratoclipse

On August 21st, 2017, I'll be staring up into the sky to experience the wonder of a total solar eclipse. Along with almost 20 million of the rest of you (based on stats from GreatAmericanEclipse.com).

In my case, the goal is to experience the eclipse but also to capture it. But more on that in a later post. As it turns out, I know someone else who has plans to capture the eclipse and they are literally "out of this world"!

This Thursday, I leave for Marshall, Missouri, with Beau Hartweg. We will be part of a group camping on a farm south of Marshall from then through Tuesday, all in the name of science. Beau is pursuing a doctoral degree with a focus on science education and is also a planetarium educator. He is also one of the principles, along with Jake Vaught, of a project called Project Stratoclipse. Rather than describe the project myself, here's how Jake and Beau describe it on the project Google Plus profile page:

Tagline

Elevating the "Great American Eclipse" to the stratosphere and beyond.

Introduction

Project Stratoclipse will send multiple HD video cameras on a weather balloon into the upper stratosphere to capture the Great American Total Solar Eclipse of Aug. 21st 2017. Launched from the eclipse path centerline in Marshall, Missouri, the launch vehicle will be timed to reach near-space altitudes as the eclipse passes overhead. The creators of Project Stratoclipse, Jake Vaught and Beau Hartweg, will provide the world with a truly unique look into a truly remarkable American event. Stay tuned!

If all goes according to plan, the video captured will be live-streamed over YouTube. Please go subscribe now so that you get notified when video is posted! Plus, we need your help! There have to be at least 100 people subscribed for YouTube to allow the project to stream the eclipse live. We're up to about 77 so you'll be helping make it happen when you add your subscription!