Solar Eclipse 2017

It took a little while to get the photos pulled together, but I think it was worth the wait.  The full solar eclipse was an amazing sight.

Solar Eclipse with insets

One of the best photos that Tina captured is the one above – the two insets are pretty interesting.  The inset on the left is the same photo with the corona enhanced so the magnetic field can be seen more clearly, and the inset on the right has no enhancements other than to include arrows pointing out the “Bailey’s Beads” which are solar prominences.  (If you right click on the photo, you should be able to save a copy to your computer that you can zoom in on to see these more clearly.

Prior to totality, and after, we could see nature’s version of the shadow-box view of the eclipse.  As the sun shines through the trees, the shadows on the ground.  In this photo, notice how the shadows have a crescent shape – that is how much of the sun was still showing leading up to the total eclipse.

Going back to the sun, Tina took a photo about every 10 minutes leading up to the full eclipse, and we used that to make a time lapse view of what we saw…

Solar Eclipse Time Lapse

We also set up a camera pointing over Lake Murray to record the Eclipse Twilight that occurs during totality.  The video is sped up to emphasize the change, and I left the audio in place.  As the eclipse begins the sound of the evening birds and insects can be heard, and then they get quite when it is full.  As the eclipse ends, the sound of the morning birds and insects can be heard as they get ready to “start” the day.

Eclipse Twilight

It’s pretty amazing how quickly two minutes can pass by; when the eclipse ended it was hard to believe that it lasted more than a few seconds.  Now we’re hoping that we can make it to see the next one!

Solar Eclipse August 21st, 2017

Here’s a trip to plan for in advance.  We’re thinking that Jackson Wyoming will be a good spot to view the eclipse in a few years… turn it into a two week vacation and there is time to visit Yosemite National Park, as well as explore Grand Tetons National Park.  Let’s start with the basics though.

The path where the full eclipse can be seen is available on the NASA website; the red line is the center of the path, and the blue lines show the area where it can be viewed. If you notice, the center line passes almost directly over Jackson WY, so if everything works out right we’ll find ourselves in a beautiful part of the country to view something that won’t be seen again in the USA until 2024. But what about the weather?  While there is no way to predict the weather in 3 1/2 years, there is a way to get an idea of what to expect…

A jump over to Eclipser.ca will show some great historical weather information for areas along the path of the eclipse.  This is a handy reference that can give a feel for what to expect for that time of year, and it also includes comparison data that can be used to pick a viewing spot.

Since the eclipse starts in this area at about 1600 UTC, which is 10am MDT.  So a check of the weather a couple of days ahead of time might mean a road trip either to the west or the east on the day before.  An easy (and scenic) five hour drive can cover 300 miles, so if local weather doesn’t cooperate it shouldn’t be too hard to find clear skies.

So mark your calendars, and if you think you’ll be in the same area drop a comment below and we’ll plan a meet-up!