U.S. Solar Eclipses - Oct. 14, 2023 (Annular) & Apr. 08, 2024 (Total)

[DaveC426913]

I made a thing!

A camera obscura.

OK, the handles and hatch may be overkill but the enhancements started with the spotter, which I found very useful.

The contrpation is difficult to align easily with the sun while looking in the box. I had no way to know which way to twist it to get the sun lined up on the screen. There was no feedback; it was dead right or dead wrong (just like a scope):

Now it's easy to use the spotter to align the shadow before looking in the viewer:

 

[Stavros Kiri]

I made a thing!

A camera obscura.

View attachment 342083

OK, the handles and hatch may be overkill but the enhancements started with the spotter, which I found very useful.

The contrpation is difficult to align easily with the sun while looking in the box. I had no way to know which way to twist it to get the sun lined up on the screen. There was no feedback; it was dead right or dead wrong (just like a scope):

View attachment 342089


Now it's easy to use the spotter to align the shadow before looking in the viewer:

View attachment 342088


View attachment 342087

Way to go! ...

 

[russ_watters]

If I do the trip, I'll probably stay in my home town in Ohio, which is near the edge of the totality zone, but only an hour's drive from the lake, someplace like Ashtabula or Conneaut or Geneva-on-the-Lake.

FYI, I'll be at Geneva-on-the-Lake, so if you're looking for a viewing party I can provide one to return the favor from 2017.

Open to all from PF for that matter.

...weather dependent of course.

 

[jtbell]

Geneva-on-the-Lake

The Jersey Shore of northeast Ohio!

When I was a little kid, I always looked forward to going there when we were at our cottage a few miles down the road.

We'll be at my alma mater on eclipse day, but we're arriving in the area on Friday, and will probably drive up to the lake on Saturday or Sunday. How long are you all going to be there?

 

[russ_watters]

The Jersey Shore of northeast Ohio!

When I was a little kid, I always looked forward to going there when we were at our cottage a few miles down the road.

We'll be at my alma mater on eclipse day, but we're arriving in the area on Friday, and will probably drive up to the lake on Saturday or Sunday. How long are you all going to be there?

We're arriving on Saturday night and going to the Rock n Roll Hall of Fame on Sunday.

I'm bringing the crew that was with me in 2017, which was on an upgraded annual shore trip that started out on the Jersey shore.

 

[DaveC426913]

 

[Stavros Kiri]

Check out also during the Eclipse, the "Eclipse Comet":
The Spiral Comet, Comet 12P/Pons-Brooks, is interesting as it approaches the sun for a close encounter in April. Even amateurs have observed and monitored the comet since early on, when it appeared again [after 71.3 years] this year (becoming visible in early March etc.), noticing its spiral core and green color. E.g. (amateur photo):

​

​ Above: The spiral core of Comet 12P/Pons-Brooks photographed by Jan Erik Vallestad of Sunnfjord, Norway

The comet is approaching the sun for a rare appearance during this April's total solar eclipse. Cryovolcanic comet 12P/Pons-Brooks is expected to be at least faintly visible inside the Moon's shadow with a more dramatic display possible if one of its ice geysers erupts at the right moment.

​

​ Above: Venus, Jupiter and possibly Comet 12P/Pons-Brooks will be visible during this April's total solar eclipse

It's a Halley type comet, with core diameter about 30Km and period 71.3 years. It's expected having its closest approach to the Sun on April 21st. At some stages, even ~ naked eye observations may probably be (or have been) possible during these nights, depending on the conditions (or at least using small telescope or binoculars ...).

 

[Stavros Kiri]

The Spiral Comet [cf. previous post above] (or 'Devil Comet') is Now a NAKED-EYE OBJECT: Amateur astronomers are reporting naked-eye sightings of "devil comet" 12P/Pons-Brooks in the evening sky. The 4th magnitude comet is brightening as it approaches the sun for a close encounter later this month. It will be an easy target for night-sky cameras this week, and maybe even during the total solar eclipse on April 8th.

​

​ Above: Comet 12P/Pons-Brooks photographed on April 2nd by Austran astrophotographer Michael Jaeger

Now it's about a 3rd size magnitude object (perhaps between 3 and 4 ...). The nickname "Devil Comet" was given because after a previous eruption of its volcano's (reminder: it's a cryovolcanic comet ...) it's shape changed reminding devil's head etc. ...

 

[russ_watters]

I'll be livestreaming the view through my larger telescope via facebook live. Here's the link:
https://fb.me/e/209iObXeI

 

[jtbell]

Projected cloud cover maps from OpenSnow

One day before day the eclipse, chances are looking good for those of us in NE Ohio: Russ, Andy, me...

I'm keeping my fingers crossed. Today my wife and I drove around the region, including along Lake Erie from Conneaut to Geneva-on-the-Lake. Gorgeous sunshine, chilly in the morning.

 

[Borg]

Good luck everyone. May you all have clear skies!

 

[russ_watters]

We were considering relocating to Cleveland. Only an hour away but last night was showing it to be clearing sooner. But it was trending in the right direction and now shows clearing around noon here. So we're staying at Geneva-on-the-Lake, OH.

 

[nsaspook]

https://people.com/total-solar-eclipse-means-free-food-at-chilis-cracker-barrel-burger-king-8624781

The Rare Total Solar Eclipse Means Free Food at Chili’s, Cracker Barrel and More​

 

[russ_watters]

Ready to go and the sky is mostly clear!

 

[jtbell]

We got here a bit early so we can eat lunch. The crowd is starting to gather. Sunny but with light clouds rolling in from the west.

 

[Borg]

I'll be livestreaming the view through my larger telescope via facebook live. Here's the link:
https://fb.me/e/209iObXeI

Watching. Looks awesome.

 

[jtbell]

About 35 minutes to totality. Thin clouds have moved in, making the sky various shades of milky blue or bluish milk. The partial phases show up fine through eclipse glasses.

 

[Borg]

Watching. Looks awesome.

Looks like the live stream ended after 22 minutes.

 

[Borg]

@russ_waters I do see your live stream now.

 

[russ_watters]

Looks like the live stream ended after 22 minutes.

A connectivity issue stopped the stream, sorry. I did restart, but it can't be restarted with the same stream, so they were separate links. Only a few people were able to get back on. I can't even see it on my own page right now, but will post a new link if it comes back. I did get some really good photos though. There was even a naked-eye visible solar flare.

 

[Borg]

A connectivity issue stopped the stream, sorry. I did restart, but it can't be restarted with the same stream, so they were separate links. Only a few people were able to get back on. I can't even see it on my own page right now, but will post a new link if it comes back. I did get some really good photos though. There was even a naked-eye visible solar flare.

I did see it when it came back and even saw you posting that you weren't sure if the stream was running.

 

[Andy Resnick]

Hot off the press, so to speak:

This image is downscaled about 2:1- really excited that I have some good shots!

 

[russ_watters]

Animation of coming out of totality reversed to look like going in:

 

[nsaspook]

 

[rbelli1]

Unfortunately I had some clouds so I didn't get any clear pictures of totality.

I did get a good picture of the lake I was watching from

And I saw a fox!

BoB

ETA: Lake Bonaparte NY.

 

[jtbell]

The thin clouds at our location didn’t prevent a good show at totality. The ring of the inner corona was clearly visible against a translucent blue-gray background.

I attempted some hand-held shots with my Nikon D7000 similar to the one I posted of the 2017 eclipse, using various exposures. I’ll see what I can do with them in Photoshop after I get home in a couple of days.

As we drove back to our hotel about an hour away, over local roads, we passed over the Ohio Turnpike (route I-80). The eastbound lanes were packed with cars heading towards Pennsylvania and presumably other points further east.

 

[rbelli1]

The thin clouds at our location didn’t prevent a good show at totality.

The clouds did obscure totality at my location considerably. But this was my first totality so it was totally awesome anyway.

BoB

 

[jtbell]

We also had a parallel "thriller" sub-plot for this trip.

During the second day of our two-day drive from South Carolina, my 11-year-old Chevy's "check engine" light came on. We stopped at a Chevy dealer in the next town. The guy who could run the diagnostics wasn't there that day, but the guy running the service desk said so long as the light stayed steady instead of flashing, and we didn't notice any changes in the engine's running, we could probably continue safely.

Of course we couldn't do anything about it over the weekend after we arrived. This morning we called a local Chevy dealer, and the shop was able to work us in at 10:30. It turned out we had a cracked air intake duct. They were able to get a replacement quickly and install it. We arrived at our eclipse-viewing site, a half hour away, about 1:00.

I suppose if it had taken longer to get the replacement part, they could have slapped on some duct tape, we could have gone on to watch the eclipse, and then come back the next day for the permanent fix, delaying our return home by a day. But now we're all set.

 

[jtbell]

A few minutes from totality, the automatic streetlights came on:

 

[jtbell]

Hot off the press, so to speak:

View attachment 343015

As I was shooting pictures with my Nikon SLR, I generally used a normal or wide angle setting so as to include nearby trees and buildings. Towards the end I went to a moderate telephoto setting (about 100mm) and noticed a red spot at the bottom of the coronal ring. Uh-oh, I thought, the end of the eclipse is upon us, and stopped shooting. The following first flash of sunlight was much brighter.

When I saw Andy's picture I realized that I must have seen a solar flare prominence. I wonder if it showed up in my last picture.... hmmm, enlarging it in the camera's LCD screen... not enough detail to show the flare itself, but the coronal circle does look a bit reddish there.

 

[Vanadium 50]

There was (well, probably stiill is) a fairly large red/pink prominence near the bottom of the sun.

The weather girl that one channel had doing the announcement said it was helium, but to me it looked a lot like a hydrogen gas discharge tube.

 

[nsaspook]

https://blog.cloudflare.com/total-eclipse-internet-traffic-impacts-mexico-us-canada
Total eclipse of the Internet: traffic impacts in Mexico, the US, and Canada

 

[jtbell]

Belatedlly, here's probably the best one of my photos of the eclipse from my Nikon DSLR. First, the original JPEG, unaltered except for cropping. Second, a version tweaked from the RAW file.

 

[Stavros Kiri]

I had this in my files to post (regarding a sungrazing comet - see ahead) - goes back to eclipse time - really interesting, take a look
(posted on spaceweather.com on April 10 & 11, 2024) :

" THIS COMET DID NOT SURVIVE THE ECLIPSE: Astronomer Karl Battams of the Naval Research Lab predicted that a sungrazing comet might be visible during Monday's total eclipse. He was right. Chinese amateur astronomer Lin Zixuan was in New Hampshire for the eclipse, and he photographed the disintegrating comet:

Named "SOHO-5008", the comet had been discovered earlier the same day by amateur astronomer Worachate Boonplod, who noticed it in SOHO coronagraph images. Battams quickly realized that the comet might be bright enough to photograph in the otherworldly twilight of the Moon's shadow.

"Ground-based observations of sungrazing comets are extremely rare, so this would be a great opportunity to see an eclipse comet!" says Battams.

Soon after Zixuan photographed the comet, it disintegrated. SOHO has seen this happen more than 5000 times. Most doomed sungrazers (including this one) are members of the Kreutz family. Named after a 19th century German astronomer who studied them in detail, Kreutz sungrazers are fragments from the breakup of a giant comet ~2000 years ago. Several fragments pass by the sun and disintegrate every day, although most are too small to see.

A SOHO coronagraph image of the disintegrating comet​

Battams can recall only two other examples of sungrazers seen during a solar eclipse--one in 2020 (also a Worachate Boonplod discovery) and another in 2008. " I think with modern imaging equipment and techniques, seeing a sungrazer during an eclipse is no longer hugely challenging, but it does require one crucial ingredient: the right comet at the right time. We got lucky this week!" he says. "