Solar eclipse

[Bob Kontak]

Originally Posted by wdfifteen

At totality you could see a lot of smaller solar flares from 3 to 6 o'clock on the disk.

Nice job to you and Flipper35.

I have never seen totality until yesterday. Now I understand. 2017 in Charlotte, about 95%, was interesting but nowhere near the same experience.

Lucky I was where I was in Akron. I don't know how many people said who cares about the eclipse but I know they never witnessed totality.

The Bawanna Janda ritual seldom creates problems, just sayin'.

[Steve Carlton]

You have seen the light.

[deanp]

Sequence shot with 500mm lens with solar filter in northern Vermont.

[deanp]

Slightly underexposed to get prominence detail around the ring.

[Steve Carlton]

Neil Degrasse Tyson:

Yes, so we have a fortunate set of circumstances as Earthlings.

No other planet has this feature. The sun is 400 times farther away from us than the moon is and it's 400 times wider. Those two factors geometrically cancel each other, if you want to think of it that way, so that they look the same size on the sky, making for spectacular eclipses.

[Deschodt]

Originally Posted by Steve Carlton

Neil Degrasse Tyson:

Yes, so we have a fortunate set of circumstances as Earthlings.

No other planet has this feature. The sun is 400 times farther away from us than the moon is and it's 400 times wider. Those two factors geometrically cancel each other, if you want to think of it that way, so that they look the same size on the sky, making for spectacular eclipses.

yet another proof we live in the matrix ;-)

[Pazuzu]

That prominence is the single most FAMOUS prominence in the history of the Sun. Normally, 50, maybe 100 people ever see a prominence, but this one was seen by 10s of millions?

It was far brighter and clearer than any other I've seen. Made for a Ruby Ring effect it was so strong.




So...those that finally got to see totality, remember this the next time someone says "I've seen dozens of eclipses, they're nothing burgers, I'm not going to drive 20 minutes to see this one". Some people are just bull headed beyond reason. Slap them.

[Pazuzu]

We were in NE Dallas. On Saturday I gave a talk at the local library for 120 people, then we set up telescopes that evening in the field next to the city buildings. Final count that night was 565 visitors. It was overwhelming!

The sky on Monday went from 80% light clouds to 80% clear to 100% heavy clouds, to 75% clouds during the incoming half of the eclipse. Good views between clouds with the scope I brought out. There were 15 or so groups of people around us, I finally had to yell "yes, you can come look through it", they all wanted to but no one wanted to be that first pushy person to ask.

Clouds covered totality for the first minute, but we got a hole after that to third contact. Then, the skies almost completely cleared between third and fourth contact, probably because of the temperature cycle from the eclipse itself (they create weather patterns).

Not my best, but worked out just fine. The cloud cover stopped the sunlight that normally gets through on the horizon outside of the shadow from getting in, so it was VERY dark during totality, way darker than the last 2.

[Pazuzu]

Originally Posted by masraum

Interesting! So that puts the protection way down on your diagonal. I'd read somewhere that it was better to have the protection at the front of the scope because having the full sun going through your scope could cause issues due to heat affecting internal components.

Correct, the "filter" is in the diagonal. You MUST use a refractor with this, so there are no actual surfaces near the focal point. The Herschel wedge inside turns 4% of the sunlight up towards the eyepiece, and 96% gets dumped onto a ceramic puck that absorbs the energy. Then there is a built in ND3 (.001) neutral filter, then a UV blocking filter, then the eyepiece. Very comfortable brightness level.

The trick is that it's easy to make a diagonal super flat, so it won't distort the image at all. Making a 4, 6, 8 inch solar filter which is optically flat is incredibly expensive, so no one does. The glass and mylar filters induce distortion. They also change the color of the sun (green, blue, orange, depends on the brand), and can sometimes allow potentially dangerous amounts of UV light through.

[Steve Carlton]

https://time.com/6958452/how-animals-nature-react-solar-eclipse/

[911 Rod]

Got pretty dark here and couldn't see anything. Didn't stop people from taking pictures though. lol

[stevej37]

I had to go get more clothes on....it was windy and the heat was gone.

[flatbutt]

Originally Posted by Pazuzu

That prominence is the single most FAMOUS prominence in the history of the Sun. Normally, 50, maybe 100 people ever see a prominence, but this one was seen by 10s of millions?

It was far brighter and clearer than any other I've seen. Made for a Ruby Ring effect it was so strong.




So...those that finally got to see totality, remember this the next time someone says "I've seen dozens of eclipses, they're nothing burgers, I'm not going to drive 20 minutes to see this one". Some people are just bull headed beyond reason. Slap them.

It was the 10 hour drive home that made me a little grumpy, but it was still worth it.
I am disappointed that I couldn't get my gear set up in time but witnessing it was a joy.

[Baz]

[red 928]

I remember many eclipses over the years.
But I don't remember everyone making such a
giant deal out of a small, nearly insignificant curiosity.
We'd look as say: huh, that's kind of cool, Now where were we?

Strange times indeed.

In other news:

"a person" who once led the House Science Committee’s space subcommittee,
made several false statements that stunned a crowd of teenagers at
Booker T. Washington High School during Monday’s solar eclipse.

"You’ve heard the word ‘full moon,’" she told the students who were with her on a sports field before the eclipse.
"Sometimes, you need to take the opportunity just to come out and see a full moon is that complete-rounded circle,
which is made up mostly of gases.
And that’s why the question is: Why or how could we as humans live on the moon?
Are the gases such that we could do that?"

The congressional representative continued, saying, "The sun is a mighty powerful heat,
but it’s almost impossible to go near the sun.
The moon is more manageable."

[flatbutt]

I for one am very glad that I'm still able to look at such events and truly feel the "wow!".

[Tobra]

Originally Posted by deanp

Slightly underexposed to get prominence detail around the ring.

This is just excellent

[masraum]

Originally Posted by Pazuzu

Correct, the "filter" is in the diagonal. You MUST use a refractor with this, so there are no actual surfaces near the focal point. The Herschel wedge inside turns 4% of the sunlight up towards the eyepiece, and 96% gets dumped onto a ceramic puck that absorbs the energy. Then there is a built in ND3 (.001) neutral filter, then a UV blocking filter, then the eyepiece. Very comfortable brightness level.

The trick is that it's easy to make a diagonal super flat, so it won't distort the image at all. Making a 4, 6, 8 inch solar filter which is optically flat is incredibly expensive, so no one does. The glass and mylar filters induce distortion. They also change the color of the sun (green, blue, orange, depends on the brand), and can sometimes allow potentially dangerous amounts of UV light through.

Interesting. Good stuff. Thanks

[masraum]

Originally Posted by Pazuzu

The sky on Monday went from 80% light clouds to 80% clear to 100% heavy clouds, to 75% clouds during the incoming half of the eclipse. Good views between clouds with the scope I brought out.

Yeah, we went to Canyon Lake which should have been great, but was 98% cloudy leading up to the totality, then 100% cloudy during and after totality.

We were able to see a few secs here and there of partial as the clouds passed over head.

THis was as good as it got.

[Seahawk]