My wife and I went to Jasper, Indiana to see the eclipse. Why Jasper? My son-in-law's family was hosting a baby shower for our daughter. At any rate, they planned the shower for the Saturday before the eclipse. I packed up my 150mm Starsplitter Gem telescope, 14X70mm binos, and eclipse filters, etc. This turned out to be a rather large family event (~20 people), and I suddenly found myself as the Astronomer-in-residence at the party. I spent a few minutes giving a safety talk. I also let them know what to expect visually and sensory during totality. Then I spent about 1 hour trying to get my clock drive to work properly. Then finally, 5 minutes before first contact, the drive started to function near perfectly. I realized at this point that I would not be taking any pictures through the scope, since about 20 people would be lining up to have a look at totality through the scope. My revised goal was to let people enjoy the eclipse, and I would enjoy their responses.
I yelled "first contact", and family members started coming over to view the partial eclipse. I had fun having each viewer count the number of sunspots (I count 18), and explaining how the spots related to the sun's magnetic field and the 11 year solar cycle. As the eclipse progressed, the temperature dropped 10 degree F and the birds stopped singing. The duration of totality in Jasper was going to be 3 minutes, so I set my timer for 2.75 minutes for family members to view the eclipse without filters. Then we waited... Bailey Beads...
Then totality!!
I heard a sound like a distant cannon (fireworks, perhaps?). Then our extended family took off their glasses. There was a collective gasp! I had my eye to my filtered 150mm telescope eyepiece when the last of the Bailey Beads went out. I popped the filter off, and what a sight at 30X!
There was a black hole surround by a roundish corona. I could see three large prominences. The corona filled the field. I only looked in my scope for a few seconds, and family members lined up to look in the scope.
I spent the rest of totality managing crowd control at the scope. I did, however, take time to view totality with my naked eyes. The corona seemed to extend 2 lunar diameters all around the darken moon. One prominence was easily naked eye, and I thought I could see a second prominence. I found myself yelling in excitement!
My timer went off, and it was time to put the eclipse glasses back on. Bailey beads... Then I read Ps 19; The heavens declare the glory of God!
This eclipse has renewed my interest in astronomy. After our 12 hour drive back to Wisconsin, I spent some time remounting my RA drive so that it works good enough for me, and I evaluated my eyepieces and ordered a couple of new EPs. It was during my EP evaluation that I discovered Cloudy Nights. I was able to find the information I needed to make an informed decision about purchasing new eyepieces and a larger (50mm) finder scope. Thank you for letting me Join!
By the way, this is the only picture I have of the eclipse party. The gentleman to the left of me is the patriarch of the family, Dick. He is 92 years old, and was my assistant. Thank you, Dick!
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Edited by fjjoachim, 20 April 2024 - 05:09 PM.
