A Charming Comet

There was the standard hype and hope surrounding Comet C\2023 A3 (a.k.a. Comet Tsuchinshan-ATLAS) as it closed in on perihelion last month. Discovered some 18 months earlier, it had seemed to stutter on its brightening curve over the summer, leading some to wonder if it'd be only a 3rd-4th magnitude object. Others fretted that the comet was not even going to survive buzzing the Sun and would go the route of Comet ISON in 2013 and disintegrate.

However, by early October it became apparent that the comet had survived and was poised to put on a nice show in northern skies around the 2nd week of October. The window of opportunity would not be very long as the Oort visitor would be quickly heading outbound and fading with each passing day. Would it be something I could see with my naked eye? And would nature cooperate with some clear skies?

Comet C/2023 A3 on Oct 15th

The evening of October 15th had beautifully clear skies so I grabbed the camera and walked up the street a little to get the best possible western sky view. I started around 7:20 pm and continued looking for the comet for about 25 minutes. I had no luck with either naked eye or using my 7x50 binoculars, which I attributed in part to being quite literally 20 yards from a street light. I kept snapping bracketed images of the sky in hopes that maybe I would pick up something.

Once inside with the images downloaded to the laptop it was quite apparent that I had been scouring the area a little south of the comet's position, because it was there quite clearly in the 4-second exposure. Sigh - a missed opportunity yet again due to Towson's light pollution!

Fortunately the weather was in one of those fabulous fall runs of clear, dry skies. So the next day I used Google Maps to identify a location in Hereford that appeared to have some parking as well as a nice western horizon. Shortly after dinner I set off with camera and binoculars to the Gunpowder State Park Trails off of Mt Carmel Rd. Twilight was fading when I got there and I was a little surprised at the number of people who were already there in the tiny parking lot. I grabbed the camera and walked across the road to keep the overhead power lines out of any picture.

It took only seconds to sweep up the comet in the binoculars sporting a beautiful coma of about 2nd magnitude with a tail fanning out behind it for several degrees. Lowering the binoculars and using averted vision I could definitely make out a streak in the western sky. There'd be no way to discern that from home, but out here, even with the automobile lights on this heavily traveled road, it was clearly naked-eye visible. I did a quick look in the glove compartment for my distance glasses but alas they were missing.

I started clicking off shots of Tsuchinshan-ATLAS as quickly as I could as some malingering clouds threatened to get in the way. I bracket exposures as well as focal length to hopefully get a wide angle and then a closer shot of the beautiful visitor. The rising full Moon over my shoulder served as a good test of focus to ensure I did not mess that up. I kept taking occasional breaks to admire the comet in the binoculars, admiring the gossamer tail trailing the star-like coma. 

While Tsuchinshan-ATLAS was certainly a pretty sight, it made me appreciate just how amazing the late 90's had been with Hyakutake and then Hale-Bopp. Those were truly spectacular comets that graced our skies back then, setting the benchmark against which all other icy interlopers are measured in my mind.

19 stacked 2.5 second frames at ISO 800

All too soon the comet lost altitude as it parachuted towards the horizon. Venus had set and Boötes with his lucida of Arcturus was struggling to stay above the horizon, signaling it was time to wrap things up. I grabbed the camera & tripod and carefully crossed the road to the parking lot (as one gets older it's critical to move carefully in the dark to avoid a fall!)

As I reached the car I chatted with a couple of folks who were also enjoying the spectacle. One of them had brought a Seestar and was getting some very impressive shots with that. And as it turned out one the guys was John Rose, a high school friend who had been in the Boys' Latin Astronomy club with me some 50 years earlier. I couldn't help but think how very cool it was that here we were a half century later, still being lured out under the night sky to witness its wonders! 

Planetary Potpourri

August finally brought Jupiter and Mars above the tree line for me in the pre-dawn skies. The classic humid skies under a dome of high pressure that is typical of summer around here have the one advantage of often providing some steady skies. 

Saturn
Aug 1, 2024

The month kicked off with the final transit of Titan across the far southern Saturnian cloud-tops for the current apparition. From here on out the massive moon will skim across the south pole until our geometry brings it back across the planet again. Arising at 2 a.m., I was blessed with very fine seeing (9/10) and started with captures in WL with a UV/IR block, resulting in the color image shown above. The low albedo of Titan compared to the planet's clouds yielded a dusky silhouette of the moon just skimming across the SPR. On the planet there are multiple bands in the N. hemisphere while the S. hemisphere is a bit more homogeneous and bluer in appearance. The shadow of the rings on the globe is easily seen, as the globe reciprocates with its shadow on the rings. Some vague hints of Cassini's division are seen. While I did not discern it while doing the imaging run, upon processing I found that if you look closely, you can also make out the tiny shadow of Dione which was in transit at the same time, lying just preceding the CM and at the latitude of the southern edge of the SEB.

Switching to the R +IR filter yielded the greyscale image above as Titan started its egress from the planet's disk. Between the different wavelength and the limb darkening, Titan appears white rather than its dark silhouette earlier in WL when over the SPR. In this view the planet itself shows multiple bands and bright EZ. The banding striations in the Southern hemisphere are much easier to see in this wavelength compared to the WL, and while not obvious the Cassini division is also a tad easier to pick out. And as with the WL capture, you can catch Dione's shadow just past the CM and at the southern flank of the SEB.

Jupiter
Aug 23, 2024

Some above average seeing greeted me again on Friday morning the 23rd (seeing 8/10, transparency 7/10) for a Jupiter session. Started off with Great Red Spot near CM, followed by a very chaotic section of the SEB punctuated by a strong rift. Given that white clouds are higher in the atmosphere, it makes me speculate that perhaps this could be the beginning of an SEB fade? Time will tell. The images also allowed for a rough estimate of the GRS's size, which came out to roughly 13,100 km - a new low. For decades the boast has always been that you could fit 2-3 Earths inside the massive storm, but with our terrestrial diameter of 12,750 km it may soon come to pass that it won't be large enough for even a single Earth.

The South Temperate Belt, home to the long-enduring anti-cyclone "A" storms, was featuring 3 of them at this longitude. I believe from left to right we are looking at A4, A3, and A2. The North Temperate Belt also features a chronic storm, NN-WS-4, just trailing the GRS's latitude a bit.

The image also displayed some intense "hot spots" along the southern edge of the Northern Equatorial Belt, spawning blue festoons trailing down into the EZ. The NEB is now back to its dominant self, having extended northward to reclaim its girth. Along its northern edge we have some ovals. These appear to be the long enduring "White Spots" (such as WS-E, WS-Z) that have been surrounded by the expanding NEB, making them far more conspicuous than in recent years by the added contrast.

Mars
Aug 23, 2024

With power still remaining on the laptop after my Jove captures I swung over to Mars to see what was up. At just a little larger than 6", I am always amazed that the SPLICE process can pick up any features at all. Sinus Meridiani and a little of Sinus Sabaeus are seen as well as Margarifiter Sinus and M. Erythraeum. There is no sign of a South Polar Cap which has dissipated as winter retreats in the planet's Southern hemisphere. But the northern chill has begun as evidenced by a North Polar Hood beginning to form. Niliacus Lacus also can be seen extending out from under the hood. While this won't be a great apparition with Mars' size topping out at a little above 13" in January, it still promises to be fun imaging our mysterious neighbor.

With Saturn hitting opposition in a few days and Jupiter nearly at western quadrature, the 2025 planetary season is definitely upon us. Here's hoping for lots of opportunities to check in on them under clear and steady skies!

Orion Obit

It's been a couple weeks now since the news broke that Orion Telescopes & Binoculars, a well known and loved retailing resource for the amateur astronomy community, had shut the doors to its California brick & mortar store. It some ways it came as a shock - how could such a giant and long established vendor go under? And yet there seemed to be signs along the way that this was a possibility.

A couple years ago Orion successfully sued Meade for price fixing, driving them to file for bankruptcy. On the heels of that Orion opted to buy the company and bring it under their umbrella, setting up a manufacturing plant in Tijuana, MX. While that was certainly a boon to Meade owners (no one wants to see their warranty dissolved or not able to obtain support), I have to wonder how good of a fit that was for Orion. It can be challenging to be competent at both being a vendor of astronomical products as well as a manufacturer of a large line such as Meade.

I have bought items from Orion for probably the better part of three decades. They had good prices, shipping that was very reasonable, and a solid inventory of desirable products. If I ever had a problem or question they were able to help. As recently as last year I purchased an extended Wratten filter set that I have been very pleased with.

I suspect that part of the problem was that Orion increasingly only sold Meade and their house brand. As a result, when I wanted to purchase a new planetary camera I spent time on Agena and Highpoint Scientific websites because they offered a range of products from which to choose. And both of those vendors also were very good about shipping my products and standing behind them. I also especially liked Highpoint's offering of very reasonable financing of more expensive items. In short, being exposed to alternative vendors with a wider variety of offerings did change my habits, causing me to check their online store first when looking to make a purchase.

Perhaps Orion is planning to go the way of Bed, Bath, & Beyond and convert to a strictly online outlet. I have not heard anything definitive in terms of the plant in Tijuana. If that has been shuttered as well then there will be no new Meade telescopes rolling off the assembly line and some orders might go unfulfilled. Then again, we may see a "fire sale" of Orion's inventory or (more likely) it may be acquired by a competitor. 

It is sad to see such a storied entity in our hobby go under. And I do feel for Meade owners who now may have trouble getting support. While the good news is that we have other vendors available to take our orders, I personally will always have fond memories and an appreciation of purchases from Orion that furthered my exploration of the heavens. 

Chilling Effect

In terms of just sublime beauty, it's hard to beat Saturn. Not just for the amazing ring system, but for the wide range of pastel colors that the globe exhibits. While I don't have data to support it, I'd be willing to bet that in terms of NASA missions resulting in wallpaper images, Cassini has to be near the top.

Over the last few apparitions the axial tilt of Saturn towards our home planet has been decreasing, moving from its Northern Hemisphere summer towards a 2025 equinox. When wide open, the expansive rings hide the winter hemisphere, not only keeping it from our view but likely increasing the frigid temps by blocking what diminished sunlight Saturn receives at a distance of nearly 1½ billion km from our home star. 

As the rings retreated over the southern hemisphere and the Southern Hemisphere began to peek out from under them, I was struck by the distinct blue coloration we were seeing. While more apparent in SPLICE photography of the planet, I also could readily discern a difference visually last year with my 10" Cyrus Newtonian under good seeing conditions. The Southern Hemisphere with a Baader Contrast Booster filter at 190x was darker, with a greenish-gray sort of appearance to my eyes. And I am not exceptional in this - others on Cloudy Nights have reported seeing similar differences between the hemispheres.

But what is causing this? One hypothesis is that a reduction in the UV radiation has a corresponding decrease in haze that it generates when encountering methane. (Consider Saturn's moon Titan, which has 5% methane in its atmosphere, is always shrouded in amber fog). Coupled with the coldness making the heavier elements sink, we end up with a "clearer" portion of the atmosphere and increased Rayleigh scattering (the same effect that makes our sky blue).

As the Southern Hemisphere begins to gain more and more solar radiation during this year's apparition it will be an interesting exercise to examine the globe to see the pale tan coloration returning to it. At the same time we should begin to see the NPR of the planet beginning to exhibit those blue tones as it begins to chill.

The rings may be less prominent, but use the opportunity to examine the globe to your advantage. How "cool" is it to be able to notice the changing of seasons on a planet close to a billion miles away from you?

 

Saturn Satellite Spotlight

Have you caught a glimpse of Saturn at the start of this apparition? The 6th planet from the Sun is gradually climbing out of the dawn twilight to greet early morning risers and enthusiastic planetary imagers. Even if you have not set the alarm for a personal early morning rendezvous, you may have seen the work of other imagers online. And if you have, your take on it is likely to be along the lines of "gees, the rings have really closed up!", followed by a little sadness that for the next few years Saturn won't be the jaw-dropping star party favorite. 

Saturn 05/01/2024 by Clyde Foster

But, take heart - the arrival of fall for Saturn's northern hemisphere brings with it opportunities to see interesting and infrequent alignments of its moons as they circle the planet. Like Jupiter's moons, Saturn's contingent can undergo the phenomena of eclipses, transits (both the moon and its attending shadow), and occultations\re-emergences. However, unlike Jupiter with its minimal 3° axial tilt where such Galilean moon activity is commonplace, these events can only happen for Saturn when it is heading for a ring-plane crossing (i.e., when the Sun appears to traverse the Saturnian equator - an equinox for the planet). Given the ringed planet's nearly 30-year orbit and 26¾° axial tilt, we only get this opportunity roughly 15 year intervals. 

Unfortunately, to date I have not been able to find a convenient ephemeris online that enumerates these upcoming occurrences. In the absence of that I've leveraged WinJUPOS to manually inspect the locations of Titan, Rhea, Dione, and Tethys as they orbit the planet for the next few months. So full disclaimer, I certainly could have overlooked some events in my investigation!

Europa appears as a white dot
against Jupiter's clouds in this
 IR image

With the exception of Titan, these satellite events are going to be a bit harder to detect in amateur telescopes due to their size (roughly a quarter that of the Galilean moons) and their brightness (roughly 100 times dimmer than their Jovian counterparts). Capturing them by imaging will likely be a bit easier since the SPLICE technique yields details that the eye cannot pick up. The use of an IR filter (imaging only, not visual) will also likely help, especially for transits since it tends to make the moon stand out with higher contrast against the planet. 

Here then is a my list of some of the more favorable and interesting events for those of us along the east coast from now until September 1st. I'll try to update the list with additional events from September through January when I have some time to research them. 

Keep in mind that the larger and brighter the moon, the better odds are for catching the occurrence.

Eclipse Events

The eclipse events, where the moon slides into Saturn's shadow, are likely going to be the easiest of the phenomena to observe visually. Make sure you use high magnification to increase the distance of the moon from the glare of the planet and/or its rings to improve its visibility. Start your observing a few minutes before the event to locate the moon, and then keep watching as it slowly fades from view. 

Also note that the eclipse events that occur near quadrature are ideal, because we get to "see" the largest extent of the shadow cast by the planet. That in turn means the moon enters the shadow farther away from the glare of the globe, making your observation a bit easier. Since quadrature for Saturn happens June 9th, the further into the summer you go the less favorable the circumstance for viewing the eclipse. 

Saturn's 2nd largest moon, Rhea, poised to enter eclipse

Transit Events

Transit events are tougher because once the moon is fully backlit by the Saturn cloud deck the contrast drops significantly. We see the same situation with the larger and brighter Galilean moons that often are very difficult to pick out once they are on Jupiter's face. For this reason I have limited the events in my list to times when the smaller moons (i.e., not Titan) are just creeping onto or sliding off the planet because the limb darkening effect will provide the best contrast and increase your opportunity to see it.

Another interesting Earth-Sun-Saturn geometry effect that you'll be able to follow over the summer involves the appearance of the shadow of the rings cast on the planet. At the outset of summer you should be able to see the shadow quite clearly under (south) of the rings as they cut across the planet. However, as summer wears on Earth will climb northward in respect to Saturn, causing the shadow to retreat under the rings (think of it as early in summer we get to peek under the rings, but then as we ascend in our orbit we view it more straight on). 

We can use that favorable early summer geometry to enhance our chances of seeing Tethys transit Saturn because it will appear to trek along the path of the rings' shadow from our vantage point. This high contrast between tiny moon and dark shadow should be optimal for witnessing it moving across Saturn, appearing tucked just under the rings. By August the moon moves across illuminated cloud tops, which will make it impossible to see in all but the largest telescopes.

Above, Tethys glides along the rings' shadow
Below, the shadow has retreated and Tethys will
be harder to see

 

Observing Titan this summer will be another way for us to appreciate the shifting geometry between the 3 objects. We start off the summer with Saturn's largest moon undergoing transits and occultations, but by August as we have ascended in our orbit they stop and become near-misses. 

Titan starting its transit at end of June

By August the giant moon misses the planet

Of course, we can have not only transits of a moon across Saturn but the moon's shadow as well. That sets up another high contrast situation with dark shadow backlit by bright cloud tops of the host planet. However, the small size of Tethys and Dione mean that their shadows will be so tiny as to be very difficult to see/image in anything under 12" in aperture. Titan's shadow should be quite easy, but sadly it looks like we are sitting on the wrong side of Earth to witness any of those this year. That leaves it all up to Rhea which is about 50% larger than siblings Tethys and Dione. I'll be accepting the challenge and getting out there during some of the Rhea transit events to determine if I can visually see it in my 10" Newtonian, or maybe image it.

Rhea undergoing a transit end of August

If the idea of observing these Saturnian moon events piques your interest I'd urge you to get a copy of WinJUPOS for yourself so that you have a tool to visualize them. So remember, no need to feel glum over losing the splendor of the rings, take advantage of these uncommon views we only get during Saturnian equinox season! 

Reflections on the 2024 Eclipse

It's not been quite 48 hours since "the event", and I'm taking a couple days to relax with my wife in Texas before re-entering the world I normally inhabit on Monday. But - what an experience it was! Exhilarating, tiring, triumphant, tense, communal, frenetic, and blessed are all terms I'd use in describing it.

The Long Term Prep

Like many who saw the 2017 Great American Eclipse my planning to be in the path of totality in 2024 started not long after that marvelous eclipse experience, with things becoming serious (i.e., investing money and whitling down locations) about 18 months ago. The weather history for early April indicated that Texas was likely the place to be to avoid being clouded out. I found a lakeside Airbnb spot in Flint, TX from which I could head out early the morning of the eclipse to dodge clouds if needed, so I paid the deposit and crossed my fingers.

Other investments happened over the next year and a half. One significant one was acquiring a full frame camera since my existing Canon t6i which I used in 2017 is a cropped sensor model. I got a treasure trove of shots out of that setup, but I could see that I was limiting capture of the full glory of the corona. And with this one happening close to Solar Maximum, I felt a wider view was worth picking up a second-hand Mark II camera. The addition of some solar filters (a Baader mylar for the Vixen to hopefully improve crispness of the view and a set for my 15x70 Oberwek binoculars) was also undertaken.

A preliminary dry run in February showed me that while the camera battery would hold up for the length of the eclipse, my laptop would not have enough juice. To solve that issue I ordered a simple Jackery backup battery unit for a couple hundred dollars. The nice thing about that is it'll come in handy after the eclipse around the home when we get a power outage.

Dress Rehearsal

An inexpensive and easy item to add to the mix was a temperature recorder. I got that as a gift when celebrating my March birthday and added it to my staging area of eclipse equipment.

Time and training were also expended in the lead up to this eclipse. The 2017 images came at an expense, and I'm not speaking financially. I did not have a software program to control the camera so I opted for manually firing off shots using my pad connected to the camera. That meant I spent way too much time looking at the eclipse on my screen rather than gazing upward and soaking in the surreal scene before me. This time around I was determined to minimize my engagement with equipment and researched the available software to automate taking exposures of the eclipse, settling on SETnC. A couple more runs using the software gave me a feeling of confidence that I could give it the reins on eclipse day.

While that probably should have been enough, I was fascinated in a couple of other phenomenon that only emerge during an eclipse like this. One was the affect of the thin crescent Sun on casting shadows; another was witnessing a Purkinje effect on red/green colors. My young grandson Noah and I spent some quality time on a Saturday creating a contraption that had 3 rods separated by 45° that would test the theory. Picking up a high school science fair tagboard completed the work, serving as a backdrop for our shadow caster and our red & green Purkinje photo. 

By the middle of March my armamentarium was established for hopefully maximizing my enjoyment and recording memories of the experience:

• The 80mm f/7.5 Vixen refractor teamed up with the Canon Mark II and SETnC would be photographing the event using the Baader filter. My lightweight HEM27 mount would carry the payload.
  
  
• The Canon t6i with its crop sensor would sit atop a tripod to capture wide field images using SETnC running on a spare laptop that we have. I also planned at mid-eclipse to flip the mode to video to capture the last minute or so of totality.
  
  
• A tripod and smart camera adapter so I could use the phone to record the totality experience I underwent along with the reactions of whomever (or whatever) was around me.
  
  
• My 15x70 Oberwek binoculars fitted with Seymour mylar filters to monitor the partial phases and drink in a close up view of the eclipsed Sun.
  
  
• My science fair tagboard with its payload of the Tomney Shadow Casting Experiment / Purkinje Experiment / Temperature Monitoring Experiment.

The Week Prior

About a week out I began to assess (and obsess over) the weather predictions for Texas on April 8th. One of the better sites I found was Pivotal Weather which had a dedicated eclipse page that showed predicted cloud cover for the eclipse path. It allowed the user to pick a state as well as one of several models to guesstimate their chances of seeing the eclipse. Texas started off looking pretty grim; actually a large swath of the path as it emerged from Mexico and ran up middle America looked to be questionable. The northeast, however, looked to have significantly better prospects. 

The Thursday before the eclipse required a decision on the general area of the country that I'd travel to in hopes of seeing this eclipse. Texas cloud cover had improved slightly but they were also now talking about the area at risk for severe weather. Clouded out is one thing, but trying to break down equipment in the face of a fast approaching thunderstorm is another. I pulled the trigger and canceled my reservation so that I could get at least a partial refund.

With Texas off the board the decision became - where to? The northeast continued to hold promise, with the farther north and east you went with the better prospects. Having made the trip to Stellafane several times as well as vacations in Maine I knew that the I-95 corridor was often congested in normal situations, and I had visions of sitting in an interstate traffic jam somewhere outside the path of totality when the moment came. The better strategy seemed to be to target upstate New York. If the approaching clouds from the west were tardy I could set up in the Rochester area. If they were advancing I could try to outrun them by going to Plattsburg near the Vermont border. 

At this point I needed to locate a place that would allow me to wake up early on eclipse day and head out to wherever seemed best. The law of supply and demand was in full force, with simple 2-star hotels commanding several hundred dollars to spend Sunday night. Airbnb was also picked over, but I did find a room in the Finger Lakes region for under a hundred dollars. Didn't need fancy, just clean and comfortable enough to grab some sleep before setting off. I also found a more conventional booking in New Paltz along the NY State Thruway for the evening after the eclipse to avoid having to drive all the way back home in what was predicted to be heavy traffic.

Finalizing Destination

Saturday I laid out all the equipment so as to not forget anything. Sunday morning I packed the car and drove the 5 hours to the Airbnb accommodation. The host was probably as excited to see me as I was about the eclipse since I was actually her first customer. After grabbing a nice dinner at a local place she recommended I came back and reviewed the forecasts. The weather on the drive up was spectacular with clear, cerulean skies that would be ideal for viewing any celestial event. By evening there were telltale signs of an approaching front as some high cirrus began to arrive in the west. At that point the die was cast on Plattsburg in hopes that the cloud deck would hold off until after the eclipse. I finalized my SETnC exposure grid for Plattsburg and turned in to get some sleep.

Sleep was fitful and maybe totaled 4 hours, getting up at 6am to place my bags in the car and head off towards my destination. Dawn's early light revealed poor conditions with a Sun covered by fairly dense cirrus clouds, but as I made my way east they did thin until eventually they were backlit by a blue sky. Some large sections of the sky actually looked pretty decent as my route swung north for the final hour's march towards Plattsburg. The traffic on I-87 up to the city was probably above average but thankfully not onerous. 

The internet is truly an amazing resource. My advance scouting of Plattsburg using satellite views allowed me to identify the Champlain Center Mall as a good location to set up shop along the parking lot's outer perimeter. I arrived about 11:30 am and found the mall easily, doing a drive around to scout it out on the ground. People were already setting up blankets and lawn chairs on the grassy area at the entrance to the place, which was a good sign indicating the mall was allowing people to view the eclipse from their property. I thought about joining them briefly but then realized that I'd likely attract a crowd that could inadvertently compromise my eclipse objectives. Outreach needed to take a back seat today. After circling the mall I headed off to find a local fast food spot for a bite to eat and final pre-eclipse restroom break. 

Pre-Totality

Even in the parking lot on the back side of the Champlain Center Mall there were a few people gathering. I picked a spot that looked like I would not be obstructed by any light poles and began unpacking the equipment. I used compass and noon-time shadows to guesstimate the true north location and aligned the mount. Mounting the Vixen and attaching the camera to it came next, with the usual battle trying to get the setup reasonably balanced (I have to resort to jury-rigging some ankle weights to the front of the scope to achieve it). Slewing the scope to the Sun was off the target but not horribly, so I felt it was workable. By this time it is after 1 p.m. and we are on eclipse time now where everything seems to be moving faster than you'd like! I set up the three tripods (one for binoculars, one for Canon 6ti, and one for smart phone) and attach the Oberwerks to their mount with solar filters in place. The view is clean and shows one prominent sunspot (AR3628) and a couple of smaller ones.

I turn my attention to connecting the laptop to the Canon Mark II on the telescope and press the power button. Nothing. Nothing lights up. OK, do not panic, maybe it's out of juice and just needs the external battery I've brought. I fish the AC adapter out and plug it in to the Jackery. Oh my God - still nothing. I spend about 5 minutes trying to see if I can get it up but no luck. Time to pivot on the fly. I decide that the spare laptop that was to run the wide-field photo sequence of shots on the Canon t6i would instead be used for orchestrating the images snapped through the telescope. I'll just do the t6i partial shots manually and at totality take the filter off and switch it to video mode. 

By now I have a couple of visitors, and we chat while I am setting up and checking the equipment, exchanging pleasantries and backgrounds as I wrestle to secure the tagboard in place at the front of my car. Despite my efforts to stabilize it the wind keeps knocking it over, and the duct tape I brought is really not doing the job of helping to stabilize the shadow experiment on it. One of my new found friends, Navaneet, offers to work on it so that I can focus on a last minute check of laptop connectivity to the camera as we hit 2 p.m. with only minutes to go before C1. The sky has been gradually accumulating cirrus clouds over the last hour, making me wonder how well - or even if - we'll be able to see the total phase of the eclipse with its delicate corona. I try to be stoic about the prospects of missing it after all this effort and offer a last minute prayer that it doesn't worsen.

At 2:13 p.m. I hear the SETnC click off a series of pre-eclipse exposures, and a minute later we see the Moon take its first nibble out of the Sun's edge. The software appears to be doing fine, taking exposures every five minutes. The tracking of the mount is another matter - it is adequate but not as good as I would have liked, forcing me to check and recenter the Sun about every 5 minutes. The alignment was clearly not as good as I had hoped, but it is not something to mess with now. Every time I hear the Vixen fire off shots I step over to the Canon taking wide field shots and take a set manually. The cirrus cloud deck is persistent and possibly thickening, making me worry that totality will be very compromised. There are no nearby trees to see mini-crescents filtered through natural pin-hole cameras, and the little leather medallion that I brought does not seem to be serving as a pin-hole projection tool as I had hoped.

Totality

By 3:20 p.m. we're a little more than five minutes away from C2 and the start of totality. The sunlight is now that dim, twilight sort of intensity that seems so odd in the afternoon and a hallmark of an eclipse. The time crunch is on as I hurry to try to ensure everything is ready, especially re-centering in the scope and verifying focus there and at the wide field camera. I start my FB live session and position the smart phone to frame the Sun near the top of the frame so that the parking lot and small crowd is visible. 

Suddenly the SETnC calls out "Remove Filters!" and it's on. I start by pulling the filter from the Vixen and then move to the t6i to remove its filter and flip it to video. I look up just in time to see a stunningly beautiful Diamond Ring fading out at about the 11 o'clock position. The corona emerges and all my concerns about it being hidden vanish. I look over and see a couple of my new eclipse friends still wearing the glasses. "Get your glasses off!" I shout, and as they remove them they gasp and shout in amazement.

Diamond Ring at C2

The corona looks relatively round visually - no long streamers noticed despite us being at Solar Maximum (or perhaps the fainter portions are being obscured by the thin clouds - a likely scenario). I look around and easily notice Venus and Jupiter farther above it, pointing them out to the folks nearby. Other stars and planets may be visible but I don't spend a lot of time searching for them since we don't have good sky transparency. 

Full Eclipsed Sun with Corona

Suddenly someone in the crowd calls out "the seagulls - listen to them!" Like many malls near water, there's a collection of opportunistic gulls here, and they are obviously startled by the sudden darkness that has descended as they call out in mass and fly about. Of my three TSE experiences this is the first one where I've witnessed the impact on animals in the area. I then shift my attention to take in the beautiful 360° sunset that appears to be occurring on the horizon.

At this point I realize that I have yet to look through the binoculars! I quickly move over to them and remove the filters and recenter the eclipsed Sun. I let out an audible gasp as I see the glowing corona surrounding the black orb in the sky. Along the edge of the Moon there are hot pink areas and a couple of prominences. At the bottom of the disk is a riveting, large prominence that commands attention. I invite those around me to take a look at this stunning and ephemeral view of the Sun. As I glance back to the Sun I can hardly believe my eyes: that prominence is actually visible naked-eye! Just how massive is this thing!!

Solar Prominences on Display

The Denouement

Baily's Beads at C3

All too soon the SETnC barks out "Apply Filters!", signaling the end of the totality and emergence of the C3 Diamond Ring as the Sun reclaims its dominance in the sky. I quickly move the binoculars off the Sun and throw pillow cases over the scope and t6i camera. I sign off on the FB live stream and stand there pondering what I've just experienced. I'm filled with emotions - grateful that all the planning and driving paid off, thrilled at the soul-touching spectacle I just witnessed, a tinge of sadness that this is quite likely the last TSE I'll be able to see, and hopeful that I'll have some wonderful images for my scrapbook. But regardless of what's on the SD card I am convinced that my decision to focus more on experiencing the totality as opposed to capturing it was a great decision.

With a thin crescent in the sky it's prime time to check out the shadow and Purkinje experiments. Glancing at the red-green-blue block photo I cannot really discern any desaturation among the green and red. The shadow experiment, however, pays off. There is a clear difference in the shadows created by the rods, with the one roughly horizontal (i.e., more tangential to the crescent Sun) is much sharper than the vertical one. 

The Shadow Experiment: A is sharper than B, C 

I reattach the filters in time for the first round of post-totality partial shots. As in my previous eclipse experiences the crowd heads for the exits, a vain effort to escape the traffic jams that are coming. My eclipse friends leave their email addresses and we'll exchange images. One of them, Harry, had brought a drone that he launched just prior to C2 in an effort to record the shadow approaching. That will be interesting to see.

Like sitting through the movie's credits I dutifully continue to document the Moon's egress from the Solar disk. I begin to selectively pack up the car and glance to my left where one can see the nearby I-87 traffic. It's already a rolling backup, and I just hope that by some miracle by the time I leave it's better. By 4:37 p.m. the Moon exits and the Great North American Eclipse of 2024 is in the history books. I methodically break down the remaining equipment and pack it into the Rogue for my trip down the NY Thruway to New Paltz. 

The Epic Traffic Jam

I consider trying to grab some dinner but the few nearby places I check out have significant lines. I head for the interstate and make a pit stop to get some water at a quickie mart. I hoped to use the restroom but again, long line there. I enter the hotel's address and start the navigation. 

Traffic is a rolling backlog with a few rare exceptions that tease me. The navigation app is chronically telling me "there's a backup ahead but you are still on the fastest route." It also is unwittingly funny with the occasional warning "there's a speed trap ahead" when we are hitting top speeds of 30 mph. 

On a normal day one could expect to go from Plattsburg to New Paltz in about 3½ hours. But today the journey takes 7½, finally arriving at the hotel at 1:30 a.m. Normally I'd be quite alone checking in at that hour, but instead I see another eclipse family doing the same thing. It's 2 a.m. by the time my head hits the pillow and I'm quickly asleep. 

Epilogue

With the eclipse in my rearview I've taken inventory of how everything panned out following the hours of planning and investment. A quick look at the Mark II SD card reveals a good news - bad news situation. I did indeed get some very nice photos using the automated routine, but somehow the setting was at JPG instead of RAW, which will impact the post-processing capabilities. I also realized that in starting the video of the eclipse I failed to remember to rack the zoom lens fully out to get the largest diameter of the eclipsed Sun. However, the video is a wonderful record and even captures the startled seagulls flying across the frame. I also realize that I totally forgot to have my distance glasses on during the eclipse, so I am left wondering what clarity of the corona I inadvertently compromised. 

Lots of work ahead to process the images and see if the temperature recorder did its job. But it'll all be a labor of love as I create a scrapbook for this successful journey to see one of the most beautiful events in our heavens. 

Eclipse Prep Notes

Wow - I turn around and suddenly we are down to two weeks to go for the Total Solar Eclipse (TSE)! While I have been trying to read, prepare, and bullet-proof (except for weather - that's the wildcard) for the event there's still things to do on my checklist. Among the things I have checked off my list are the following:

Solar Filter: Glass or Film?

Partial Phase - Aug 21 2017

For the 2017 TSE I purchased a Seymour glass solar filter for my 80mm Vixen. That worked out pretty well, allowing me to capture photos with my Canon t6i with good clarity (click the image at left to enlarge). However, this time around in an effort to capture even more of what promises to be a stunning corona near sunspot maximum, I have purchased a used full-frame Canon body. The solar disk is smaller so I'll need sharp focus to enable enlargement without degradation.

One question in my mind was whether a good quality mylar solar film type  might yield sharper images. I invested in a Baader filter from Aegna Astro and did a side-by side comparison a couple weeks ago. The glass filter gives a slightly better color (yellow-orange) but of course our star is actually closer to white in appearance - which is how it looks with the Baader. While not a ton of difference between them, the Baader may be yielding a slightly crisper rendering of the sunspots. But on the other hand the Seymour is easier to slip on & off the scope. 

Comparing Baader film (white) to Seymour (red)

Filtered Smart Phone

At the HAL meeting the other week I mentioned that a simple, low-tech hack for getting images of the partial phases might be trimming one of the eclipse viewing glasses into a makeshift filter taped to your smart phone. The phone I used for this was an older Motorola (Android) that I recently replaced. I cut around the filter of one of the eyeglasses and taped it to cover the camera lens, very simple and quick. Unfortunately, all my attempts to capture the Sun were wildly overexposed. The phone's camera interface supposedly did allow me to adjust the ISO and camera shutter in "Pro" mode, but I was hard pressed to see any difference. While it didn't work for me, it is still an inexpensive and easy modification to your phone, and some better phones (I am quite frugal in what I'll spend for a phone), like an Apple iPhone or Google Pixel, might allow shutter speeds that will render a proper looking Sun. I will say that it is hard to see the Sun on the camera's screen when pointing it at the Sun, so rigging up some sort of shield might pay dividends if you find your camera can snap solar images.

SETnC Trial

If you've been doing some reading about photographing an eclipse you have probably come across the advice of "don't do it, just enjoy those precious moments!" And there is truth in that statement. At the 2017 event I spent a lot of time looking at the eclipse via my pad through which I was controlling the camera. I still took time during totality to soak in the corona and twilight horizon, but not as much as I might have liked. Part of the issue was that a week before the eclipse I decided that the software I was hoping to automate taking the photos to free me up was a little to unpredictable, so I opted to go the manual route. And to be sure, I treasure those shots I took that day.

This TSE will hopefully be different. I came across the Solar Eclipse Timer and Camera controller application (SETnC) and, although the interface is a little "busy", it seemed quite straightforward and nicely programable for firing off shots during the eclipse. You specify your location and the software identifies the C1 - C4 times and provides an Excel-style grid where you define what exposures to take at specific times during the eclipse.

True to forecasts, Sunday was a cloudless day that was perfect for a full dry run - all the equipment set up as if it were the real thing. The only difference is not taking the filter off during "totality"! 😉I began the session about 12:25 pm, roughly when it will start in Texas the day of the eclipse. The software worked flawlessly, so I feel very comfortable turning over the picture taking to it during totality. I did find that while the camera battery and Celestron Power Tank for the mount lasted throughout the simulated eclipse, my laptop would come close to running out of juice near C2. That was solved by my small Jackery 300 portable battery generator.

I also discovered that the HEM27 mount gradually began to struggle tracking the Sun once it had crossed the meridian. I found to my surprise that doing the meridian flip was not as horrific as I had imagined. The main thing was picking up the laptop and walking it to its new position once the slew was finished, plus re-centering the Sun. If you haven't practiced the meridian flip and are planning to take photos, I'd strongly suggest you practice this at least once in case you find you need to do it.

Tip: Sun Centering & Solar Projection

One of the challenges in Solar observing with a telescope (or binoculars mounted on a tripod) is centering the Sun in the field. One great technique that I learned as a teenager is that by watching the shadow of your telescope/binoculars on the ground and adjusting your instrument to create the smallest possible shadow, the Sun will pop into view. Here is a video I created demonstrating the technique. 

At the March HAL meeting I also mentioned that using Solar Projection was a time-honored technique for sharing a view of the Sun with a group of people. In short, you pop in an eyepiece and direct the sunlight emerging from the eyepiece onto a white surface. You focus until you have a nice, crisp view of the Sun for all to see. This technique also works for binoculars as well, especially suitable if they can be mounted on a tripod. The main caveat is to occasionally give the telescope's optics a break and move it off the Sun for a few minutes. You can see a video of the technique here.

Activities for Maryland

Even if you are not able to get into the totality line, there are some interesting observations you can make with a deep partial eclipse such as what Maryland will experience. First, as you hit maximum eclipse (about 3:21 pm in central Maryland), can you detect any Purkinje Effect? In brief, due to the diminished sunlight, the cones in your eye are used less and the rods begin to come into play. Because the rods are more blue-light sensitive, you may notice that red and green colors lose some of their saturation. See the video below for a fuller explanation:

The second phenomenon to observe is how a thin crescent Sun will impact shadows on the ground. Shadows are normally a bit fuzzy on their edges because the Sun appears as a significant disk in our sky, not a point source. That’s in part why the shadow of one of Jupiter’s moons on its clouds is much sharper than our Moon during an eclipse since the Sun is much smaller as seen from Jupiter. If you have a rod/stick oriented tangential to the crescent, and another perpendicular to it, then the tangential one should have a sharper shadow. Check out this video for more information on this effect.

Whether you are heading out to catch totality or staying put to enjoy the deep partial eclipse, my hope is for clear skies and my #1 tip is to be sure you do your observing safely. With any luck we'll all have some wonderful stories and photos to share at HAL in upcoming meetings!