04-11-2024, 08:01 PM
As I predicted from the maps we had maybe 95%+ totality. Just a tiny sliver of the sun remained. But that meant I didn't see the corona. I looked for shadow bands and for the second time I didn't see them. But shadows produced by the sliver of sun were all curved. It was the most interesting dusk and dawn light that I can remember seeing, ever.
For "naked eye" viewing (no such thing!) we used a #10 welding glass and I used my "dilated eyes but I still need to drive home" dark glasses with it and that worked. The wife used similar glasses.
The performance champ was the wide field telescope with it's solar filter and a low power ocular. While we were watching the moon move into place I counted 3 sunspots lg/med and really tiny and surface granulation toward the edges of the solar sphere. The granulation looks something like orange peel but finer.
If I had driven the 40ish miles, well, it took 4 hours for people to drive that and there's really only one road in and out. More if one wants to go wayyy out of the way, but they take the same time to get to the same place just without traffic and lots more miles. Glad I didn't do the drive.
Since I won't chase eclipses all over the globe that's the last for my life. What I saw of this one was worth seeing. It was nice to see the dance of the 3 bodies interact rather than just for the moon to be "static" (it isn't) in the night sky.
For "naked eye" viewing (no such thing!) we used a #10 welding glass and I used my "dilated eyes but I still need to drive home" dark glasses with it and that worked. The wife used similar glasses.
The performance champ was the wide field telescope with it's solar filter and a low power ocular. While we were watching the moon move into place I counted 3 sunspots lg/med and really tiny and surface granulation toward the edges of the solar sphere. The granulation looks something like orange peel but finer.
If I had driven the 40ish miles, well, it took 4 hours for people to drive that and there's really only one road in and out. More if one wants to go wayyy out of the way, but they take the same time to get to the same place just without traffic and lots more miles. Glad I didn't do the drive.
Since I won't chase eclipses all over the globe that's the last for my life. What I saw of this one was worth seeing. It was nice to see the dance of the 3 bodies interact rather than just for the moon to be "static" (it isn't) in the night sky.