Dateline: 8 April 2024
Reporting from the BirdingPI.com “solar observatory,” it was quite the ‘weather rollercoaster’ in Erie County, PA for the 2024 total solar eclipse on Monday: high fog (hint of sunrise sunshine), then rain, then clouds. There was partial clearing before the eclipse started after 2PM, but still on-and-off clouds; more on the ‘on’ side during totality. Thankfully, enough partiality, cloud-wise, for things to work out ok, if less than ideal. Following photographs (in chronological order) all Nikon @ 400mm w/ solar filter (partial eclipse) & @ 600mm unfiltered (totality), handheld.
View of the ‘final crescent’ w/ clouds:
Totality w/ clouds (pink colour is from solar flares – see below):
A passing cloud break (more or less), w/ clear totality + solar flares:
Just as totality ends, w/ faint solar flares:
Waning crescent eclipse w/ clouds:
Final waning eclipse w/ sunspots:
Key takeaways: (i) totality, although short, is pretty amazing, especially the level of darkness relative to partial coverage; (ii) seeing solar flares, wow; (iii) big difference between eclipse glasses and anything w/ magnification (telescope or camera); (iv) never bet against bad weather in Erie; & (v) “everything under the sun is in tune, but the sun is eclipsed by the moon.”
Looking forward to 2044!
What really made those fantastic photos was the having clouds in some of them, creating an ethereal imags!
This Team Member frequently can’t spel to good!
The solar flares were really excellent. Even the photos were!