I'll post more after I get them sorted, culled, and edited, but here is the first shot I got as totality started. Solar prominences are nicely visible, but underexposed to catch much corona. #eclipse2024
Ran an insect blacklight during the totality, with a control run the evening before. Got a ton of insects during both, but very different species. Fascinating. More later.
We had a super fun (surprisingly tiring) afternoon watching the #eclipse. The big zoom lens, telescope, and solar filters worked great. Neighbors came out and we watched the sun spots get covered up. The telescope had enough detail to see the craggily edges of the moon. Milli enjoyed the sun and observed some diffraction from inside. One neighbor said “you have the coolest gizmos on the block!” All things considered, it was a lovely experience, no regrets. #Astronomy#Astro#Eclipse2024
My eclipse pictures are on my photo blog: https://www.urbandinosaurs.org (though I do have to delete the Twitter link…).
For those who don't want to go there, here’s a picture of totality (note the solar prominences), and another of a post-totality crescent sun—it's smiling for the great show it gave us. #eclipse#eclipse2024
Did you use a colander to see or take pics of the eclipse? I know we laugh at it, but I seriously enjoy seeing others’ colander pics. In such a divided time, at least we all have colanders in common! Anyone remember Hands Across America? This is like that, but with colanders 🤣 Please post your pics and use the hashtag #Colanderstronomy (and maybe #ColandersAcrossAmerica?). Here’s mine, from #Colorado:
So. That was impressive. Here’s a quick sample from the backyard. Of note: temperature drop from 79.3 to 74.8, #solar production from the panels dropped to 0 and the house draw from the grid was the usual constant 420 watts, once the sun started coming back out the panels ramped back up, the temperature continued to drop for a few minutes to 74.5 but finally started edging up, and the dog could give a shit and just wandered around sniffing like usual.
Wow. The pictures don’t do it justice. Jupiter was visible to the left and Venus to the right (not in picture).
“So that’s where you look for aliens. In the course of an eclipse totality track. When everybody else is looking awestruck at the sky, you need to be looking round for anybody who looks weird or overdressed, or who isn’t coming out of their RV or their moored yacht with the heavily smoked glass.”
Where to look for #alien tourists – from Iain (M) Banks’s 2009 novel TRANSITION
I looked into the heart of the sun. I saw a 360 degree sunset. I saw the mountains of the moon. I saw stars during the day and Venus shining beside the sun and the moon.
A few moments before totality everything got still. The mourning doves and insects went quiet. The light wasn’t like a sunset, it didn’t have that angle to it. It was just grey and ghostly. The high clouds made the light very white and grey, making you feel like you were in a shadow world. #Eclipse#Vermont#Eclipse2024 1/2
I can barely explain what I experienced during totality. It was far more emotional that I realized to stand in the shadow of the moon and stare up like that, looking at the sun. I wandered around in a daze, looking at everything.
Afterwards I felt hungover, confused. I still do.
I’ve read about how people say total solar eclipses are life altering. I never knew why.