This was probably the best image from the day! Unexpected for sure but I did capture the prominences at C2.
We were actually pretty fortunate with the weather as complete overcast skies were initially forecast but we were on the edge of the cloud bands. The sun was in and out of the clouds and we got glimpses of the partial phases up through about mid-totality. Actually the clouds added a little drama to the whole thing! It was of course fantastic to be there and see what we were able to see. We could not see associated phenomena such as shadow bands or the approaching Moon’s shadow. Probably the most remarkable thing was that during totality, with the clouds present, it was pitch dark! I could not see my equipment at all, so it took me me about 30 seconds to find the usb-c port on my laptop in order to change the drive mode from high speed back to single shot. I think because of that I was not able to get more images during totality. And because of the clouds there were only about 2 minutes where we could see it at all.
Here are the other images from the day:
This was the only image obtained at the start of totality, probably within the first minute.
There could not have been a more perfect observing site! Maybe 10 of us were present in this field by the river. I think there were about 30 people total at the resort. Many set up right next to their cabins.
Partial eclipse, about 30 minutes or so before C2.
Just after the very beginning. You can see 2 sunspot groups, one close to the center and one near the bottom.
This was about 25 seconds or so before C2. I did have the high speed mode active but I had to go totally off script and basically guess on exposure time. These were all ISO 200, F6.3, 1/60 sec. Normally this part of the eclipse you need to have an exposure of 1/4000. I did see somewhere in the case of clouds that exposure was decreased to 1/30-1/60.
Baily’s beads through the clouds! Overall I had the right idea and my planning was geared toward this phase of the eclipse, so considering the adverse conditions we had some success!
Final glimpse of sunlight before totality begins! All in all, we did get to see it despite the weather and as I was saying the cloud coverage added a totally unexpected drama to the experience!
Next stop will be Spain in 2026!
Thanks for reading!
DrDave
daveandtelescope 