2017 Total Solar Eclipse

Monday, August 21, 2017    Total Solar Eclipse

We pulled into Cedars of Lebanon State Park in Lebanon, Tennessee a little after noon yesterday.  Didn’t do a whole lot yesterday except prepare for today. 

Today was the 2017 Total Solar Eclipse!!  The park here is directly in the path of totality and we had made reservation a year in advance.  The weather was almost perfect, with only a few clouds at the beginning of the eclipse, which lasted from 11:59 to 2:54 CDT. 

The park had an area set up in an open field with music, food trucks, games, and LOTS of people.  But we found a primo spot just behind the check in station where we had clear sky, shade, and a platform where we could set up our chairs.  

Since this is the “stage” where they perform “Music in the Park” from time to time, we also had electricity, which meant we had a fan!!

We actually moved all of our equipment and set up around 9:45 so no one else could claim “our spot”.  But I don’t really think we had anything to worry about.  No one seemed to realize that you could view the eclipse from any clear area.  You really didn’t need to go to the official viewing area.  Here is a picture of our setup, and one of the folks at the official area.

And so it began.  I took one picture using the camera and the genuine solar viewing glasses before everything started.

And one through the telescope.  My telescope isn’t all that strong, but it does have a solar filter that screws into the eyepiece.  Our photographic equipment was quite amateur.  I simply held the camera lens against the eyepiece and adjusted it until the picture was as clear as possible. 

I actually spent quite a lot of time at home figuring out how to take these pictures.  The only reason I go into this detail is in case you want to try the same thing next time.  I didn’t have a fancy setup.  I had tried using the phone camera and telescope but I couldn’t cover the telescope lens with the camera and too much light came in.  I remember the last eclipse in New Orleans in 1984 and I had used a simple Kodak film camera through the telescope lens.  I tried using my Mom’s digital camera but there were problems because the lenses for the camera and telescope were too far apart.  I finally found my digital camera and tried it.  I had to hold the lens against the eyepiece with my left hand and take the pic with my right.  It was tricky keeping everything still and in the field of view.  That’s why some of the pictures are glarry.  But even so, they are awesome.

Note that the solar filter on my telescope is green, hence the green color.  The glasses filter is orange.

Right around noon the moon began to nibble away at the sun.  Just about this time a very large cloud passed overhead, which is why we missed the very start of the eclipse, and why the bottom part of this picture is fuzzy.

As we move toward totality, the “bite” grows larger, and larger.

Unfortunately, as the sun enters the crescent phase, I got quite a bit of glare on the camera lens. 

About this time, we could see the crescent shaped light coming through the trees and on the wooden deck of our platform

And then it got dark.  It had become noticeably darker before this, but when the moon actually obscured the sun totally, it was quite darker.  The temperature also dropped about 10 degrees just in that 2 minutes 28 seconds.  

Whoops were coming from all around us.  People were jumping up and down and even Lyle was impressed!!  The bright ring around the sun is the corona, or the “atmosphere” of the sun.

The photo above was taken with just the camera.  No need for a filter during totality.  I also took a couple of shots through the telescope.

The last shot was taken just at the end of totality, and the bright spots near the lower right are called “Bailey’s Beads” and are the result of sunlight peeking out through the mountains of the moon.

Then it was time to put our glasses back on and put the filter back on the telescope lens.  And we watched as the sun waxed to a full sphere once more.

We were among a very few people who actually watched the entire show.  Most people milled around until just before totality, then screamed with everyone else, and packed up to leave almost immediately.  Some had come in just for the day because watching the eclipse in the park was much nicer than standing along the interstate.  Some of the campers here had everything packed up so they could leave just after totality.  But we saw the whole thing, and it was spectacular!!

The next total solar eclipse in on April 8, 2024, and if all goes as planned, we will be there.  The path of totality passes through Texas, northwest Arkansas, and southeast Missouri.  According to the map I saw on the internet today, it appears that it will pass just south of St Louis, and very close to Hawn State Park in St Genevieve, Missouri.  This is actually our first stop on our upcoming Midwest tour, so we can get a preview of the park.  (But from the pictures, it is georgous!).  The only possibly issue is that April generally has a lot of overcast and rainy days, but we will hope for the best.

Thanks for watching the eclipse with us!