Solar Eclipse

 Cyndi and I traveled to Fredricksburg, Texas to view the total solar eclipse on Monday, April 8, 2024.  It was intermittently (mostly) cloudy, even during the eclipse.  Of the four minutes of totality, we perhaps had 20 seconds of viewing, much of which was spent by me trying to get a photo.  My inexpensive camera was very unwilling to focus because of the soft edges caused by the clouds.

Difficulties and challenges aside, we *did* see the eclipse and the final photo taken shows the corona at left, a loop solar prominence at the 5 o'clock position, and just above and to the right of that is Bailey's Beads just about to flare into the diamond ring ... all through hazy and broken clouds.  Bailey's Beads is a broken arc of bright light points as light from the edge of the sun's sphere bursts through valleys and canyons on the moon to just begin to reveal the sun's disc to viewers on Earth (or as it is about to be obscured, but this image was taken during the reappearance).

Solar Eclipse

Totality, 21 August 2017, as seen from the Lost River Valley at the foot of Mount Borah, Idaho's tallest peak.

Orion Nebula and Lunar Eclipse

The astronomy bug has me in its grasp!  I awoke from a sleep to watch the total lunar eclipse.

I observed some features on my camera that I had not fully explored, and aimed at the Orion Nebula.  This would be the middle "star" in the sword that hangs from Orion's belt.  I was pleased to observe the results, and hope you enjoy them as well.  You can see this yourself on a dark night with the naked eye.  If you have binoculars or a telescope, all the better.

If you don't have a dark sky, you'll be denied the opportunity to see this and other celestial wonders.  Lights should be shielded and downcast to avoid wasting energy and to preserve the beauty of our environment.  I also observed a couple of galaxies, the Pleiades and Beehive Cluster, Jupiter, Leo, Gemini, Cancer, and Taurus.  Two meteors streaked across the heavens as well.

Annular Solar Eclipse

Cyndi and I traveled to Zion National Park in Utah to enjoy the solar eclipse of 20 May 2012.  We checked out the area the day before the eclipse and settled on the Hop Canyon Trailhead on Kolob Plateau.

The sandstone features were amazing all by themselves, so we figured we'd enjoy the scenery as well as the astronomical event.

Here's a detail view, looking over toward Kolob Canyon (which we had visited the previous day ... but that's another story altogether).

The moon slowly passed in front of the sun and over the course of an hour covered more and more of the bright star.  Cyndi's brother Derek had presented us with eclipse viewing filters when we visited him on the way down.  Good thing, too, because my imagination told me the sun would be way down on the horizon at sunset so would be seen by the camera lens.  To be sure, the camera would not have seen the eclipse at all without this filter in front of the lens.  Thank you Derek!

As the light took on sunset hues, even though the sun was still rather high in the sky, I noticed I was being observed.  This Long-tailed Weasel had passed nearby with something in her mouth, and was now hiding in some oak leaves intently watching me.

As the moon obscured more of the sun the camera began to give sharper images of the crescent sun.

The mystery was solved as this mother weasel and her baby ran across the open rocks and disappeared into the sagebrush uphill of my vantage point.  During the eclipse she passed by me repeatedly, once shuttling two young, but otherwise just escorting one to the relative safety of the scrub and brush on the hillside behind me.  I counted 5 young ones during these trips.  What a great sideshow!

This is what it looked like at the moment the moon appeared to me to be most centered on the sun.  The moon was only completely in front of the sun for just a bit more than 6 minutes.

Then the moon began to pass away from the sun and the magical light faded away as it became progressively brighter for the next hour until we were back to our usual experience.

I had been unable to see the new moon the day before the eclipse, or on the day, or even the day after ... but two days later, at sunset, there she was once again ... the smallest sliver near Venus.

Though this kind of photography highlights well any "dead pixels" on my digital camera CCD sensor, in this instance the tiny speck to the right of the limb of the moon really is a faint star.

Show's over folks, nothing more to see here.  Get back to work, and there's studying to be done.  Don't even think about bird photos!

2012, Here We Go!

Looks like 2012 is off to a great start. The sunrises and sunsets have been spectacular. Here's sunrise earlier this week.

Cyndi and I have been involved in various pursuits to try to stay active and creative. She's invited me to her English Country Dance group, and they put up with my mistakes in a most collegial way, so I'm giving it a try. I'll let you know when the YouTube video is ready for prime time.

Last weekend Cyndi, her daughter Emily, and I took a class in pottery. I threw a few bowls and a plate.

Cyndi bought Emily a class in glass blowing, and Emily made some marvelous Christmas ornaments. This one was very colorful!

And, Cyndi took a class in enamel, and one of the results is pictured below.

Snowy Owls have been in the news, wandering far south of their usual arctic haunts. On Christmas Eve Cyndi and I went to see a pair of them that came to a nearby town. Here's the whiter one.

We went back again today, and though it was in a different field it was still in the same general area. This time I tried to photograph it through my scope.

So far 2012 has been an exciting year, and I have high hopes for adventure and excitement as the year unfolds. Looks like there's gonna be an annular eclipse of the sun sweeping across the continent not to far from me. Count me in.

Impossible Eclipse

Today's total lunar eclipse is known as an "impossible eclipse" because the moon is in totality at sunrise. Cyndi and I awoke early and absorbed a lot of coffee (with chocolate and cinnamon). We then proceeded to a dark place, on the Oregon Trail, near where we live. Here is the result. Enjoy. In this image you can see the State Capitol building, and the place where I work.

Lunar eclipse, Winter Solstice, 2010