Total Solar Eclipse: April 2024

          There's no experience quite like a total solar eclipse. The sky grows darker with each passing minute, and the temperature drops ever so slightly. Even the animals know something is going on. The daytime creatures become quiet during totality, and the nocturnal ones wake up. Of course, this time is short-lived. The time of totality varies with the location along the eclipse path, but it’s typically only a few minutes.

    I was fortunate enough to experience my second total solar eclipse with my wife, her first total solar eclipse, on the 8th of April. Despite foreboding weather forecasts, we traveled to Dallas, Texas, hoping for clear skies to watch the Moon pass between the Earth and the Sun. In the weeks leading up to the eclipse, I constantly checked the weather for Dallas and was pleasantly greeted by clear, sunny skies for eclipse day. As the date rapidly approached, the weather forecast became cloudy with rain and thunderstorms. There were even some weather reports that were predicting tornados in the area. We decided to take the risk despite talks of canceling the trip altogether due to the unfavorable weather reports.

    We left Utah early Sunday morning with only a small hiccup going through TSA. In my excitement and nervousness about traveling with a new telescope and not knowing if it would pass through TSA, I forgot to empty my pockets of all my belongings before going through the metal detector. It seems my wife was suffering the same thoughts as she forgot to remove a full water bottle from her purse. After a slight scolding by the TSA officers and a brief pat down, we were clear to board the jet. We arrived in Dallas shortly before noon, greeted by nearly perfect weather with clear skies and warm temperatures. My wife and I prefer the cold, so anything above 70° F is a little too warm. The airport, shuttle to pick a rental car, and the rental car place were crowded due to individuals coming to town for the eclipse. The rental car establishment seemed busier than the airport, with customers trying to get a car without having reservations. My wife and, to some extent, myself are planners. We had everything booked months in advance, with several phone calls leading up to our trip to confirm our reservations. 

    After securing our rental car and loading it up, it only took about 20 minutes to get to our hotel. We were too early for the check-in time, so we explored a bit and realized we were within walking distance of several sporting arenas and Six Flags. We checked into our hotel and scoped out a good area to set up for the eclipse the following day. After returning to our room, we checked the weather one last time: mostly cloudy skies and rain.

    Eclipse day arrived. We woke up and looked out the window; the cloudy sky forecast was correct! We decided to continue our eclipse plans as if no clouds were in the sky. We scouted other possible areas to set up our gear for the eclipse before the start time. We settled on our first choice; the middle of a parking lot with no overhead trees or power lines. We returned to our room, collected our gear and other necessities, like water, and made our way to the preselected spot despite the cloudy sky. We bumped into several other eclipse chasers along our way. 

    As we began setting up the telescope and getting situated, we noticed the clouds beginning to burn off a bit. The cloudy sky consisted mostly of high, thin clouds with a few patches of thicker and heavier rain clouds. I installed the solar filter on the telescope and aligned it to the Sun about five minutes before first contact, when the Moon’s shadow first touches the Sun. I selected the timelapse setting and began capturing the entire eclipse from first to fourth contact when the shadow of the Moon leaves the Sun. I mistakenly did not change the telescope’s default setting of one image per second.   

    The Sun was in plain view with no clouds to obscure first contact. The Sun had a few sunspots that appeared nicely in the images on this particular day. Clouds occasionally passed in front of the Sun, which were mainly thin so the eclipse could still be viewed. As the Moon continued its march across the sky, patches of dense grey clouds would pass in front of the sun. I captured several images of nothingness during this time. In the minutes leading up to totality, thick clouds covered the Sun. A small group decided to walk/run to the south, hoping to escape the clouds. Luckily for us, the clouds dispersed, and we could experience totality. The images below, from left to right, show the first few moments after first contact, the Moon about halfway across the Sun, and the brief moment before totality. The top images are in color, straight from the telescope, and the bottom images are converted to monochrome to help enhance the detail.

    I removed the solar filter from the telescope to capture the Sun’s corona, which is larger than the camera sensor of the telescope. I was also able to capture a few images with my phone. Still, I was more interested in experiencing totality with my own eyes and seeing my wife react during her first total solar eclipse. We could easily see Jupiter to the left and Venus to the right of the Sun. We could not see any other planets, comets, or stars, likely due to the clouds in the area.  I captured a few solar prominences seconds after the third contact and before replacing the solar filter on the telescope. The timelapse continued with one image per second. From left to right, the images below show the totality, the "diamond ring" and solar prominences, and the moment right before replacing the solar filter. The top row is in color, straight from the telescope, while the bottom row shows the same monochrome image to reveal the details.

    The clouds continued to pass in front of the Sun as the Moon continued its trek across the sky. The group returned, and we overheard them saying they had missed part of the totality due to the clouds. As the eclipse waned, I got a picture, seen below, of the eclipse being projected on the ground through tree leaves.

  

    The clouds continued to roll in, but we were able to capture the end of the eclipse. We packed up our gear and dropped everything off back in our room. I have to say that I have never met more genuinely nice individuals than I have at science-related events. Most individuals seem to look out for each other instead of being concerned with themselves. A fellow eclipse chaser from Virginia offered us water multiple times and was more than happy to talk to us after the eclipse. The small group this fellow chaser was with also seemed like like-minded individuals. The images below show the Moon leaving the Sun and the Sun after the eclipse. The top images are in color, straight from the telescope, while the bottom images have been converted to monochrome to help enhance the detail.

    A storm rolled in that night, bringing heavy rain and a good lightning show. The best-isolated image we captured is below. Due to the storms, our flight and several others were delayed. When we arrived at the airport, we were conscious of not repeating our mistakes with TSA as in Salt Lake City. Aside from getting "randomly selected" to be searched, we made it home without incident!

    

    I will have some videos to share, including that of this eclipse, in the coming weeks. Please check back near the end of the month for May's Monthly Night Sky Report. Take advantage of this nice weather to get outside and look up!

Now get outside and look up!