Solar Eclipse 2024 Expedition

Honestly, I can't say what the heck happened, but I never posted on my 2024 Solar Eclipse Expedition. But it happened, and here is that day.

I started out following state and U.S. highways past Indianapolis to a small town called Hartford City. Why Hartford City, IN? Well, as it happens, there is a cloud cover website you can visit that will tell you on a map what the percentage of cloud cover is for a given time of day and location. Hartford City showed up as an ideal spot, being both inside the inner band for the longest eclipse and as it had the lowest percentage of cloud cover in Indiana. I pulled into a public park in the middle of town.

 I set up next to a family who had just bought their telescope the day before at Costco. No bad vibes on Mom & Dad... They were out there serious about learning how to use the telescope to get a good view for the kids, and they did so, spectacularly. They were a really wonderful family, and I enjoyed meeting and talking with them. They were accompanied by friends, all from Valparaiso University.

As for me, I set up my gear over an hour or so, as I made good time hitting Hartford City in the morning. I got my focus where I thought it needed to be and started imaging. Slow through the partial, but at a great flurry during totality. I ended up with some nice images of totality. My goal of getting the diamond ring was accomplished as well. Here are some of the images from the day.

These were shot on a Canon T1i with a Tamron 70-300mm zoom. I used an ultraviolet filter matched with a 16.6n neutral density filter. All have been post-processed for brightness/contrast, and using the gimp plugin for the astrophotography noise filter.

Sol prior to the eclipse. ISO400, 1/2048th sec., f16.

As the eclipse begins, the air cools down and things seem a little off. ISO400, 1/2048th sec., f11.

Retreating from totality. ISO400 1/3200th sec., f14.

And totality! Prominences were nice, albeit a bit smaller. ISO400, 1/512th sec., f14.

This was the coveted prize of the trip: the diamond ring image. ISO400, 1/320th sec., f14.

 

This is a composite image consisting of just the sun from one image, and the jet and sky from the second. It's a false image, but gives an interesting view. The jet is on display at American Legion Post 313 in Fairmount, IN. ISO400, 1/2580th sec, f11 (jet/sky).