2024 Solar Eclipse
I've been looking forward to this eclipse ever since experiencing the last one back in 2017. Previously I drove by myself down to Fulton Missouri and spent the day with my astronomy club but this time I was able to bring my family with me and share totality with them. We packed up the car and headed down to Alexandria, Indiana, and luckily found a wonderful spot in Beulah Park. The locals were getting things setup and were amazingly kind. Despite all the news reports warning of traffic and mayhem we made it down and setup with almost no problems at all. We arrived around an hour before the eclipse was set to begin, so I began setting up my equipment while people came by to ask lots of questions.
As with last time, I used my Canon 5D MkIII paired to a Quantaray 600-1000mm lens sitting on top of a Celestron CGEM Equatorial Mount. I had planned on having it auto-guide through the day but my portable power station died about a minute after turning it on (I charged it overnight, but apparently it sat discharged for too long). No worries though, I could manually guide it through the eclipse - thankfully it's slow moving.
I setup my portable chair and dialed in my focus while doing some test exposures, making sure I could move the mount by hand as the sun & moon moved across the sky. I was ready a few minutes before everything got underway.
As the moon started its transit across the sun we were talking to everyone around us as the crowd grew. Lots of people were curious about my photography setup so I was able to answer questions while letting them have a look through the view finder. We chatted with locals from Alexandria, as well as people from Illinois, Wisconsin, South Dakota, and other spots in the midwest.
Just before totality the temperature had dropped quite a bit and I had to put on my hoodie to stay comfortable. I had my Insta360 camera going, as well as my iPhone capturing wide video of everything else going on while I was taking photographs and calling out the countdown so everyone knew when they could remove their glasses. You could actually see the shadow overtaking the park when suddenly we got the diamond ring flare just before totality.
Totality was an amazing experience - I knew what to expect after 2017 but I was still moved, I think even more so than last time. A number of prominences were visible to the naked eye and the corona was absolutely spectacular. This time I wanted to be more present so I stepped away from the camera and just soaked in everything with my own eyes and cheered with everyone else. Totality lasted for about three minutes or so before we got another diamond ring as the sun started peeking out again. I shouted for everyone to get their glasses back on and everyone continued to cheer and clap.
Even after seeing two eclipses first-hand I still have a hard time articulating how magical of an experience it is. I'm disappointed that the next one over North America won't happen for 20 years so unless I can convince the wife to eclipse chase with me it might be some time before I see another one in person. It was an amazing experience and I am glad I have both the memories and photos to look back on fondly.
Many many thanks to the people of Alexandria who were incredibly hospitable, as well as everyone who came by to ask questions and have a look through my scope. The day couldn't have gone any better!