Topic awaiting preservation: Solar Eclipse in North America

"On April 8th in North America crescent-shaped sunbeams will dapple the ground during a partial solar eclipse".
Sounds lovely doesn't it, dappled sunbeams. What I've noticed during partial eclipses is the effect on the ground. If it's otherwise sunny, the light cast on the ground through trees takes on the shape of hundreds of tiny cresent shaped suns.

For those in North America:
http://sunearth.gsfc.nasa.gov/eclipse/SEmono/HSE2005/PSE2005.html

For the rest of the world:
http://sunearth.gsfc.nasa.gov/eclipse/SEmono/HSE2005/HSE2005.html

Too bad the best view is smack dab in the middle of the Pacific.

I have seen this effect underneath the trees in my front yard. Pretty spectacular. The spaces between the leaves acted like pin hole camera "lens". There were thousands of crescents on the ground.


Life's too short to put up with bad art.

Well, it's about to reach its maximum eclipse for my part of the world. I was going to pick up a solar filter for my parents' scope and get some shots of it for everyone, but I decided at $70 it wasn't worth it when the next eclipse I'd see isn't for another 7 years.

Besides, the most I would've seen here would've looked like this.

The birds outside seem to be going nuts, though.

Here is what I can see... Not much more impressive, but still something. The only thing is I don't have any of my welding lenses here, so I won't be looking too close anyways.

I'd almost forgot about it actually. I was thinking it was tomorrow for some reason ::shrugs::

Thanks for the heads up Wes ::thumbs up::

For the hell of it, I dug up my lunar eclipse photo from October ...



(Edited by Wes on 04-09-2005 00:26)

That's a great photo Wes. I really want to get into astrophotography myself, it's just so blimmin expensive. Are you using an adaptor to attach the camera to a telescope, or is this using a telephoto and tripod?

The oct lunar eclipse was one of the most beautiful things I've ever seen. I think I like lunar better than solar.



.:[ Never resist a perfect moment ]:.

Sure lunar eclipses look really great. But total solar eclipse are amazing.

I can hardly believe that I omitted to provide any linkage
Belatedly: NASA
Apologies
Tao

too far south for me =(

Tao -- I used my parents' Celestron 4GT (which I just discovered was recently discontinued) and my Canon 10D. I set it up using what's called "prime focus," which basically means I'm using the telescope as the lens. It just so happens that the focal length of the 4GT is perfect for the moon, too; that shot is full frame.

You can use another technique whereby you attach your camera somehow, using a lens, to your chosen eyepiece on the scope, but I don't know much about that.

The 4GT has both an eyepiece on the side and a separate connector right on the back for attachments; a knob flips a mirror so you can switch between the two. To connect the camera, I picked up a T-ring made for the lens mount of Canon EOS cameras, which screwed onto a T-adapter made to screw onto the scope. The built-in motor on the scope tracked the moon while I shot. The hard part was focusing, since I had to do so manually with the scope and the viewfinders of most digital SLRs are aggravatingly small.

Actually, I think I have a shot of the setup here somewhere ...



I don't know that much about astrophotography yet, but my parents are moving to the country here pretty soon and I'll be out there during the warm summer nights learning.

If you have a decent camera already, you can pick up a fairly good scope for not too much and start learning. As I've learned just from researching the hobby, you can easily come down with the gadget fever, even more so than with regular photography, but with just a camera, a couple of adapters and a scope with a decent tracking motor, you can start shooting planets and see if you have a taste for it. You can also get a mount that straps to the scope and piggyback your camera with a nice telephoto.

Edit: I never, ever type my links rights.



(Edited by Wes on 04-09-2005 06:50)

Here is a link to a gallery of photos of the April 8, 2005 eclipse. Some of them are pretty cool... SpaceWeather