Solar Eclipse 2024 April 8

[PMSchu]

I was fortunate to observe the total solar eclipse on April 9 from Plain City, Ohio just north west of Columbus. There was quite a bit of excitement.

Here's an image of totality that I was able to capture:     

There were a lot of cirrus clouds throughout the whole event, so the sky was never really clear. Still, it was a fantastic experience.

I hope that everyone else who tried to observe the eclipse was as lucky as I was.

Phil S.

[theskyhound]

That's a nice photo Phil. I think all of Texas was cloudy. We drove to the place that was most likely to be clear, and it mostly was--until about 40 minutes before hand. Then the clouds came from the south, chasing us away from the center line. Eventually we had to stop, and the mid-afternoon clouds built right over us. We only saw glimpses of the almost eclipsed sun before and after the main event. It got really dark though. There was a rooster and crickets. We could see a sunset about half way around the horizon. The crazy thing is that as soon as the sun went dark the clouds started clearing, I guess because of the lack of heat from the ground. But it didn't quite clear up fast enough to see much more than Venus, poking through a hole. Disappointing, but also memorable. I am lucky to have had a perfect clear sky in 2017.

[PMSchu]

Hi Greg,

I'm sorry that you had clouds in Texas. That was supposed to be the location with the longest totality and the best chances for clear skies, I thought. That explains why the news channels were showing views of the eclipse from Indianapolis. 

It got dark, like late twilight, and the temperature dropped significantly as the eclipse progressed, too. My wife saw Venus during totality, but I was too busy taking images to pay proper attention to everything else that was going on. My grandson must have good vision, because he saw the prominences naked eye.

It's definitely a Bucket List item.

Phil S.