Annular Eclipse 2012

On Sunday, May 20, 2012 most everyone in the western US had a great opportunity to see the Annular Eclipse or Ring of Fire.  For a few weeks prior to the eclipse I have been busy preparing for the big event, finding a good location, equipment (new solar filter), inviting friends and family, test runs......   For the first 45 minutes we were treated to some nice views of the eclipse. Just before the maximum, mother nature threw some clouds at us which pretty much broke up the party.  We were lucky enough to get a few glimpses of the eclipse at maximum as it broke through the clouds for a few brief moments. Overall, it was still a great time with a lot of oooh's and ahhh's to be had.  Dave Brown also brought his telescope which he was able to project images of the eclipse onto a white piece of paper.  The extra scope came in real handy with the large crowd we had.

Technical Details:

Annular Eclipse, May 20, 2012
Pocatello, Idaho

Equipment:  Meade LX90  8" SCT Telescope, Thousand Oaks Optical White Light R-G Solar Filter,  Nikon D300s Camera.

For more information on Eclipses

Set up and ready for an eclipse. 

 We had a nice turnout with about 35-40 people showing up to take a look at the eclipse.

 Dave set up his scope with a nice image projected onto a white piece of paper.  This was great for "mass" viewing while I was trying to get a few images.

A brief break in the clouds gave us some great looks right around the peak of the eclipse.  Notice the clouds drifting through the image.

Image taken a few minutes before first contact.

Image taken about 5 minutes after first contact

Image taken about 36 minutes after first contact

I was able to get a quick view of the Eclipse maybe a minute after maximum.  I was having a hard time getting the focus correct due to the clouds continuously passing through the image and the lack of a sunspot achieving the fine focus.

When it was all over, the clouds that caused so much grief provided a great sunset! Note the cloud at the top half of the image started out as a small whiff barley covering the sun.  It just kept growing and growing and growing......

These images can be viewed in full resolution on my Flickr account