Total Solar Eclipse – April 8, 2024
80mm f/5, Mallincam DS432cTEC, various Exposure and Gain settings
April 8, 2024 19:24 to 19:26 UTC
High-altitude clouds threatened to spoil the show and persisted throughout the eclipse as viewed from the Johnstown Motel boat launch in Johnstown, ON, however they thinned just enough to provide great views and enough sharp frames for capture on MP4 format. The first and third frames here show the Moon advancing across the face of the Sun from lower right to upper left, at about 17 minutes before and after total eclipse respectively. In the middle image, several solar prominences are visible, even with just the naked eye, during the 2 minute 24 second totality. Spectacular!
Middle image stacked in Autostakkert using the top 10% of 4280 MP4 frames taken during totality. First and third images are single frames taken from MP4 video. All are colour-adjusted and post-processed in Affinity Photo.
North at 2 o’clock, East at 11 o’clock
Baily`s Beads
80mm f/5, Mallincam DS432cTEC
April 8, 2024 19:25 to 19:26 UTC
This image is a composite of frames taken between 30 to 15 seconds seconds before the end of totality. About a dozen Baily’s Beads can be seen forming on the right limb; the beads are sunlight shining through openings along the rough lunar edge, such as valleys. The effect occurs just as the sun’s disk is being hidden or revealed by the advancing Moon.
The image is uncropped so it represents true object size and location in the field of view. Stacked in Autostakkert using the top 30% of 144 MP4 frames; colour-adjusted and post-processed in Affinity Photo.
North at 2 o’clock, East at 11 o’clock
Sun Halo
When we arrived at our observing location about 3 hours before totality, we were treated to a beautiful halo around the Sun, a sign of ice crystals suspended in the atmosphere. I wondered how that might affect the experience of the eclipse.
We soon setup the equipment and chairs on a bluff near the St Lawrence river`s edge and had a pleasant time awaiting the start of the partial phase with a small group of fellow eclipse watchers, guests of the Motel that we had just met.
Four minutes after the partial eclipse began (2:11 PM local) and an hour and ten minutes before totality, we started seeing the Moon take a significant bite out of the Sun`s disk following 1st contact (C1). A couple of sunspot groups were visible, but there was much less activity than what I saw a couple of weeks before.
Start of Partial Eclipse
80mm f/5, Mallincam DS432cTEC
April 8, 2024 18:15 UTC
Advancing Lunar Shadow
98 seconds before Totality
38 seconds before Totality
13 seconds before Totality
This sequence of photos looking south-west shows the dramatic fast advance of the lunar shadow, or umbra, coming towards us at 2400 km/h, just seconds before totality; the lower altitude clouds provided an excellent canvas for the darkness to project upon. In the first photo just 98 seconds before totality, the daylight has dimmed substantially giving an eery camp-fire like feeling in the lighting and shadows around us. The first hints of the approaching lunar umbra can be seen by the clouds darkening towards the horizon left of the cedar trees.
In the second photo 60 seconds later, the clouds in the distance have now darkened substantially. Note that the darkness in the clouds is almost as high as the cedar trees now. Off towards the horizon a bright orange-pink colour stripe appears.
In the third photo just another 25 seconds later, the darkness has grown substantially, measuring about twice the height of the cedar trees. Totality is about to begin in 13 seconds! Notably, the Sun is still very bright despite how very little of it is left uncovered by the Moon.
Totality
West
North-West
North-East
When totality occurred, everything around us got suddenly darker. These 3 photos were taken around the midpoint or maximum totality. Everything in the foreground looks completely dark, it was difficult to see people’s faces. In the distance and all around us it looks like the sun is about to rise.
In the first photo to the lower right of the eclipse, Venus is visible just above the trees.
Solar Prominences
80mm f/5, Mallincam DS432cTEC
April 8, 2024 19:26 UTC
Taken about 10 seconds before the end of totality, this single frame of MP4 shows some good detail in various prominences. Colour was untouched from the original image, white balanced with a slightly desaturated setting on the camera. Here is the same image with increased saturation, increasing the red in the prominences.
3rd Contact
This animated GIF shows the last 37 seconds before 3rd contact (C3), when sunlight re-emerges from the Moon’s cover as it continues to move steadily eastward. Focus and exposure were a constant struggle to adjust manually throughout the eclipse due to clouds but I managed to snap it into focus for the last few seconds. The right-edge of the disk goes through a progression, from solar prominences only, to flickering Baily’s Beads, to a bright thin-line glow, to sunlight bursting through, at which point I hastily put the solar filter back on the telescope!
I think the video also provides a good impression of how the eclipse looked to the naked eye. The rapid movement of clouds across the Sun/Moon disk gave it a very cinematic feeling, with pulsating brightness and prominences that look like they are gently shifting and moving, making it look like a living breathing thing.
Animated GIF converted from MP4 video using PIPP; some frames were dropped and image was resized smaller to compress file size.
Diamond Ring Effect
80mm f/5, Mallincam DS432cTEC
April 8, 2024 19:26 UTC
Single frame of MP4 at the end of totality showing the “diamond ring effect”. Time to look away and put the solar filters back on.
As quickly as it arrived, it left, and the surroundings got dramatically brighter again following C3. This photo was taken 29 seconds after totality ended; projection of the lunar umbra on the clouds was evident again as the shadow receded north-eastward.
Totality’s End
