Kuiper waits his turn for the telescope.

The Great American Eclipse: A Close Up Look

Check out these Eclipse pictures from our friends’ party in Prineville, Oregon!!! Shared with permission from our photographer friend Rocket Scientist John!

“The moon, by her comparative proximity, and the constantly varying appearances produced by her several phases, has always occupied a considerable share of the attention of the inhabitants of the earth.” Jules Verne, From the Earth to the Moon, 1865

1. Kuiper asks politely if it’s his turn to look through the telescope.

2. Solar prominences. These are loops of super hot (18,000 F/10,000 C) gases (still much cooler than the Corona.) The gases flow along lines of the Sun’s magnetic field. Since the field is constantly shifting, prominences are temporary, only lasting for a few weeks to a few months.

3. Here’s the corona! This is the outermost part of the Sun’s atmosphere. It is HECKIN’ hot (over 1.8 mil F/1 mil C) and only visible to the naked eye during a total solar eclipse.

4. Full eclipse with prominences. We saw this red/orange ring in the sky during totality but we weren’t sure if it was real or a visual artifact til John had a chance to review his pictures.

5. Diamond ring and corona. The diamond ring effect is also called “Baily’s beads” (named after Francis Baily, who first explained it in 1836.) The glittering is caused by the sun shining through gaps in the moon’s mountains and valleys. ???

6. Solar prominences and the first appearance of Baily’s beads.

7. Another diamond ring shot.

8. A shot of our eclipse party during totality. Can you spot Kuiper?

I just call it a Fancycam 5000, but Rocket Scientist John tells us that he shot these with a “Nikon D500, Nikkor 200-500 f/5.6 with a TC-14E 1.4x teleconverter and a homemade solar filter for partial phases.” I am proud to say that I know what some of those numbers mean.

Do you have plans yet for the next total solar eclipse in the US in 2024? I’m thinking we might have to pay another visit to @women_of_the_air in Cleveland. They’ll be right in the path of totally!

Original post: https://www.instagram.com/p/BYHVrtrAnAs/

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