Sunspots - 7 June 2024
I was lucky enough to be able to capture both of the solar eclipses across North America in 2023 and 2024.
We travelled to Indiana for the total eclipse on 8 April 2024, and it was absolutely amazing. Luckily I had figured out the settings from the October 2023 eclipse. There were high, thin clouds, which probably affected the clarity somewhat, but they didn’t affect our almost surreal experience.
A small bite out of the sun. Note the sunspots.
Almost there
Totality!
Toward the end of the almost four minutes of totality, I realized that I could change the camera settings and get it a bit more clear. Then I got the solar prominences.
Starting to come back out
I think the Diamond Ring effect might have been better without the high clouds. Or maybe I didn't have the right settings. Probably that.
Me trying to be artsy-fartsy and take a photo through trees
Back to a small bite
14 October 2023
It was a partial eclipse where I was and mostly cloudy, which actually made for interesting, albeit difficult-to-take photos. It made it extremely difficult to focus on the sun, as I only had a vague idea where it was going to be when there was a break in the clouds. When it fleetingly came out from behind a cloud, I couldn’t find it through the viewfinder partly because I had the camera settings completely wrong at first. It also got harder and harder to focus, because I kept getting blinded trying to aim the camera and had more and more spots in front of my eyes. I couldn’t look through either my eclipse glasses or the viewfinder because everything was just black, so I had to look at the clouds - at which point the sun would come out from behind the fast moving clouds, blinding me.
It was cloudy in Placerville, California on 14 October 2023. It made it extremely difficult to focus on the sun, as I only had a vague idea where it was going to be when there was a break in the clouds.
The clouds eventually mostly cleared toward the end of the eclipse. Note the sunspot close the edge of the "bite." and another more faint one to the northeast. 14 October 2023
Sunspots!
The sun is at the height of its eleven year solar cycle
The sun has a lot of spots at the moment! - 7 June 2024
NASA image of the sun - 7 June 2024