We had a blast going to see the annular eclipse at Abilene State Park. Since I had already secured a day pass we were waved through quickly at the entrance. So we found our perfect spot pretty much to ourselves. Most of the eclipse watchers were at the park’s event at the red sandstone concession building area.
It was going to take a little over three hours to reach Abilene State Park. So we decided to leave at 7am. Of course it was still dark out and Briar (Claire’s dog) had business to do before we hit the road. The night stars were shining as did Briar’s glowing collar. Off we went!
The eclipse had already started when we arrived at 10:36am. Hence setting up was my first priority.
A view of the camera ready to go! Action!
Here I was not yet quite happy with the image.
I settled on f-stop1/20, exposure time 1/160, and ISO-640 using my Canon EOS 6D. Time was now 10:56am.
Back home I took a closer look at the photos. Inside the red circle were two of the sun spots that were present. Moreover, this was one of my goals to see the sunspots.
Cropping further hopefully you can see the two dark smudges. The link below tells about the sun spots. Finding the spots in my photos made me very happy! Wahoo!
At 11;21am. As the sun and moon were not holding still I was had to move the camera to keep up. LOL. However I didn’t need to adjust the settings. Thank goodness.
11:34am!
The thinnest shot was at 11:49pm.
The event was waning at 12:18pm. And we had a three hour trip back home to make. So this was the last shot. Wheee!
Since I was not snapping photos every second we had a bit of fun looking at the shadows that were projected. Tomorrow I will share those with y’all.
The more you know, the more you see and the more you see, the more you know
13 Comments
Some really nice pics of the eclipse. And didn’t you go to green river fossil hunting a few yrs ago? I remember it. You found lots of cool fossils. I want to go.
You took fantastic photos! Did you notice any change to the ambient light at the height of the eclipse? We noticed that colors took on a strange aura, but it didn’t seem to actually get any darker. Of course, we weren’t as far west as you were.
We were in the main path but really had to think about it to notice any dimming. It was still brighter than a totally overcast day. We did watch the thermometer on our weather station. It only dipped down from 64 to 61.
Regarding the ambient light: Here in central Oklahoma during the peak it seemed like we had sunglasses on. It was definitely dimmer than usual on a clear day. It’s a strange feeling and makes you realize how we take for granted that we know what “normal” feels/looks like.
Some really nice pics of the eclipse. And didn’t you go to green river fossil hunting a few yrs ago? I remember it. You found lots of cool fossils. I want to go.
Yes that was the area, Green River. Really cool place for fossil hunting. Great museum too!
Very nice shots. I found all the stages of crescent shape sun as interesting as the ring.
I totally agree Kathy!
You took fantastic photos! Did you notice any change to the ambient light at the height of the eclipse? We noticed that colors took on a strange aura, but it didn’t seem to actually get any darker. Of course, we weren’t as far west as you were.
Suzanne, Additionally to what Claire said, I thought it got a tad cooler. The map showed we were in the 88% zone.
We were in the main path but really had to think about it to notice any dimming. It was still brighter than a totally overcast day. We did watch the thermometer on our weather station. It only dipped down from 64 to 61.
OK, thanks all. We were watching a soccer game in cold wind, so we couldn’t tell if it got any cooler. We were in the 80% zone, so probably not.
Suzanne I thought it was dimmer. It was like a light bulb was going bad! Mom, really exciting you captured a view of sunspots.
Great photos and congrats on capturing the sun spots!
Regarding the ambient light: Here in central Oklahoma during the peak it seemed like we had sunglasses on. It was definitely dimmer than usual on a clear day. It’s a strange feeling and makes you realize how we take for granted that we know what “normal” feels/looks like.
Zach, Thanks! 🙂 And I agree we do take a lot for granted.
Great sets of photos! We watched from Tarrant county and it was pretty good even there.