Partial Solar Eclipse - 23 Oct. 2014

Click image for a closeup of active region AR2192

The partial solar eclipse of October 23, 2014 was the "part 2" of the orbital dance of the sun, moon, and earth. 2 weeks earlier, part 1 was the lunar eclipse (October 8) half of the dance. We were fortunate to have clear skies, and though the eclipse was not very "deep" from my location, we did have a nice view of the largest sunspot region (designated AR2192) of this otherwise very quiet solar cycle. This was so large, it was clearly visible without any magnification. Click on the image above to get a magnified view of the active region.

I put together a time-lapse video of the entire eclipse which is available on YouTube. If you were thinking that you could see the silhouette of mountains on the edge of the moon, you are right. Check out a magnified time-lapse of the eclipse centered on the moon's edge.

Jean shot her now traditional pinhole projection photos of the eclipse on the conveniently located side of an NSO observatory dome. This time her pinhole design was an outline of the state of New Mexico, with a center pattern based on the Zia sun symbol found on the state flag. Click on either of the images at left to see one of the projected images.

For this eclipse, I photographed the event from the grounds of the Sacramento Peak Observatory of the National Solar Observatory (9200 ft. elevation) in New Mexico. Not by coincidence, they were hosting SEC2014, a conference of solar eclipse observers which is held irregularly (in years during which there is no total solar eclipse).

I used my "standard" portable equipment setup for this eclipse - 4" Borg refractor. Click on the image at right to see details on the equipment and imaging details.