Total Solar Eclipse 2024
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The total solar eclipse of the 8 April 2024.
We travelled to Dallas USA for the eclipse which was on the path of totality, is serviced by loads of flights from the UK and has lots of hotels. I read that Dallas was expecting up to 400,000 people to travel to the city for the eclipse so I booked the flights and the hotel a year in advance. The eclipse from first to last contact was from 12:23 to 15:02 CDT and totality lasted 3 mins 52 secs. Absolutley spectaular! Below is a montage from first contact to last followed by three shots of totality and a few shots of the eclipse event at the Perot Museum in Dallas which we attended and from where I took these images. Click on the montage for full sized image. |
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First Contact
Sun spot 3628 is also visible.  |
| Progessing nicely  |
| Totality any second now  |
| Totality. One major surprise for me was the transition from the image above to the one below, i.e. from just a slither of the sun left to the classic full blown Corona was instantaneous, I was expecting it to take a second or two for the Corona to fully appear but it was instantaneous. |
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Last Contact
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Here's me using the old tea towel trick draped over my head and camera to create a solar observation hood - I got some odd looks!
As you can see from the photos the day started off cloudy but a couple of hours before first contact the clouds cleared and we had a spectacular view of the eclipse. |
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| Thanks Dallas for a great holiday (o.k. I admit that in the last shot we are in Death Valley) |
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