Projecting the disk of the Sun using a pinhole camera or binoculars onto a piece of paper makes for a great shot. Scout out the geometry of such a shot the evening beforehand, and remember that you’ll need a good amount of distance (half a mile or more) for a building or foreground object to appear equal in size to the Sun.Īnd don’t miss the spectacle going on around you during an eclipse as well. Several key landmarks, such as the Saint Louis Arch and the Sears Tower in Chicago lie along the key sunset zone Thursday and would make great potential foreground shots… our top pick would be the 1978 World’s Fair Sunsphere Tower in Knoxville, Tennessee for a photo with a true visual double entendre. You’ll also need a lens with a focal length of 200mm or better to have the Sun appear larger than a dot in your images. Even 1% sunlight is surprisingly bright, as we noticed observing the May 10 th 1994 annular eclipse from the shores of Lake Erie. Shooting several quick frames at 1/1000 th of a second or faster will help get the ISO/f-stop settings for the local illumination just right.
Remember, though, an ND filter is for photographic use only… never stare at the Sun through one! Likewise, you’ll need to physically block off your camera’s viewfinder to resist the same temptation of looking while aiming. We’ve had great luck using a DSLR and a neutral density filter to take the f-stop and glare down while preserving the foreground view. And throw away those old screw-on eyepiece filters sold by some department store scope manufacturers in the 60s and 70s, as they can overheat and crack!Ĭatching the eclipsed Sun with a silhouetted foreground requires more practice. Also, be sure to cover or remove any finderscopes as well. Make sure these fit snugly in place, and inspect them for pin holes prior to use.
#How to see the eclipse from anchorage 2017 full#
Glass solar filters for telescopes fitting over the full aperture of the instrument can be had from Orion for about $100 USD, and we’ve made inexpensive filter masks out of Baader AstroSolar Safety Film for everything from binoculars to DLSR cameras to telescopes. Imaging the Sun with a solar filter is pretty straightforward. An homemade solar optical filter using Baader film. Don’t end up like 19 th century psychologist Gustav Fechner, who blinded himself staring at the Sun! With the recent interest in the event, we’ve been fielding lots of questions on eclipse imaging, which presents safety challenges of its own. Proper safety precautions must be taken while observing the Sun through all stages of a partial solar eclipse. Sunspot activity leading up to this week’s eclipse. The farther northwest you are, the greater the eclipse: For example, Anchorage and Seattle will see 54.8% and 54.5% of the Sun obscured by the Moon, while Mexico City and Phoenix, Arizona will see 4.8% and 33% of the Sun’s disk obscured.
gif of this week’s partial solar eclipse.
The penumbral cone of the Moon’s shadow touches down at 19:38 UT in the Bering Sea just west of the International Date Line before racing eastward across North America to depart the Earth over southern Texas at 23:52 UT. The eclipse would be annular in any event had the Moon’s shadow touched down on Earth’s surface, as the Moon just passed apogee on October 18th. Credit: Michael Zeiler The shadow or ‘antumbra’ of the Moon just misses northern limb of the Earth on October 23 rd, resulting in a solar eclipse that reaches a maximum of 81% partial as seen from the high Canadian Arctic. A map showing the eclipse prospects over the CONUS. and Canada, it will also provide the chance to photograph the setting crescent Sun along with foreground objects. Though this solar eclipse will be an exclusively partial one as the Moon takes a ‘bite’ out the disk of the Sun, such an event is always fascinating to witness. Get those solar viewers out… the final eclipse of 2014 occurs this Thursday on October 23 rd, and most of North America has a front row seat.