OK, it has next to nothing to do with my tanks, but I have to post these somewhere, it's killing me. We traveled 660 miles to Clemson, SC to see the eclipse in 'totality' and it was AWESOME!!! We were at the Clemson Botanical Gardens and they limited the crowd to a full parking lot. So we arrived at 9am (eclipse stat was just after 1pm!).
Here is the first bite after about 10 minutes. This is full frame, right out of the camera using a 'home made' solar filter, a solo cup with the bottom cut out just enough to fit over the telephoto lens and store bought solar film glued over the open end. If you look closely, you can see several dark spots near the middle and at the lower left. Those are sun spots!
I started to get a bit cloudy during the 90 minute partial phase. This was shot through some less dense clouds. But at times the sun was completely obscured and we figured we had just better than a 50:50 chance at seeing totality. The clouds to the west were getting bigger and heading our way.
I was looking forward to the thin sliver of sun and it didn't disappoint. But as it got thinner than this shot, I started to get flares from the lens in the image. But I didn't have to wait long at this point before totality!
At that point I could remove the filter and I was fairly confident that I'd get OK shots of the corona. I didn't even try for the diamond ring effect as the flares were totally out of control. And all through the morning and the first 90 minutes of partial eclipse, we shared stories and images with dozens and dozens of other eclipse fans that were there. From Maine to SW Florida and everywhere along the east coast in between, people had come to see this awesome event. the mood was like Christmas. Everybody was happy to be there, we were all excited as children waiting for the coming event. We all chatted and shared food and drinks and stories. "Where did you get that awesome eclipse T-shirt?" "What kind of camera is that?" "How far did you drive to get here?" It was really quite the impromptu party.
Now the instant before totality, if you glimpsed up at the sun (I know, don't do it) the sun still looks like a big, bright white/yellow ball. The only clue that something is about to happen is that the light on the ground is getting a bit dimmer. And then it happens. The shadow washes over you the sky goes to 'full moon' bright, the stars come out, the crickets start to chirp and even a flight of bats flew over us! But the sun, OH MY, the sun. The center is as black as anything you have ever seen. The corona flares out from behind the moon and everybody, and I mean everybody at the garden whooped and applauded! It even lasted for longer than I expected, maybe 10 seconds! The air cooled slightly (it was just over 90F at the time). I took a few shots of the corona and then just slumped back in my chair and starred up at the deep blue sky with the magnificent black hole and bright glowing halo. What a sight! I'm already making plans to go to Austin, TX in April of 2024 to see another one. And this time, no photos, I just want to drink in the whole atmosphere. It was two and a half minutes of pure magic. One can easily understand how shaken people who didn't know what an eclipse was, were so seriously shaken. What a sight!
