Partial Solar Eclipse April 8 2024

 

April 8th was a momentous day for areas of Maine in the path of the solar eclipse. The sky was clear and the total eclipse was an amazing experience for many thousands of people. I chose not to travel as I just do not like crowds, and thus saw only a partial eclipse. But the partial eclipse that we did see was spectacular in its own way. We did experience some of the same changes in the atmosphere that the total eclipse watchers experienced, just not the mind blowing parts. Did I miss a once in a lifetime opportunity? Probably... But, I did get to spend a nice afternoon with friends and family, which added to the joy of the experience. If I could live long enough, a total eclipse will occur over Bowdoin, Maine in 2070...but I will be long gone by then!

Here is our motley crew of lovely ladies who joined us, some of whom are among my closest friends. The camera has a solar filter on it which is the only way to photograph the Sun (unless a solar eclipse is in totality.) Note that all participants are sporting eclipse glasses to keep their eyes safe from the solar rays. I photographed the Sun through the camera thus did not look directly at the Sun.

What also made photographing the sun fun, was that we are nearing solar maximum in the 11 year cycle for sunspots, although it could be anywhere between late 2024 and early 2026. The largest sunspot you see here is number 3628. Sunspots are planet-sized temporary areas of the Sun's surface with decreased temperature due to changes in the magnetic fields that come to the surface. Sunspots can release solar flares (intense radiation that can affect our radio communications.)

We started to feel a temperature change at around 3:15pm, about 15 minutes before we reached our maximum coverage of the sun in Bowdoin. In all, we think the temperature dropped between 8F-10F. We actually had to put our jackets on. And, strangely, super annoying mosquitoes came out! 

Just before maximum coverage of 0.973 magnitude, at 3:31pm, we also noticed a change in the light. Even though the sky was still blue, the quality of the light around us took on a weirdly, otherworldly grayish hue and everyone looked almost zombie-like in pallor. The shadows of the trees were also odd, and difficult to describe, as they were almost slicing into the dirt. By the way, when the word "magnitude" is used by astronomers to describe a solar eclipse, it means the fraction of the Sun's diameter that is covered by the moon.

I photographed each phase to the end where the sun, at 4:40pm was full again. Unfortunately, it was partially obscured by trees but that made an interesting effect.