TheSkySearchers

Forgive me if this is the wrong forum but I couldn't think of where else to put it. But having been to three eclipses now, two annular and one total, I'm thinking of not taking my scope to the total eclipse next April.

At my first eclipse, an annular one, someone had a dob through which we saw a silhouette of the mountains on the moon backlit by the sun. I didn't get the magnification he was using. I tried to look for the silhouettes at the total eclipse as well as the recent annular one and didn't have any luck. I ran my SCT to the highest mag. that I had an eyepiece for, 194X but that wasn't enough. So far the best views have been with the 10X binos. For the annular that just passed I did put on the focal reducer and got a nice overall view but, again, the binos were just as good if not better with a wider field of view. At the total, the binos took in the whole corona at totality, which the scope did not.

Considering that we'll be driving 1500 miles one way for the April event (and making it a two-week road trip there and two weeks back), and that schlepping all that gear would be rather inconvenient stuffed into the back seat of my extended cab truck, perhaps just the binos will do.

What do you think? Would you take your scope or just use binos? If you took the scope is there something special you'd be looking for at about 200X max, that binos could not show at 10X?

Thanks!

If all you are doing is visual, I think you answered your own question. Sounds like binos are the way to go. If you're thinking about Imaging the eclipse that's another kettle of fish.

Cheers,

For the 2017 TSE, I took my Canon with a 300mm lens along with a tripod and screw-on filter, left the scope at home. I don't regret the decision at all. Enjoying the views and the atmosphere of the event was much more memorable to me than any detailed image I might have gotten through the scope.

Bob

That is a hard question, and very personal. I've photographed some partial eclipses and had a lot of fun doing it. I still look back at those pictures and enjoy those memories.

For the last total eclipse I skipped the telescope as too cumbersome and took my son's family on a road trip. We sat in a field with lots of people we didn't know. We watched as dusk came all around us. The bird songs changed. The temperature dropped. Lights came on. We saw the 360 degree sunrise. That one was just as memorable as the others.

My guess is you will be right and wrong either way. That is, you will have a memory for a lifetime, and you will always wonder if you might have missed something by not choosing the other option. "Two roads diverged in a yellow wood . . ."

I agree with Jay. Sounds like binos are the way to go given your circumstances.

I've been mulling over what to do at home, and I've pretty much decided to just use binos. Not sure if I'll buy some solar film or rig up some kind of projection screen.

I'm probably going on the University of California trip to Texas to watch April's totality event. (Currently on the wait list but I suspect that I'll get enrolled eventually). I'm thinking of taking a 4" frac and/or binos. My fear about using a telescope is somehow missing the event's impact by searching around for the sun or some other telescope snafu. That would be a shame. Sounds like naked eye is also a good way to go. So I have a decision to make. And boy, I sure hope the clouds don't show up. April in Amarillo so who knows?

I left the scope at home for the last one and did not regret it. I saw people messing with equipment and missing on the totality experience as a result. So for the next one in April we are going just with the eclipse glasses. Glasses ON - glasses OFF for the totality, and back ON again, works like a charm! And leaves plenty of time to look around.

Also, safety concern. If you are looking through unprotected binos/scope at the totality and don't break away in time here goes your retina! If you keep your filters on you would not see the corona in binos/scope.

In doing my Eclipse research for the 2017 TSE. I was in Jackson Hole Wyoming. The First rule that I found was have fun. The second rule was try to record the event. The third rule was don't pay too much attention to
number 2 and just have fun. These events don't happen very often.

Have fun and remember what you saw,

personally, since I'm going to be in Mexico for this phenomenon, I'm going to go there without a telescope. but my binos are going to make the trip.

THANKS everyone! You've confirmed my thoughts about this. I'll leave the scope at home.

Bigzmey wrote: ↑Thu Oct 19, 2023 7:25 pm I saw people messing with equipment and missing on the totality experience as a result.

That was me. Having never been through it before, I brought it all — the binos, the scope, a solar scope, solar glasses, wife, two grandkids, daughter-in-law, sister and brother-in-law. At the moment of totality I was fussing with the scope and didn't get a view of the corona until it was half over. Then by sharing said view with everyone through the one pair of binos, my view of it lasted perhaps ten seconds.

And as to sharing, for this recent annular we first went to a visitor center just off I80 in Nevada the day before to check it out. After talking to the ranger there about the expected crowds, we ended up at a remote drive-in campground with only four or five sites. It was a kick to share it with just a few other folks who were well prepared and knowledgable about it all.

For next April wifey and I will each have our own binos (with slip-on filters), there will be no other family (don't misunderstand; they can't make the trip), and I'll have some of the cardboard solar glasses on hand should someone at the campground wander by. As to photos, I can get better ones off the web than anything I could take, and frankly, I have no need for photos anyway.

So thanks again!

@gregl
I understand that seeing silhouettes of mountains on the edge of the moon might be exciting. But there are many exciting things to observe during an eclipse. You can observe mountain profiles on the limb of the moon at night. So I agree that schlepping a large telescope is probably not worth the effort.

Some people report in great detail listing all the stars and planets they can observe, appearance of stars and planets can be observed any night. Although this might provide some qualitative measure of sky conditions and eclipse umbral darkness, it is of limited scientific value and only serves to distract from aesthetic enjoyment of the unique elements of the main show.

Time in totality is precious. After 30 years of eclipse chasing and 15 total eclipses around the world, I have only clocked up a bit over 40 minutes of totality time. Consequently, I always concentrate on observations of those phenomena that are unique to a solar eclipse. Naked eye, I love observing the approach of the umbra from the west as totality approaches. During the eclipse, I love looking at the dark umbra overhead and the 360 degree sunrise colours around the horizon.
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I don't worry so much about looking for shadow bands and I don't worry about looking to observe or note the appearance of stars and planets, something I can do at twilight any clear night.

Observing a total eclipse in detail, you are not really observing the sun or the moon, you are observing the corona which is much bigger than the moon. I have observed coronal streamers between 2 to 7 degrees diameter depending upon coronal activity and sky transparency. In my experience (15 total eclipses), binoculars or a small wide angle refractor give the best views of the extended corona. I am in good company. The overwhelming majority of experienced (ok - addicted) eclipse chasers I know, use small wide angle refractors of 60-100mm diameter and 300-900mm focal length.

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For visual observing, there is nothing wrong with using binoculars. Some people tremble with excitement particularly at their first eclipse and cannot hold binoculars steady. After so many eclipses, I have now decided that a small refractor with a 2-4 degree field of view is my preferred instrument. These scopes pack easily into luggage and can be flown internationally so would transport in your car easily. A cheap example of such a scope is the ubiquitous ST80. The ST80 is an 80mm f5. It weighs 1kg and sits easily on a decent photographic tripod. At last Aprils total eclipse, I paired my ST80 with a quality 21.6mm 65deg eyepiece yielding 18.5 x magnification with a 3.5 deg field that yielded stunning views of chromosphere, prominences and much of the corona. The corona filled the 3.5 degree field of the scope even though the very short 54s totality meant that the sky was not especially dark. Working at such relatively modest magnifications, the achromatic objective in the ST80 performs quite well for visual use.

I drove across the country (5200km / 3100mi) to that eclipse in my dual cab Isuzu 4wd pickup truck. I had an equatorial mounting for a second ED80 refractor dedicated to photography. The ST80 was mounted side by side. I had binoculars around my neck which I never looked through, it was all naked eye or telescope. When I fly overseas, I use a very lightweight travel mount and can't have two refractors mounted and can't pack two refractors in luggage, so I use one ED 70mm refractor with a flip mirror at rear to switch between camera and eyepiece. The eyepiece is parfocalised to the camera so I don't need to refocus.

The total eclipse in Texas is more than 4 minutes long and offers the best weather. I'm presuming you're going to Texas because you quoted a 1500mi drive, the approximate distance fro the California coast to centreline Texas. One important point to consider is that totality takes place at about 60 degrees altitude in Texas. Though not impossible, it's quite uncomfortable to stand or sit and view comfortably at this altitude with binoculars.It is also difficult to hold binoculars stable at this viewing angle for an extended period. A small wide angle telescope with a diagonal viewer might be better or alternatively, a reclining camp chair or a yoga mat to lie upon might be a good idea.

Open ground can be quite hot, even when I fly overseas, I always carry a 1/2 of a yoga mat to sit or lay upon in order to protect myself from hot ground. I use it to cushion equipment in my suitcase during flights.

Another way might be to have a binocular mount that attaches to the roof rack of your truck? It can be very simple in design.


Good luck and have fun!
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Joe

Joe:
Thank you so much for your detailed response. And great photos. Yes we are going to Texas and reserved an RV campsite in Bandera six months ago. Some years back I made a parallelogram bino mount that lets me sit in a recliner and swing the binos down and to the side of the tripod. We'll be bringing the recliners. And a yoga mat takes up no significant room so I'll toss one of those in also.

We're going to make it a 23-day road trip and see some friends and various sights along the way. Among other things I want to check out some of the remnants of Route 66, which I drove more than once all the way from LA to Illinois (in a Model A Ford) before the interstate was built.

Thanks again.

Bringing a DSLR with telelens and photographic tripod, taking an image every 5 or 10 minutes will not jeopardize your event. The hard part is the short period of total eclilse where you have to find the right exposure time that is different than all previous frames. If you can prepare that, you could have a nice ssries of photos without too much trouble. In 2017 I used an SX14 superzoom in manual mode with 3 different exposures per click, is it called DNR, I forgot. I am glad I did that because I'm not chasing eclipses each time.

I plan to use my 6" SCT visually, with a full-aperture solar filter and a low power eyepiece. Worked very nicely for the recent annular eclipse. Enjoyed watching the moon eat the sunspots.

Saw a picture in the 60mm group.io forum using an old 60mm scope and projecting the image via diagonal into a copy paper box. Might be worth a try before the actual eclipse to see how well it works. Geez, might even persuade me to try some solar observing.

In 2017 we drove to Kentucky for the TSE. I took with me my ED80 and AR127 scopes with full aperture filters for both. We also had a whole bunch of eclipse glasses, some of which I handed out to those in our immediate area. I had the scopes mounted on the ES Twilight II mount. We sat in a Walmart parking lot, as did a lot of other folks. As the event unfolded, we had a cluster of about eight people around us that became "our group." I monitored the eclipse progress and was able to tell the others when they could remove their glasses to see it directly and all also observed it directly through the scope during totality after I removed the filters and saw some wonderful prominences. Seeing Bailey's Beads was an exciting thing as well.

I then told them when to put the glasses back on and I put the filters back on the scopes as the end of totality was approaching. I think they all truly appreciated the simple fact of bumping into us in that parking lot and giving them the opportunity to see the eclipse in a manner that they were not expecting. All also enjoyed the shadows and eerie appearance of surrounding during the event as well. We enjoyed the opportunity to share the event with our little group of strangers from various locations. It made the experience even more enjoyable.

Fast forward to April 2024, we will head back to Indiana as the path of totality passes over our hometown. So will be on a relative's property sharing the views with any family members who wish to join us. The scope compliment will very likely be the same. Given how notoriously variable weather is in April, I only hope we have clear skies in the area.

I live in Ohio and am practically going to be right in the middle of the path across the State. I am not the least bit excited about it. Why? Because its in April and i can all but guarantee that we will have 100 percent cloud cover.

Mike Q wrote: ↑Mon Oct 30, 2023 11:07 pm i can all but guarantee that we will have 100 percent cloud cover.

Time to hit the road! Zoom down to Waco, TX, that's where I'll be.

JayTee wrote: ↑Mon Oct 30, 2023 11:58 pm

Mike Q wrote: ↑Mon Oct 30, 2023 11:07 pm i can all but guarantee that we will have 100 percent cloud cover.

Time to hit the road! Zoom down to Waco, TX, that's where I'll be.

Honestly i am not all that interested in eclipses. I mean i will look for a minute but traveling to watch isnt something i would do

Mike Q wrote: ↑Tue Oct 31, 2023 9:20 am Honestly i am not all that interested in eclipses. I mean i will look for a minute but traveling to watch isnt something i would do

Have you ever seen a total solar eclipse in person?