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Eclipse Photographs
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Pictures of the July 11, 1991 Eclipse taken by Paul Van House
at La Paz, Baja California Mexico
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In case you didn't notice, I have been somewhat
fanatical about solar eclipses for some time. The fascination began one
Summer when I was 14 or 15 and on a bike hike to Spring Valley Lake near
Waynesville, Ohio. On the way home, I thought the sun looked a bit
strange. Using my T-shirt as a shield I glance briefly at the sun and
noticed it was partially covered.
I never forgot the moment, and luckily did not go blind as I
occasionally glanced skyward.
Shortly after I was married I learned that a Solar
Eclipse was to be visible in the Northwest United States and Canada. My
wife and I made hurried plans to visit Winnipeg, Manitoba. Not knowing
what I was about to miss, I made a last minute change of plans based on a
forecast of thick clouds and snow for Eclipse day. So instead of visiting
Canada on February 26, 1979, we vacationed in Florida. We brought along
welders glass to view the sun but ironically it was cloudy and cold in Florida
while Winnipeg enjoyed one of Canada's best Solar Eclipse viewings of the
century. The only view we had of the eclipse was on a very bad TV
picture (above.) I then made a vow to NOT miss the next chance. But
with a very limited travel budget I would have to settle for something fairly
close to home.
The next chance came on May 30, 1984 in the form of
an annular eclipse. In this type of eclipse the moon is a bit too close to
earth to completely cover the sun. Instead it covers almost the entire sun
but not enough to safely view it with the naked eye.
I traveled to a spot in Mexico about 100-miles south of
Brownsville equipped with a small refracting telescope, welding glass, and a
makeshift screen on which to project the sun's image onto through the
Telescope. While in a small town, where I was setting up my equipment I
happened to meet a group of astronomers from Texas A&I University
(Kingsville, Texas.) The group had detailed maps of where the annular
eclipse could be best viewed. If you're not right in the middle of the
path of an annular eclipse the moon is not exactly centered on the sun.
The path is usually quite narrow and a few miles off the center means missing
the "show."
I don't remember the man's name, but he sent me some awesome
shots of the sun at maximum annularity.
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The 1984 eclipse. That's me with my telescope on the left. My primitive method of photography was to project the sun's image onto a piece of cardboard and photograph the projection. The middle shot is of some of the group of college astronomers. The shot on the right was NOT taken by me! Click each for a larger view. |
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I was now more determined than ever to see a
total eclipse and one of the best eclipses of the century was my next
target....a goal set after doing some research at the library shortly after
missing the 1979 show. My target: the total solar eclipse of July 11,
1991.
Preparations began taking place around 1989 when I took a
class on telescope building at the Houston Museum of Natural Science. My
first question was whether it was possible to view and photograph the sun with
the telescope I was about to build. Instructor Dennis Zwicky, proprietor
of Z-Optical Shop in Stafford, said "Yes." After a few weeks I
had built a reflecting telescope with a 5 inch mirror, complete with a uniquely
portable stand made of wood. It would swivel easily up and down, and
rotate 360-degrees with the help of a 12 inch phonograph LP.
Still needing to convince my wife of the importance of
this investment, I then purchased a camera adapter and solar filter for the
telescope. I used the telescope at night to look at stars and planets, but
during the daylight I took several shots of the sun so I could get the optimum
exposure setting in order to get good photographs of the eclipse as it
progressed. However, I had no way of practicing taking pictures of the sun
at total eclipse. Mr. Zwicky advised me to take pictures of the full moon
as the brightness of the solar corona at totality was comparable to the light of
a full moon.
With knowledge gained from the Texas A&I astronomers
several years earlier I was able to obtain detailed maps of the total eclipse's
path, as well as historical weather conditions along the path. I decided
to view the eclipse from La Paz, Mexico, located on the East coast of Baja
California about 100-miles North of Cabo San Lucas and only 27-miles north of
the eclipse's center line. Predictions were that once totality was
reached, the sun would be covered for nearly 6-1/2 minutes! I made travel
reservations a year in advance...this was the smartest thing I ever did as every
flight was quite crowded with people and equipment!
The morning of the eclipse dawned cloudy, but by the time the show began, the sun was never out of sight. Seeing the beauty of this eclipse actually brought tears to my eyes. As the sun darkened just before noon, birds fled to their nests as if it was evening. Street lights and car headlights were turned on, and the entire horizon was red-orange like a 360-degree sunset. With the sun almost straight overhead, we could see Mercury, Venus, Mars and Jupiter...although I never aimed the telescope at the planets -- it remained pointed at the sun.
More pictures from July 11, 1991 taken by Paul Van House
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Three views of totality, each showing different views
of the solar flare, or prominence.
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The "Diamond Ring" effect as the total phase comes to an end. |
This is the horizon during totality, just before 12 noon. It looked like this in every direction. |
One interesting effect noticed during an eclipse is that light shining between leaves in trees or other objects appears on the ground as tiny projections of the sun's image. The tiny crescents were projected through a palm tree with the sun about 75% eclipsed. |
As I snapped pictures of the eclipsed sun, I quickly modified the
camera attachment to get some close up shots. I was amazed at the solar
flare I saw and got some excellent photographs. I did manage to get a
quick shot of the horizon with my regular camera lense. As I was snapping
still shots through the telescope, my wife was taking video. Someday when
I get some computer video equipment I can post some moving pictures of the sun
going into eclipse.
Since we could not afford to take our children on
the trip to Baja California, we made plans to view an annular eclipse as a
family on May 10th, 1994. This required flying to Amarillo and driving a
few miles west. Plans were foiled when I failed to get vacation
approval. It was a no-brainer to call in sick while already in place in
Amarillo! I seem to recall writing "sick" excuse notes for the
childrens' school, too!
This time the weather would not cooperate. It was overcast
with light rain in the morning. Armed with my map and an eye on the sky we drove
at breakneck speed Southwest into New Mexico. I'm not sure where we
finally stopped but it was down a very muddy road. The sky was still quite
cloudy, but the clouds were thin enough to see the sun and get a couple of low
quality snapshots.
Click on an image to enlarge |
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Through welder's glass and a 128mm
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Our children, Angela and Danny,
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8 years would pass before the next eclipse close to
home that I felt was worth photographing. Oh, there were a handful of
partial eclipses and I brought my telescope and dorky looking mylar sunglasses
to my office so others could share the experience but there was little
excitement on anyone else's part. There was even one on my birthday, but I
either forgot about it or it was cloudy -- I can't remember which.
But on June 10th, 2002 when I realized the sun in Houston would be
about 60% eclipsed at sunset I couldn't resist. I scrambled to find my
hand-scrawled list of exposure times but was armed with telescope and camera in
East Bernard, 40-miles or so southwest of Houston. As the eclipse began we
were still driving to our destination. I quickly set up shop near a set of
railroad tracks with a nearly clear view of the horizon over a field of what I
think was grain sorghum. It took about 25-minutes for me to remember how
to use the camera attachment, but I managed to get a couple of shots of the sun
through the solar filter, and a couple without the filter as the sun glowed red
while dropping out of sight.
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Two shots of the June 10, 2002 eclipse from East
Bernard, Texas. The two leftmost shots were
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What's next? I'm not sure about partials, but the
next total eclipse visible in the United States is on August 21, 2017. It hits
the Pacific coast near Lincoln City Oregon and travels over the entire
continental U.S. before crossing into the Atlantic near Charleston West
Virginia. The tiny towns of Carbondale, Illinois or Crofton, Kentucky are
my likely goals. Both towns are smack dab in the middle of the path and
should experience totality for over 2-1/2 minutes. It's a far cry from
1991's 6-1/2 minutes. But if it's right in your back yard, how can you
complain?
If your family has eclipse fever, be sure to pass your love
of sun-watching to your grandchildren and tell them to keep up the faith.
In the 23rd century, after a relative eclipse drought, The United States will be
home to 6 total and 2 annual solar eclipses between 2245 and 2263. I was
obviously born in the wrong century!
Just to show I like to gaze at the night sky as well, here's a picture taken in 1983 at Big Bend National Park in west Texas. It looks much better on the slide from which this image was scanned. It's a time exposure of several minutes pointed at the Horizon. The multi-colored trails are star paths with the mountains in the foreground. By all means, click for a larger image.
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Copyright ©2012 Paul Van House
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