Partial Solar Eclipse of June 10, 2021~
Above~ Waiting for the solar eclipse at Sunrise, June 10, 2021 at our farm in Moosehorn Creek, NB. I had used the Augmented Reality feature of the PhotoPills app to get the exact location of the rise. It was quite accurate, and I only had to make a slight adjustment on the Telrad to get it centred in the eyepiece. The eclipse had already begun by the time it cleared the hills here.
Sunrise~ 5:36 am
Partial begins: 5:38 am
Maximum~ 6:35 am — 73.23% coverage
Partial ends~ 7:36 am
Duration~ 2 hrs
For the Eclipse of June 10, 2021 I had invited a few neighbours whom I knew were early risers and thought might be interested. Remember, this was in the middle of Covid. Two couldn’t make it because of work related issues, so that left four of us including me to share the scope. They arrived before 6am and got right into it. I handed out some viewers I still had from the 2017 eclipse and we all took our turn at the scope. We used an Explore Scientific AR102 with a 10mm eyepiece on a Twilight I Mount. I showed one of them how he could operate the mount himself to keep the Sun centered, which he seemed to enjoy.
Slideshow~
What a pristine morning! A bit cool, but absolutely no bugs at all which which was unusual for June. The Telrad solar finder courtesy of Mike Powell worked perfectly. It was a vast improvement on the filtered finder scope I had used before. Over the course of the event, I noticed that left to their own devices people seemed to prefer the viewers for gazing and then would walk over to the scope for the occasional closeup.
This was an very enjoyable event to share with others. For the April 2024 eclipse (which is in the afternoon) I will invite more people and obtain more solar viewing glasses to hand out.
Making a Solar Filter~
To safely view the Sun, you must filter any optics, especially your eyes, with proper solar film. I had made the “flowerpot” solar filter for the AR 102 plus a tiny one for the finder scope at a workshop led by Curt Nason for the Saint John Astronomy Club. This was prior to the great Partial Solar Eclipse of August 2017. It was the most successful outreach event ever for RASC NB and was held locally at Rockwood and Irving Nature Parks in Saint John plus all over the Province. I had 20 – 30 people lined up at the scope many times. I include a picture of it here from Irving Nature Park:
Above and below~ A flowerpot with the bottom cut out and solar film attached. The plastic flowerpot fit snugly into the dew shield. You must take care to never scratch or pinhole the film, visually check it before each use and store it carefully. In these pics I had not yet swapped out the Telrad finder for the solar one.
Above and below~ The wonderful Telrad Solar Finder that Mike Powell of the SJAC and PFO Observatory made on his 3-D printer. This thing is a godsend and way safer and easier than the original one I had used at the Irving Nature Park event. You look at it backwards: turn the adjustment knobs and when the white dot (Sun) is centred inside the green circle you are there. Beautiful. And safe.
Next Solar Eclipse for NB~
Above and below~ Path of the Solar Eclipse for the afternoon of April 8, 2024 from the TimeandDate website. Darker colour indicates path of totality.
The next Total Solar Eclipse for New Brunswick and North America will be April 8, 2024. The path of totality indicates that our location here at the farm will see a partial 98.51% unless I want to travel northward. I don’t, will stay put and share the view with others. It will begin in the afternoon of April 8 and will last 2 hours, 18 minutes, 15 seconds starting with a partial eclipse at 3:24 pm. It will reach maximum at 4:35 pm, and transform into a partial again which will end at 5:42 pm, ADT. This day has been cloudy 73% of the time since the year 2000, so will see what happens. Early April is a tossup for weather. This is a big event and will attract people from all over.
[Photos~ Time and Date Website]
Sources~
PhotoPills App~ AR (Augmented Reality) feature of the Sun module, Lunar info, and so on.
Time and Date~ Great website for lunar and solar information, etc.
Saint John Astronomy Club~ world of information including Curt Nason’s Weekly Sky at a Glance.
RASC NB~ The Provincial arm of the Royal Astronomical Society of Canada
See Also~
Star Party at Livingston Lake~
Partial Solar Eclipse in Saint John~ Irving Nature Park in Saint John was the scene on August 21, 2017.