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jshuder | profile | all galleries >> Astrophotography >> Star Parties >> May 20, 2012 Annular Solar Eclipse tree view | thumbnails | slideshow

May 20, 2012 Annular Solar Eclipse

On May 20, 2012 there was an annular eclipse of the sun that was visible in the United States from California to Texas. Watching the weather reports I kept changing my site plan from northern California to western Nevada. I eventually decided to travel to Fernley Nevada. My family also decided to come along and so we stayed at the Best Western Fernley Inn. As it turned out, the hotel had a decent spot to set up for imaging and visual observations. And with the convenience of our room and the pool just a few steps away, I ended up staying at the hotel for the eclipse, rather than seek out other sites within the area. This hotel was about 12.5 miles from the center line giving us 4 minutes and 38 seconds of annular eclipse with a magnitude of 0.964. The weather was mostly clear except for some clouds after third contact. We had a number of people stop by from the hotel to see the eclipse and chat, so we eventually had a mini star party. In all it was a great deal of fun and worth the 5 hour drive. My imaging telescope was a C80ED refractor with a 1.4x teleconverter, a DSLR camera and a Baader Solar Filter on an ASGT mount. For visual work I used a Stellarvue F50M scope with a Baader Solar Filter, some solar eclipse glasses and shadows cast by pinhole projectors and nearby trees.
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Eclipse at 129 minutes
Eclipse at 129 minutes
Eclipse at 137 minutes
Eclipse at 137 minutes
Fourth Contact Soon
Fourth Contact Soon
Fourth Contact
Fourth Contact
Fourth Contact #2
Fourth Contact #2
Crescent Shadows
Crescent Shadows
Crescent Shadows #2
Crescent Shadows #2
Crescent Shadows #3
Crescent Shadows #3
Running Room
Running Room
More running room
More running room
Need a drink
Need a drink
The Day After
The Day After
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