2017 Total Solar Eclipse

We witnessed the 2017 total solar eclipse in Grand Teton National Park on August 21st. We stayed at the Jackson Lake Lodge and our room had a patio and a great view of the Tetons beyond Jackson Lake. We set up all our camera equipment right outside our patio door and watched the whole eclipse without attempting to travel beyond our “backyard”. The weather was perfect for viewing.

My equipment consisted of an iOptron SkyTracker Pro, both my Canon 7D and 7DmkII, a video camera, two tripods, and solar filters for the long lens. We also had two cell phones, Canon 15 x 50 IS binoculars with solar filters, and another pair of binoculars for normal viewing. The SkyTracker was aligned with Polaris on the tripod the night before. Unfortunately, I did not realize that there were water sprinklers for the grass that went off at night. It did not spray high enough to get the SkyTracker wet, but my feet were wet getting everything set up!

The 7D had a wide-angle lens and was set up with an intervalometer to do a timelapse of the entire eclipse facing the Teton peaks behind Jackson Lake. This ran from before the first contact to after last contact (or fourth contact). The video camera was on the same tripod and ran continuously during the time shortly before and after totality. I was hoping to be able to capture the shadow of the moon racing across Jackson Lake, but at that scale of less than 10 miles, the shadow was not well defined enough to see. There is not a sharply defined edge to the shadow, it is very diffuse due to the distance of the moon from the earth and the earth’s atmosphere. The 7D and video camera ran pretty much on their own unattended. If I were to do it again I would have had the 7D do a timelapse of the sun during the eclipse, with a wide-angle lens capturing the foreground scenery as well.

There are five stages to a total solar eclipse. These are:

1. First Contact – when the partial solar eclipse begins and the moon’s edge first takes a bite out of the sun.
2. Second Contact – a few minutes before totality. This stage ends with Bailey’s beads where the sun shines between craters and mountains on the moon. These flicker off one by one and is quickly followed by the Diamond Ring effect producing one stunning burst of light. It is during this stage that the temperature drops considerably and birds stop singing as darkness approaches.
3. Totality – when the moon completely covers the sun’s surface and the corona is visible.
4. Third Contact – Much like the Second Contact stage, but in reverse. Here the moon is in the process of uncovering the sun. The Diamond Ring and Bailey’s beads repeat in reverse order.
5. Fourth Contact – The end of the eclipse when the moon no longer covers any part of the sun’s surface.

The Canon binoculars with the solar filters were great for keeping track of the progress of the eclipse. The day’s plan was scripted out to the second. The 7DmkII ran autonomously with the intervalometer taking pictures once per minute with the SkyTracker keeping the camera pointed at the sun. I did a good job aligning the night before because very few adjustments were necessary. At 11:35 am local time (Mountain Time Zone) I switched off the intervalometer and starting shooting with a cable release. First came the diamond ring 11:35:14 and then Bailey’s beads at 11:35:24. I didn’t catch these with the camera at second contact because the solar filter was still on. Totality was 5 seconds later and that is when the solar filter came off and I continued to capture images of the corona with the moon completely blocking the sun’s surface. Totality lasted 1 minute and 51 seconds. I was glad I had the SkyTracker and it was aligned well as I could pay attention to and watch the eclipse with my eyes while I kept pressing the cable release to take bracketed pictures. Then came Bailey’s beads again on the other side and the diamond ring.

The darkening toward totality was gradual, but the wildlife took notice, especially the insects and birds. The temperature dropped considerably as well. See the gallery below for more.

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Grand Teton National Park, Wyoming