Solar eclipse 2017

I was fortunate to have a work trip to Oregon this month, and to be able to extend my visit by a few days to see the eclipse courtesy of an inexpensive room rental followed by the generous provision of a couch by a friend and colleague. Also in my favor, the skies of Corvallis – one of the Oregon cities along the North American path of totality – were clear this morning.

The full event lasted some two hours, commencing with the moon taking a small bite out of the upper right corner of the sun. As the un-obscured portion of the sun grew smaller to a narrower crescent, little dancing flecks of light appeared through the trees on the street and sidewalk. The light dimmed, but not considerably until the sun was almost completely obscured by the full moon. A few planets or stars appeared in the sky.

Two exposures of the sun's corona at totality, Corvallis, OR.

Then, quickly we plunged into relative darkness and the burning halo of the sun’s corona appeared in the sky. Totality lasted less than 2 minutes and I fumbled in my excitement to snap a few photos on my camera mounted to a tripod. Just focusing and changing exposure was a challenge.

A shot right at the end of totality when the sun's disk begins to re-appear.

Equally quickly, the eclipse’s totality was gone and a thin strip of light appeared on the other side of the sun. Daylight returned and I wish totality had lasted longer!

The video above shows the projection of crescents of light onto the street when the eclipse was nearing totality.