For the October 23, 2014 partial solar eclipse I took all my gear out to my kids’ small school to teach them about eclipses and then give them a chance to view it with glasses and some of the gear. We had a blast and it was fun seeing them get so excited about what they were seeing.

I first gave a bit of a presentation explaining an eclipse to the students, talked about the dangers of looking at them without the right equipment, and talked about sunspots because they were going to see a massive cluster!

Here is a NASA image showing the current sunspots, including the massive 2192 cluster. Note the circles at the bottom showing the scale of the Earth and Jupiter.

We missed watching the start of the eclipse, but started watching not long after.

In addition to the telescopes with Baader filters, we used large binoculars and a spotting scope to project the sun onto a white surface.

The cardboard creates a shadow within which to see the projection of the sun.

 

Using the ultra high tech microwave box and tinfoil. This only gave us a very small disk to see, but it demonstrated a safe way to watch the eclipse.

I also had 5 sets of Thousand Oaks solar viewer glasses that they could watch the eclipse with.

 

In all the craziness of it, it took me awhile to get a picture of the actual eclipse. The eclipse started at 2:44 PM, but this first picture wasn’t until 3:29. In it you can still see the massive sunspot group.

3:46

4:11 – just past maximum (4:07)

4:23 – the sunspot group 2192 comes out from behind the moon.

4:30

4:43

4:55

5:14

Last contact – 5:20 – you can just barely see the moon touching the disk of the sun.

The eclipse is over! 5:24 PM

Beautiful clear skies for the whole eclipse! An answer to prayer.

The heavens proclaim the glory of God.
The skies display his craftsmanship.
Day after day they continue to speak;
night after night they make him known.

They speak without a sound or word;
their voice is never heard.
Yet their message has gone throughout the earth,
and their words to all the world.
Psalm 19

 

The next solar eclipse visible here is August 21, 2017, and then the next is in 2023! So thankful for the clear sky this time.

Our last partial eclipse – May 20, 2012