JDW Photos and Life

As I stated in a previous e-mail, my photos were not unique and I had seen many similar. I ran across a post on Facebook from the Holcomb Observatory in  Indianapolis, IN describing what they saw during the eclipse Monday. Their post gave more detail regarding the size and source of the red color that I did not know. They also photographed what appeared to be the "same" prominence in one of my photos (shape and location essentially the same anyway). I decided to zoom in on my photo and allow a software magnification to increase the size a bit (3X). I'm pretty happy with my handheld photo with a pretty normal equipment when compared to an observatory! This is my photo followed by the $$$$$ stuff! Thanks, Doug White https://jdwarchive.blogspot.com/

As the moon fully covered the sun, the edges of the sun could be seen since they were no longer lost in the brightness of the sun. This is the most exciting time of the eclipse for the photographer. You no longer need a super-dark filter on your camera and you get to see detail normally reserved for VERY expensive telescopes and special filters. Camera settings had to be adjusted and I glimpsed at the screen on my camera to make sure I was close. I was beyond surprised to see the solar prominence detail. I was even more pleased once I could see the full photo detail on my computer. You can think of the sun as a boiling pot of liquid or maybe a giant volcano where planet-sized bubbles form at the surface, burst, and the remains are pulled back into the sun by its gravity. It's obviously more complicated than that but there are plenty of resources for you to search if you want more. The sun has an 11 year cycle of solar activity (flares, storms, coronal mass ejections) and we happen ...

During the 2017 eclipse, there were news articles about the next eclipse in 2024 with the path of totality through much of Texas. I photographed the 2017 eclipse from our back porch (partial eclipse for us - not very exciting) and shared a few images. That post started a conversation with our best friends Al and Michelle. As we looked at the 2024 path, we saw that the center of the path would be through Marble Falls where Al's brother, Kevin, lives. We called Kevin and Susan and asked to make reservations to stay at their house in 7 years. They thought we were crazy, laughed, and said sure - their house is always open to family and Donnice and I have been blessed to be honorary Judices for 30+ years. Over the next 7 years, we have been to Judice family functions and the 6 of us would laugh and look forward to that 2024 date. As time does, the months and years passed. For the past 6 months, articles about the eclipse promoted the eclipse and the public became a bit crazy making trav...