FreeLists / az-observing / [AZ-Observing] Solar eclipse

["Randy Peterson" <rgpeterson@xxxxxxx>]

East Valley Astronomy Club set up scopes at two sites for the eclipse.  At
one site, the Riparian Preserve in Gilbert, we had 4 solar filtered scopes,
one scope projecting an image of the sun through an eyepiece on a white
surface held above the eyepiece, and one setup that projected an image of
the sun through a "shadow-box" setup onto a "frosted-glass" surface at the
rear of the device.  I didn't get the name of the person who operated this
device, but if you read this, would appreciate knowing more about this
setup, and who you are!
I estimate we had around 400 people show up for the eclipse, thanks to an
article in the Mesa Tribune advising people that we would be available to
show it off.  We actually exceeded the capacity of the parking lot, as cars
were driving around and around looking for a place to park.  We were very
happy with the good turnout.  Watching the moon cover the sun was good, but
I think watching it cover the sun spots was more interesting!  Thanks to Joe
Goss and his wife, Dave Hertel, Win Pendleton and Dave Coshow for setting up
your scopes for the public to look through/at.

I received a quick call from Rick Merriman and Jeff Vandecar, who set up at
the second site, Scottsdale Community College.  They also had a great
turnout, thanks to Channel 12 news announcing their location on the 10pm
news last night.  They estimated several hundred people looked through their
two solar filtered scopes, including at least 4 classrooms of students, so
they kept pretty busy!

I took some photos for the newspaper during the peak of the eclipse.  Used
their 200 speed film with my OM-1, and took exposures at 1/500, 1/250,
1/125, and 1/60, so tried to cover all the bases.  The last set of eclipse
pictures I took a couple years ago looked best at 1/250.  Don't know if
these will turn out or not, as the wind was gusting, which was causing the
image to shake a bit.  Temperature was a little less than 100, which was
pretty cool by June standards for the Phoenix area.

Randy Peterson
EVAC

--
This message is from the AZ-Observing mailing list.  See this message's
header if you want info about unsubscribing or the list's archive.

This is a discussion list.  Please send personal inquiries directly to
the message author.  In other words, do not use "reply" for personal
messages.  Thanks.