Introduction — April 8 is Coming!
I’m detecting a fair amount of anxiety and — frankly — some whining, about the upcoming North American total solar eclipse among smart telescope users, especially those who are waiting to receive one on order. Time is getting short. Those who will receive instruments a month out will have no time to sit on the bench and become flabby slackards. But for all of us with operating scopes, we know we can get in better shape. This blog will be relatively short but is designed to help you plan to toughen up and be well prepared for game day. But first, a couple preliminaries:
I don’t pretend to be an expert in eclipse chasing or especially the art of photographing solar eclipses. Alan Dyer is, however. See his amazing blog: Tutorials and Tips
I shouldn't assume that everyone has a solar white-light filter on their scope. Thus, if you don't have a good aperture-mounted solar filter don't point your scope anywhere close to the Sun. (I've addressed the impossibility of using an H-Alpha for our scopes in an earlier blog.)
Oh, and I’m assuming you can get into the path of totality somewhere so you can be in the game. If you can’t, you’d better have a damn good excuse.... ;-)
“I pray not for victory but to do my best….” A. A. Stagg
I’m treating this blog as a coaching session. My ideal coach was Amos Alonso Stagg who was legendary at the University of Chicago and elsewhere. I thought I might try to list some of his coaching accomplishments, but they’re far to long for this blog. My favorite is that he coached Edwin Hubble on the U. of Chicago basketball team. Edwin didn’t turn out too badly and maybe Stagg had some indirect hand in the discovery of the expansion of the universe? I know sports seems like it’s from the wrong category of endeavor, but my following coaching tips really reflect what I think is important when faced with a deadline and a serious challenge.
The solar eclipse will occur on schedule no matter what we do, but how we image and observe the eclipse is in our hands. To do our best we will ultimately be responsible for our experiences. If we wait for the vendors to solve this or that technical issue, it probably won’t happen in time. My conception of the amazing vendors who have engineered our scopes is that they are really small organizations — infinitesimal in comparison to Apple Computers for example. So, they’re not going to be able to engineer every possible bug out or respond to every query. I’m afraid we have to do our science with the kits we have.
If I’ve learned anything with all the tech I tend to work with, practice is key, especially with new, bleeding edge devices. There’s a type of athletic training called “sport-specific,” which aims to duplicate exact movements with the same muscles and give them new strength and range of motion. Here’s what Coach Jim - Stagg recommends for doing our best on total solar eclipse game day:
Don’t rely upon the vendors to update software, hardware, app or anything. It may not happen. And, even if it does, make sure you have the time to get used to the new version. And don’t upgrade if you’re happy with what you can do and don’t have the time to practice the new features. Personally, I always worry about new upgrades that haven’t been through the test of time.
Be realistic about the performance capability of your smart scope. As amazing as they are, they are not engineered to be the best for solar imagery. The apertures alone are from 24 mm to 114 mm limiting their ability to resolve details. They are a bundle of compromises. And for heavens sake, don’t operate from a wobbly tripod! I go crazy sometimes when I see people mount these things on tall, spindly tripods. Great astronomy is founded on stable piers. Keep the scope as low to the ground as your knees will allow. I’m not sure acclimating the scopes to the ambient temperature is really necessary because when you’re out with the Sun, they will come to equilibrium quickly.
Understand the limits the atmosphere will place on your efforts. If it’s windy the seeing will be bad and you’ll want to shield your scope from vibrations too. You may have a clear shot at the Sun, but the sky might not be that transparent. I often have that happen. The atmosphere will always play the last card in this game even if it is clear. The great pictures we see of eclipses are usually shot from high-altitude desert environments, not the shore of Lake Erie.
Take lots of practice images of the Sun during the next month and a half and learn all the app and telescope controls. I can’t emphasize this training drill enough. I mean lots of images too. Get so you can set up and tracking quickly with no hitches. Practice focusing and know when it’s needed. Make sure and save the images or movie the way you want to on April 8. Learn how long the battery lasts and how long you can track the Sun. A side benefit here is that the Sun is currently quite active so you will have lots of neat sunspot pictures.
Follow the social media connected with your instrument because that’s the fastest way you will get any questions answered. It will also help you anticipate problems by learning from your team mates.
Make a complete checklist of the gear you will have with you while observing the eclipse. Forgetting a cable, or neglecting to charge a battery, has tripped up many an amateur astronomer. Most of the time it’s no big deal, but with an eclipse poor packing will cancel all your plans.
Know your eclipse timing for exactly where you will be — down to the instant of first contact, the total phase and last contact. Write them down on an index card or better yet, memorize them. If you have to travel a bit locally to miss clouds, then at least know the bounds of the timings so you don’t miss something. I’m assuming you know how to find these data online for yourself.
Write down a script of what you will be doing at all the times of the eclipse and have it handy. Believe me, eclipse day will be exciting and your mind will get distracted if you don’t have the script in your pocket.
Don’t assume you’ll be able to chase the eclipse in the last hours because the roads will be packed. A corollary is don’t think that after the eclipse is over you’ll be able to get on the road and hustle home quickly. You won’t. This is why coaching tip 13 will be important too.
Only use your smart scope for the partial phases but make sure and take the opportunity to enjoy totality without fussing over your scope. You should aim to experience totality as more of an astronomical revelation than a photo opportunity.
Memorize the planets that will be visible. I’ve attached an image below of what will be out and where. I’ve learned the hard way that people will ask and if you’re not sure you’ll seriously hurt your chances of remaining a Master of the Universe in their eyes.
Observe safety precautions both for your own eyes and your very expensive equipment. I’m not even going to try to photograph totality, but will just have one of my scopes keep tracking through totality and to do my best with partial phases. Your scopes and smart phones are much more valuable in the long run if they haven’t had a full dose of sunlight.
Watch your lunch! On my last eclipse we were enjoying lunch as we were watching the eclipse at a Nebraska farm house. When the humans were gaping at the eclipse the dogs moved in for the kill and ate our lunches. Be forewarned…. don’t let that happen to you. If you do, then you'll starve to death before you're able to get back on the road.
Conclusion: Eclipses are actually NBD to many astrophysicists like me.
I know many people won’t like to hear this, but total solar eclipses are no big deal in the world of contemporary astrophysics research. I will admit that I’m much more concerned with big bang cosmology, dark energy and the search for habitable planets. Solar eclipse science is really “yesterday’s science.” An eclipse does show the power of Newton’s laws of physics, but that’s long captured territory. I find my smart telescopes help me appreciate the big picture science more than Solar System mechanics.
Yet I will readily admit that a total solar eclipse is a really wonderful experience. If you haven’t seen one, it will take your breath away and you will never forget it. Just make sure you don’t screw things up by fiddling with the tech while the laws of gravity continue on their own.
So…. Charge your batteries and warm up. As soon as you’ve got your smart scope running, take lots of solar images and get in shape…. get going you slackards..... ;-)
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