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On May 10th, 1994, I took a short trip to the Adler Planetarium, here in Chicago, to view the Annular Solar Eclipse. After I set up my Meade 60mm refractor for projection, I settled down to watch the event. Surprisingly, there were numerous people at the planetarium, including the local news channels. While I was explaining the eclipse to one of the general public, one of the local news teams had been taping me, but unfortunately the taping of my setup didn't make it on the air.
I submitted my observations to ASTRONOMY magazine, which printed them in the September 1994 issue (Page 85). The eclipse was 93% total here, so although we didn't get to see the ring, most of the Sun was obscured.
My camera (a simple point-and-shoot type that you can buy in just about any store) had jammed during my session, so I only got a number of shots up to about 10 or 15 minutes before maximum eclipse. These photos are shown below.
The Chicago Skyline, shot from the Planetarium:
Start of the Eclipse:
Eclipse Progression:
Just before Eclipse Maximum:
Here's how my setup looked (none of the people in the picture is me):
And finally, here's a shot facing southwest from the Planetarium,
showing some of the folks and other equipment at the eclipse. A very
large number of viewers there were either simply using their crossed
fingers or a pinhole to project a small image of the Sun on the ground,
or they viewed the eclipse directly using solar filter glasses (Do NOT
look at the Sun directly unless using proper filters [check the
astronomy magazines for such filters]. Eye damage may occur if you do.
Projecting the Sun onto a piece of paper with a telescope or binoculars,
as shown in my pictures here, is perfectly safe, as long as you keep
your eyes away from the eyepieces.)
On December 25, 2000, I observed and photographed the Christmas eclipse, which was 55% partial from Chicago, Illinois. I viewed and photographed the eclipse from inside a room that had a full south-facing window. Here is a composite of those pictures. The date and time function of my point-and-shoot camera that I used to take these photos (which was mounted on a tripod, with me holding a pair of solar filter glasses from ASTRONOMY Magazine in front of the lens as the picture was taken) was quite useful, as you'll see, for this sequence. Enjoy!
