Total solar eclipse 2017 blog Joe Cali

WAITING FOR THE SHADOW

Solar Eclipse Observing and Photography - Joseph Cali

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TOTAL SOLAR ECLIPSE
Wyoming and Idaho, August 21, 2017

We got some sleep then woke at 330am when the next series of forecasts and satellite photos became available. The forecasts were still not definitive. It was obvious the cleaance would pass over Teton close to the beginning of the eclipse but not guaranteed. There followed another series of dawn phone calls between Tony, Michael Gill, Bengt and I. We made our final decision to run west to Idaho departing at 5am. Alex Scutt, also part of Tony and Liz's group asked if he could catch a ride with us.
We drove out of Teton, down the mountain and across to Rigby then up the I20 to Rexburg. At Rexburg we turned west onto route 33 towards Terreton. We drove all the way across to Terreton ably navigated by Bengt. At Terreton, we decided to backtrack partway back toward the I-15and observed from some unfenced open scrubby ground we had found. It was a big step down from the stunning site Tony and Liz had organised. The air was very clear and in the distance we could see the Grand Tetons, wonderfully clear of cloud. I was so pleased for Tony, Liz and the members of the group who had decided to stay. There were people parked all along Route 33 and along the side roads but it wasn't especially densely crowded. There was only one other family from Canada near us. The next closest people were 100 m away.

When solar eclipse chasing, you have good days and you have bad days and you have average days. Beginner eclipse photographers often trip up by forgetting to remove the solar filter. Because totality is much fainter than the Sun, if you leave the solar filter on during totality, you get black frames. This was my 13^th totality. I had never forgotten to remove the solar filter before, but sleep deprived and fatigued as I was, I forgot to remove the filter from my 70mm refractor telescope which had my main camera for capturing totality. I have an excellent series of partial phases and a half decent diamond ring but no closeups of what was a beautiful totality. When I photograph eclipses, I don't look at my cameras, I observe the eclipse naked eye or with small binoculars. I didn't realise my mistake until after totality.

I have made two composites from the partial phases and diamond ring shot made with a different camera and lens. Unfortunately, I didn't use this lens to capture totality, because I planned to and did use the refractor to which I left the solar filter attached.

Pictures taken every 30s during the 8 minutes leaing up to totality.

This is a composite of a wide angle image taken of the landscape, sky and eclipse during totality and a picture of the geese flying through just minutes after the end of totality. The silhouetted mountains on the horizon are the Grand Tetons where Tony, Liz, and many other group members were observing. The cloud bank that we were all dodging can be seen behind them. It passed before the eclipse began and their faith in the more optimistic weather forecast was rewarded. At high alititudes, the sky is much darker and the corona can be seen to extend to a much greater extent. They all reported extensive corona observations.

Following the eclipse we returned to Teton Village. A large sumptuous banquet had been kindly prepared for the entire group by Wayne and Susie Nelson. The entire group squeezed into the one condo for the group dinner and we all exchanged "war stories."

The next day, Bengt and I returned to Salt lake City via Bear Lake. We dropped through Ogden to return Lee's camping gear before returning to Salt Lake City for our respective flights home.

Epilogue
This story has a very sad epilogue and is the main reason I have put off writing this for more than 4 years.

Bengt's numbness and loss of strength in his left arm was not a pinched nerve. It was the early stages of ALS or amyotrophic lateral sclerosis. It is a disease of the central nervous system, in the family of motor neurone diseases. His grim diagnosis was finally confirmed about 2 months after returning to Sweden. After some initial treatment to get his medication levels stabilised, he had enough mobility for one more trip. He decided to come to Australia. The iconic parks of Central Australia were at the top of his bucket list and something we had talked about seeing together in conjunction with a solar eclipse that will occur in the region in July of 2028. With just one more chance to travel we made plans to hit the Red Centre.

Standley Chasm, West MacDonnell Ranges

Sunrise Uluru

Sunset Uluru

Bengt arrived in early January and I took him out to Central Australia. We visited Uluru, Kata Tjuta, West MacDonnell Ranges and Kakadu over a few weeks in January of 2018. He was happy to escape the coldest part of winter in Sweden, but the price we paid was that January is the hottest part of the summer here. Most days around Uluru and Kata Tjuta were around 44^oC.

Scenic Flight over Kakadu National Park

Sunrise Uluru

Nourlangie Rock, Kakadu National Park

After the trip we returned to Canberra. We enjoyed meals with fine seafood, meats, fruit and vegetables many of which are difficult to obtain in Sweden and certainly not things that Bengt would cook even if he could get them. We drank cellared wine that he had gifted me some 16 years earlier while we were touring wine districts in South Australia. We observed one more eclipse together, a total lunar eclipse on January 31^st, 2018 before we parted and he returned home. He wrote to me a few months later to say, "I am sitting here eating herring on flatbread but I am thinking about the seafood, and roast lamb meals we shared a few months ago."

Total Lunar Eclipse, 31^st January, 2018

Upon returning to Sweden, he worked for a few more months before he became unable to continue. The disease, often quite slow, progressed quite rapidly and he passed away peacefully in his sleep in early 2019 just 18 months after his initial diagnosis.

Rest in peace my friend.

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