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Tom & Andrea, Cap-Chat,
Gaspé Peninsula, July 10, 1972 |
I was 9 years old on June 30, 1954 when my father got us up at 5am to watch a partial solar eclipse, To be honest, I don't remember the eclipse at all, but I remember getting up "in the middle of the night" to see it. Twenty six years would pass before I saw another eclipse.
On March 7, 1970, one month after Andrea was born, there was a total eclipse of the sun along the east coast of the US. We were living in the Washington DC area where our friend Henning Leidecker organized an eclipse expedition to the aptly named town of Sunbury, NC. The skies were perfectly clear and Tom got some great photographs. We were hooked.
March 7, 1970 - Sunbury, NC
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| Henning & Martha Leidecker with the astronomy club sign, March 7, 1970 |
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| Mary & infant Andrea, waiting for the eclipse at Sudbury, NC, March 7, 1970 |
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| Total Solar Eclipse, Sunbury, NC, March 7, 1970 |
July 10, 1972, Cap-Chat, Gaspé Peninsula, Canada
Two years later we drove to the Gaspé Peninsula in Quebec, hoping to catch a total eclipse as it passed through Canada. We were not alone; many astronomers (including our friend Henning Leidecker) brought exceptionally large telescopes to get a shot of the event.
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| Getting ready to track the eclipse, Cap-Chat, July 10, 1972 |
The partial eclipse was stunning, but then clouds moved in and obscured the sun just as the total eclipse approached. The clouds began to dissipate while the sun was behind the moon, but we did not get any good pictures of the total eclipse.
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| First phase of the Solar Eclipse, Cap-Chat, July 10, 1972 |
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Our camping trip to the Gaspé Peninsula, Bay of Fundy, and Arcata National Park; July, 1972
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| Andrea at Bay of Fundy, July, 1972 |
February 26, 1979, Watford, ND
Seven years later an eclipse passed through the northwestern corner of North Dakota, through central Montana and along the Washington Oregon border. The closest point of the total eclipse was eight hours away - a bit far to take two school aged children on a Monday. So Tom joined friends in a camper van and headed to North Dakota, ending up in a parking lot at the edge of Watford, ND. They were rewarded with clear skies and wonderful photographs.
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| Diamond at the end of the total eclipse, February 26, 1979, Watford, ND |
July 22, 1990, Joensuu, Finland
Six years later Andrea stayed at college for the summer and Dustin headed to Finland to stay with a family in Kajaani. We realized that there would be an eclipse while he was there so we decided we had to see it. We organized a train trip through Scandinavia, camping most nights within a mile of the local train station. We started in Amsterdam, traveled through Denmark, Sweden, and then north through Norway to Narvik to see the midnight sun. Then we took a train east through northern Sweden to Finland, south to visit Dustin in Kajaani, and on to Helsinki.
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| Midnight Sun in Narvik, Norway, July 1990 |
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| Dustin in Finland, July 1990 |
When we boarded the train in Helsinki and headed to Joensuu, we were joined by many people carrying big cameras and telescopes. Luckily we had reserved a campsite in Joensuu because all camping spots were fully booked. Since the eclipse would start at 4am, many people simply stayed up all night. Because of the early hour, the total eclipse was not going to be visible from town, so the local folks arranged busses to take people to the west side of the nearby lake for better viewing. They also arranged an evening of free entertainment at the Joensuu athletic field the night before the eclipse; it lasted long into the night so we didn't get much sleep at our nearby campsite
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| Entertainment at Joensuu, July 21, 1990 |
The busses left starting at 3:30 am and spread the crowd out along the lakeshore. When we arrived we saw - clouds! - just as the sun rose. The dawn turned to pitch blackness behind the clouds for 90 seconds, then the sky lightened and the sun slowly crept up into clearer skies. We saw the final stages of the eclipse as it rose above the lake.
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| Eclipse over lake near Joensuu, Finland, July 22, 1990 |
July 11, 1991, The Big Island of Hawaii
One year later a total eclipse passed through southern Mexico, over the Pacific Ocean, and across the center of the Big Island of Hawaii. We always wanted to visit Hawaii, and summer was low season with a high probability of clear skies - so why not see the eclipse there? We backpacked in Haleakalā National Park in Maui and drove the scenic road to Hana. We photographed the "Grand Canyon" of Hawaii in Kauai and and backpacked along the Kalaulau Trail on the island's north coast. On the Big Island we rented a bright red convertible and toured the island from our campsite at Kohanaiki Beach Park. We discovered why July is low season in Hawaii - in Minnesota the sun sets at 9pm in July; in Hawaii it sets about two hours earlier - so our days were much shorter near the equator. But that turned out to be a good thing when we walked to an active volcano at Hawaii Volcanoes National Park, because we could see the red hot lava flows better after the early sunset.
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| Haleakalā National Park in Maui, July 1991 |
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| Mary, North Coast of Kauai, July, 1991 |
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| Hawaii Volcanoes National Park, July 1991 |
We planned to photograph the total eclipse from our campsite, but it was cloudy as the eclipse started, so we hopped in the car and drove south looking for clearer skies. Soon we realized we were not going to get very far, so we stopped along the road and joined a group of eclipse viewers. The skies cleared a bit and Tom got a hazy shot of the total eclipse through a light layer of clouds.
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Eclipse Viewing, Big Island of Hawaii, July 11, 1991
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| Total Eclipse seen through the clouds, Big Island of Hawaii, July 11, 1991 |
August 21, 1917, Sawtooth Wilderness, Idaho
It was 16 years before we had another opportunity to chase an eclipse. Since the 2017 eclipse path crossed the US from the Northwest Pacific states to the Southeast Atlantic states, we had the entire country to choose from. We decided to head west and reserved a camping spot in Wyoming which promised clear weather. But as we drove toward Yellowstone we encountered a problem - smoke from wildfires. We drove to Idaho trying to escape the smoke, and ended up in the Sawtooth Wilderness a week before the eclipse. We found a wonderful campsite right in the path of the total eclipse and kept an eye on both the cloud forecast and wildfire smoke, ready to move east if necessary.
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| Waiting for the eclipse at Pettit Lake Campground, Idaho, August 1917 |
We eventually decided that the current campsite was as good a location as any for the eclipse, which gave Tom plenty of time to find the perfect spot to set up - he chose our campsite driveway - and to practice photographing the sun before the eclipse.
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Tom practicing for the eclipse at Pettit Lake Campground, Idaho, August 20. 1917
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Solar eclipse day dawned clear and bright. As the magic time of 11:30am approached, we watched the progress of the sun projected onto our driveway through pinholes created by the forest leaves above.
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| Forest leaves created pinholes that projected the shrinking crescent sun. August 21, 2017 |
Confused by the waning sun, birds and squirrels switched to sunset behavior. Suddenly everything went completely dark and it got very quiet. Tom quickly switched camera settings and took as many photographs as he could during the 2 minutes the sun was obscured. Then just as suddenly, the light returned. Cheers rang out across the lake. It was a total success.
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| Total Solar Eclipse, Sawtooth Wilderness, ID, August 21, 1917 |
April 8, 2024, Union City, IN
Seven years later an eclipse crossed central US from Maine to Texas. Andrea and Brian joined us as we set out for Fort Wayne, Indiana the day before the eclipse. The next morning, watching the weather closely, we decided to head straight south to Union City on the Indiana-Ohio border, about 90 minutes away. There we found a park that was ready for visitors with a welcome sign and plenty of extra benches and tables. Settling at a table with a clear view of the afternoon sky, we enjoyed meeting local residents and fellow eclipse chasers as we prepared for the event.
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Mary & Tom in Union City, Indiana for the Eclipse, April 8, 2024
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A front approached, turning the sky a bit hazy. but Tom was able to get a wonderful picture of the totally eclipsed sun.
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| Total Eclipse of the sun, Union City, IN, April 8, 2024 |
