Eclipse Day Did Not Disappoint

I had originally envisioned a solo drive to Carbondale, Illinois for the upcoming total solar eclipse on Monday, April 8, 2024. Estimated driving time would have been about 6 hours one way. Conflicting weather forecasts one week in advance began to leave me uneasy--one day forecasting clear, the next cloudy. I soon had to make a decision, and since I had already witnessed the awesome totality of the 2017 eclipse in Columbia, Missouri, it seemed a shorter trip option might be preferable, even though it would result in a partial eclipse. Two days before the event forecasts showed confidence that southeastern Iowa would be cloud free. Now I had to research an area that might include interesting foreground elements, hopefully tall church steeples or wind mills. Finding none, I settled for an isolated water tower located about 4.4 miles east of the town of Mount Union, Iowa in Henry County. This would be a much more suitable drive of about one hour, 20 minutes. The graphic appearing above shows information for this targeted location about 4 1/2 hours before maximum eclipse coverage, and listed 89.7% for maximum eclipse. 

12:16 pm CDT, Monday, April 8, 2024. Selfie at my targeted location by the water tower, about a half hour before the beginning of the eclipse sequence and wearing my 2017 Snoopy & Charlie Brown eclipse t-shirt.

Composite image of the eclipse sequence looking southwest. Each individual sun capture is positioned in this image to their approximate location in relation to the camera's perspective. Time captures are, from left: 12:36 pm, 12:50 pm, 1:05 pm, 1:23 pm, 1:42 pm, 2:02 pm, 2:10 pm, 2:20 pm, 2:39 pm, 2:58 pm, 3:09 pm, 3:20 pm. Captures were 1/2000 second exposures at f/8, ISO 100, 70mm focal length. Post processing achieved using ON1 Photo Raw 2023, Affinity Photo 2 and CS4 Photoshop. Nikon Z6ii camera with Neewer HD ND100000 72mm solar filter. I moved the lens away from the sun after each shutter release (10 second delay), and repositioned it again for the next capture. Maximum eclipse was directly over the water tower as I had planned.

A four-image sequence leading up to maximum eclipse (far right). A sunspot at center of the disk can be seen. At maximum (89.7%), the sky resembled a hazy day, not unlike during skies from Canada or western wild fires. The air also noticeably cooled, forcing me to zip up my jacket. 

1:27 pm. The water tower, backlit by the eclipsing sun. iPhone 11 camera. 

1:50 pm. A crescent shape (arrow) in my shadow from the unfolding eclipse created by making a small opening with my left hand. For leisure viewing of the eclipse sequence, I broke my Eclipser HD glasses out of storage from the 2017 total eclipse.

3:04 pm. A ring effect created by the sun behind some isolated cirrus clouds near the end of the eclipse sequence. For almost all of the eclipse event the skies remained clear. To my utter surprise, in the nearly four hours at this location, not one vehicle drove by me! The overall experience did not disappoint and was definitely worth the effort!