THE GREAT AMERICAN ECLIPSE
Total Solar Eclipse of 21 August 2017,
USA - Wyoming, Glendo Park, +42°31'10.2" N, 104°59'27.7" W, 1425 m a.s.l.
Local circumstances: C1 16.24.04, C2 17.45.08, max 17.46.22, C3 17.47.36, C4 19.12.15 UT, dur 2m28s
by Lorenzo Comolli

Daytime and instrumentation images


Panoramic view of the observing field, near Bennet Hill, Glendo Park, WY, USA. Our telescopes are the two covered with yellow plastic bags, in the center-left part of the image. The dome, telescopes and tents on the right are from the Millinan University expedition, guided by our new friend professor Dean Miller. Thank you very much for hospitality in their ground.


The Bennet Hill during sunrise was quite populated!


Observing field looking North, toward the Glendo lake. Instrumentation, from the left: 25x100 binoculars (thanks Alessandro Gambaro), me with a Pentax 75 and Canon 100-400 on a Kenko NES mount, and tripods for wide field timelapses.


The setup of Emmanuele, with a Pentax 75, Tamron 18-270mm (for flash spectrum), Canon 100-400, all on a Vixen GP mount. Lorenzo and Emmanuele are setting the setup.


The setup of Emmanuele from behind, with the control PC in the foreground inside a protective black tent.


Detail of the setup of Emmanuele


The observing field toward South with Lorenzo at work.


Detail of the setup of Lorenzo. Note the professional counterweigth... this model has micrometric adjustment of the weight (just remove the cap!)


The terrible traffic jam for leaving Glendo. Cars are completely stopped. We needed 4 hours to leave. In the foreground our car. 


Two hot air balloons imaged during totality by Antonia. Note the color of the horizon. By the way, we were threatened that these balloons can interfere with our observations, but fortunately they leaved just in time. I hope nobody on the groud were damaged by the obstruction of them.


The flash spectrum setup, composed of a Canon 450D with full spectrum modification, Tamron 18-270 at 270mm, and a StarAnalyzer 100 reticle in front of the lens.


Details of the orientation we set to get the spectra along the diagonal of the sensor.


Google map of the observing location, together with local circumstances.


Ground map of the observing location.



The latest weather forecast by NOAA, NAM model, that allowed us to choose Glendo Park (perfectly clear) instead of Casper (ruined by thin veils).




HTML Editing and Publishing by Lorenzo Comolli. Email me at comolli@libero.it.
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