August 21, 2017 Total Solar Eclipse

On the morning of February 26, 1979, an 8-year old boy was walking to Wiley Canyon public school in Newhall, California, a small suburb of Los Angeles, California. When he arrived at the school, he found that his 3rd grade teacher was outside with the class, projecting the Sun onto a piece of paper. The Sun did not look like a round disk. Instead, the Sun appeared to have had a large bite taken out of it, as if the Sun had become a large cookie and something was slowly eating it away. That "something" was the Moon and the event was the February 26, 1979 total solar eclipse; one of the most anticipated astronomical events of the 20th century. The total eclipse could not be seen in Los Angeles; totality was seen in Washington state, through south-western and south-central Canada and all the way to Greenland. The boy was not aware that he would not have another chance to see a total solar eclipse in Canada or the continental United States until August 21, 2017.

Between the two total solar eclipses of 1979 and 2017, I had viewed a number of partial solar eclipses, including the annular solar eclipse of May 10, 1994. I had also viewed 18 total lunar eclipses, a number of comets, incredible meteor showers, over 300 galaxies, all 9 planets (yes, Pluto too) and 4,259 artificial satellites of the Earth, including; Telstar, Alouette, several space shuttles and the MIR and International Space Stations. Between 1979 and 2017, I would; finish elementary school, all four years of high school, earn my bachelors of science degree, earn my master of science and earn my doctorate in physics and space science. After nearly 40 years and after all that I had seen since 1979, I had not witnessed a total solar eclipse. I had resolved to change that on August 21, 2017. However, the path of totality would not take place in Canada but in the continental United States; a path running from Oregon to South Carolina. The closest states to Ontario Canada were Missouri, Illinois, Kentucky and Tennessee. The longest duration of totality, 2 minutes and 40 seconds, would take place in the small town of Hopkinsville, Kentucky. This was my (and many others') first choice for viewing the eclipse.

The annular solar eclipse of May 10, 1994. The Moon did not appear large enough to cover the Sun, producing a ring. Images by Michael A. Earl - Kingston, Ontario Canada

During the initial planning, my main concern was the weather. I did not want to book a motel because that would have constrained my location to within a small radius. Besides, the motels would have likely been completely booked several months in advance. For this eclipse, I would have to be mobile enough to drive along the predicted path of totality, anywhere from Missouri to Tennessee, in order to outrun any cloud cover. My biggest fear was that there would be a hurricane or a large storm system completely covering the four states and completely obscuring the event, except for the darkness of totality.

The path of totality through the states of Missouri (upper left), southern Illinois (upper right), Kentucky (lower left) and Tennessee (lower right). Images courtesy of NASA

If clouds were to be a major problem, determining how to follow the Moon's shadow might be a problem. The roads were not exactly designed to follow a future total solar eclipse. It was likely that traveling the back roads would be required. I had prepared several maps of the area, just in case.

The next concern was, what should I bring with me to observe the eclipse? My 8-inch Celestron 8i telescope was the best choice because it was lightweight, portable and powerful. I had also installed a solar filter and an aperture stop in the scope's main dust cover so that I could observe the Sun at any time; mainly to use the Sun as an initial alignment object during daytime observing of the naked eye planets. I also decided to bring along one of my oldest telescopes; a small 3-inch aperture Bausch and Lomb Schmidt-Cassegrain telephoto lens that I had purchased in 1992. I had used the same 3-inch scope to observe the annular solar eclipse of May 10, 1994. It seemed fitting that the same scope could also be used to observe a total solar eclipse over 23 years later. I would also bring three tripods and two digital cameras.

Imaging the totally eclipsed Sun would be a tricky business because I only had a maximum of 2 minutes and 40 seconds to take any images of totality. I had promised myself that I would use approximately half of that time to take images and the other half to enjoy the event without any magnification or filtering. A totally eclipsed Sun is safe to view with the naked eye without any filtering. However, at any other time during such an eclipse, filtering is mandatory to protect your eyes. Since I had never observed or imaged a total solar eclipse before, I had no idea what the correct exposure time would be during totality. I would have to experiment in the minute and 15 seconds that I had allocated to image the extraordinary event. Since I had imaged partial solar eclipses before, I was very certain that I could image all of the phases before and after totality.

I did not want to plan the event too carefully because I knew that there would be times when spontaneity would be much more fun. However, we (my wife Jane and I) were unprepared for the amount of fortunate, spontaneous circumstances that we would encounter over our several day excursion to Kentucky. I already knew that all the hotels in and around Hopkinsville would have been booked months in advance, so attempting to book any motel within the eclipse zone would be ludicrous. We had decided to sleep in the car overnight in any convenient public place that we could find. Our excursion would begin on the early morning of Saturday, August 19th.

The drive to Hopkinsville was predicted to take approximately 15 hours; from Odessa, Ontario. We had decided to visit and spend the night with friends near London, Ontario in order to break up the long drive into two parts. We told our friends about our plans to view the eclipse in Kentucky and that this event promised to be one of the greatest of our lives. There was much to talk about over that summer night. Hopkinsville was still the main destination. I checked the weather forecast for Hopkinsville for August 21st. The forecast was partly sunny: more sun than cloud. This worried me. In all of the other solar eclipses I had viewed, the Sun was not totally obscured, so it remained bright throughout each eclipse. When the Sun is totally eclipsed, its apparent brightness drops considerably. Therefore, if a cloud is in front of Sun at the time of totality, the eclipsed Sun might not be visible. The purpose of the trip was the view the totally eclipsed Sun. A small cloud could easily obscure or cover the Sun for the full duration of totality.

The early morning of August 20th was clear in London, Ontario. I could easily see Venus in the dawn sky. I knew that I would be seeing Venus twice on the 21st: once before sunrise and again at midday when the Sun was totally eclipsed by the Moon. We left our friend's house at around 6 a.m. bound for the U.S. border at Sarnia.

The border crossing at Sarnia was quite easy. Only a few cars were at the checkpoint. When the border guard asked me what our purpose in the U.S. was, I simply answered: "Total solar eclipse." He then asked where we would be staying. I said, "Hopkinsville, Kentucky". He asked where we would be staying in Hopkinsville. I said that we would be sleeping in the car. After a few seconds, he let us through. We were in Michigan state, headed for Kentucky.

Being in the U.S. again was an interesting experience, The last time I had visited the U.S., I was on the island of Maui, Hawaii at the 2013 AMOS conference. On August 20th, 2017, I was entering the U.S. as a full PhD on the way to observe my first total solar eclipse.

The drive on Interstate 69 was mainly uneventful as we travelled through Michigan and Indiana, until we reached Indianapolis. During the trip planning stage, I had failed to recognize that I-69 ended in Indianapolis at a traffic light with a sign that read, "Freeway Ends"! We were both surprised that an Interstate would suddenly end, but we knew that there must be another way to reach Kentucky because we were only about an hour away from the Indiana-Kentucky border. We stopped at a gas station and asked a gentleman who was in the process of buying himself a lottery ticket there. He said that the best route would be the Interstate 265 south, then on to Interstate 65 south. We both thanked him and we quickly reached the I-265 south, then the I-t65 south, thus resuming our trip to Kentucky.

I checked my maps and found that I-65 would actually lead us to about 50 miles east of Hopkinsville. I checked my eclipse map that showed the path of totality through Kentucky and concluded that we could stop at a small town named Franklin, which was right off of the Interstate. We might not see 2 minutes and 40 seconds of totality but we would see 10 seconds less, which was not a big deal for either of us.

At about 7 p.m., we wanted to stop for something to eat. Our original preference was the Cracker Barrel near Elizabethtown, Kentucky. When we reached the Cracker Barrel, we found that there was a 30-minute wait to be seated. We both knew that 30 minutes can easily mean 60 minutes or more. We left the Cracker Barrel and tried two other establishments, both without luck. We could have encountered the eclipse crowd heading for Hopkinsville or at least the totality zone. We stopped for gas and asked the locals to find out where the best "off the beaten track" place to eat would be near Elizabethtown. One very friendly guy, with a Kentucky accent very similar to Larry the Cable Guy told us that he frequently goes to a Mexican restaurant called El Mazatlan in Munfordville. El Mazatlan was exactly what was promised. The food was incredible. This is not an advertisement, but if you are in Kentucky, make sure to go there at least once.

After our dinner, we resumed our travels towards Franklin. We reached Franklin at 10 p.m. central time. The only challenge remaining that night was where to park and sleep. My plans had been for Hopkinsville, not Franklin, so we had no idea where we would find a public area. Fortunately, Jane used her intuition to find a high school in Franklin amongst the houses in a subdivision. The name was prominently displayed on the front of the building: Franklin Simpson High School. We parked in the back of the school, thinking that since the school year had not yet begun, few would notice the car. We were wrong.

The drive was a long one from London, Ontario to Franklin; about 16 hours with very little sleep. We slept very well in the back of the car that was parked in the back of the school grounds. My last memory before falling asleep was how clear the skies looked. I saw the Big Dipper, Bootes, Cassiopeia, Draco, Lyra, Cygnus and Aquila. I could also see Saturn, the only planet that was visible. I also recalled that the skies were heavily light polluted. Louisville, Kentucky and Nashville, Tennessee were not too far away from us, so their lights would have some influence on the skies. I did see Venus rise in the very early dawn sky before I feel asleep again.

At about 8 a.m. central time, we were both awoken by two maintenance workers driving by in an official maintenance pickup truck. We thought that they were driving by to escort us off of the premises. After quickly dressing, we told them that we were only there to rest before the solar eclipse. The two men had puzzled looks on their faces and after several seconds the driver said, in a thick Kentucky accent, "We were only wondering if y'all were OK." Jane and I looked at each other and we couldn't help but laugh. Normally, in southern Ontario if someone was caught trespassing, they were told to leave. Apparently, in this Kentucky town high school, this was not the case. The two men also told us where we could visit a bathroom, which was a very nice thing to do for two strangers in a car that they had just met by accident.

After our morning ablutions, we decided to visit the offices of the maintenance workers to thank them and to more formally introduce ourselves. I found out from Roger (the one who drove the truck) that the school year had actually begun on August 9th. We could see school buses arriving at the front of the school as we spoke. This meant that the school we had thought was closed for the summer would have a number of students observing the eclipse, likely on the school grounds. We inquired where we could meet the school administrators, so that we could formally introduce ourselves and inquire about setting up the telescopes for the eclipse. Roger called the secretary to the Superintendent and Jane and I headed over to the main administration building to meet with her.

Right away, Jane and I were impressed by how friendly everyone was at the high school. First, they found us on the school grounds not knowing what we were doing there. Second, we might have been somewhat of a concern as the administration did not expect us to be there. Come to think of it, neither did we, originally. The secretary notified the Superintendent that we requested a meeting with him and also notified the Exploratorium of our presence. We walked towards the Exploratorium, where we first met up with Scot Perdue, the Director of Technology. From the way Scot welcomed us, it was like we had known each other for 20 years. After the handshaking and hugs, we all walked into the Exploratorium to meet with Seth Armour and later with the head of the Exploratorium, Matt Staggs. They all gave us a tour of the Exploratorium and talked about its objectives.

The Exploratorium is a building in the Franklin Simpson High School campus that is a "makerspace and project-based learning center". Students are able to have hands-on experience with science and technology. Jane and I were impressed with the amount of space and the equipment available; from Lego blocks to full 3D printers. Just one week before the day of the eclipse, Matt was teaching the students how to build a simple Alt-Azimuth telescope out of PVC pipe and lenses. I spotted one of the telescopes in the corner of the room. I tried it out and could easily see a bird perched on the high stadium lights through one of the windows. Matt was explaining to me that he and his students spotted Saturn's rings through these telescopes. Matt certainly shared the passion that I have for teaching the youth about science, technology and astronomy. Matt had been working on the total eclipse event at Franklin Simpson High School for over a month, including the initial proposal to administration, marketing (including eclipse viewers and t-shirts) and intricate planning for the day of eclipse.

About 30 minutes after our impromptu meetings at the Exploratorium, we met with the Superintendent of the Simpson school district, Dr. James Flynn. We introduced ourselves in the lobby of the administrative building and we had a wonderful conversation about the eclipse events happening at the school, the school itself and even our individual experiences in graduate school. Dr. Flynn gave us a quick tour of the school and we discussed where we could set up the telescopes in advance of the solar eclipse. After a quick discussion between Dr. Flynn, Scot and Matt, it was decided that we could set up the telescopes in front of the stadium, right in the middle of the action! We felt humbled and very welcomed by the warm reception that we had received at the Franklin high school, just a few hours after they had just met us.

I set up my two telescopes on the opposite side of the track from the stadium at about 10:30 a.m. CDT; one and a half hours before the eclipse was predicted to begin. I took my first image of the Sun that day at 10:56 a.m. CDT. When I first looked at the Sun through the 40mm eyepiece, I was delighted to learn that a large crop of sunspots was populating the Sun's disk. I knew that the audience was in for a treat because not only would they see the eclipse but also a myriad of sunspots. There were very few people at the stadium at that time; just a few photographers on the stadium roof and the maintenance crew that drove by once in a while. The temperature was very high; about 100 degrees Fahrenheit with a humidity of nearly 100 percent. I was concerned for the safety of the equipment since I had not used either scope in such high temperatures. The 8-inch scope was powered by a small 12-volt lawn tractor battery that I had bought a few days before. I decided to cover the battery with a white towel so that the intense sunlight would not overheat it and cause the battery to leak. From time to time I would feel the battery to make sure that it was not too hot.

After the 8-inch scope was roughly polar-aligned, I quickly set up the 3-inch telescope. I placed a yellow filter on the 25mm eyepiece so that the Sun would appear more yellow. The Baader Astro-Solar film placed at the front of both telescopes' corrector plates reflects all but the light blue wavelengths of sunlight. The audience could also see a different perspective of the Sun from the bright white ball that they are used to. With both telescopes ready to go, I retreated to a gazebo on the high school's grounds and waited until 11:45 a.m.; 10 minutes before the eclipse was predicted to begin.

I glimpsed my first sight of the Moon silhouette at about 11:56 a.m. CDT. A small bite appeared to steadily grow as the Moon began its obscuration of the Sun's disk. I could see the small bite in both 8-inch and 3-inch scopes. After a few minutes, the naked eye observers were beginning to detect the Moon's small silhouette at the top right hand corner of the Sun's disk. At that time, it was less than 1.5 hours until totality.

One of the fun aspects of this particular solar eclipse was that the Moon's silhouette would slowly cover not only the Sun's disk but the sunspots too! I have seen this many times before, so I was more interested in showing the audience members the partial phases of the eclipse. At that time, we had no idea how many people would descend upon the stadium grounds over the next 3 hours. However, I had been to star parties that had over 300 people attend at once, so I was ready for them!

About 30 minutes into the eclipse, students were beginning to arrive at the stadium and football field. Both adults and children saw the two telescopes and immediately wanted to observe the Sun through them. At first, a number of the audience members were trepidatious about observing the Sun through a telescope. After I had described that the Baader filters reflected about 99.999% of the incoming sunlight, they were more at ease. After another hour into the eclipse, few were scared about looking at the Sun through the eyepiece. My wife Jane helped to orient the viewers to the scopes and answer questions.

At about 1:15 p.m. CDT, I began to see the Sun's phase reach a point at which I had never seen before. From that time to totality, I would be seeing something that I had never seen before. The Sun's crescent would become thinner and thinner until the Moon totally covered the Sun.

During the Sun's crescent phase, Matt Staggs brought out the small refracting telescope that we had seen earlier in the Exploratorium. He had attached what looked like a funnel with a piece of dark paper over its mouth. The narrow end was attached to the eyepiece. Matt aimed the telescope at the crescent Sun until a small projection of the Sun's crescent was displayed on the dark paper. There were now enough telescopes for everyone to observe the Sun close up and enjoy the eclipse safely.

Before totality, Dr. Flynn introduced us to Dr. Stephen Pruitt, the Commissioner of the Kentucky School Board. Dr. Pruitt had a chance to observe the Sun through all three telescopes. At that time, I thought that this was a lot better than what we would likely have experienced in Hopkinsville, especially if there were many more people there.

About 30 minutes before totality, we heard an announcer over a PA system announce the dignitaries, including Dr. Flynn, Dr. Pruitt, Matt and Scot. An additional announcement was made that two people from Ontario Canada were also in attendance. The audience applauded and cheered. I never felt so welcomed before, not even at any of the conferences I had attended since 1999. In several hours, Jane and I went from sleeping in a car on high school property to being cheered by the audience at the same high school. What a magical whirlwind experience!

At the same time, I noticed the planet Venus becoming more prominent as the Sun grew dimmer. I pointed out the planet to the audience members nearby. It is rare to see Venus with the naked eye in the middle of the day. I knew that Jupiter would become visible momentarily. Sure enough, 10 minutes later, Jupiter, which was somewhat dimmer than Venus, was spotted to the east of the Sun. The two brightest planets were now visible to the audience in the middle of the day.

At the same time, we were noticing that our shadows were becoming sharper because the light source was becoming more fine. Near totality, our shadows were so sharp that we could see individual hairs on our heads. At 1:20 p.m. CDT, the Sun's crescent was razor thin. It would be only 7 minutes before totality; an event that I had been waiting to see for nearly 40 years.

The announcer counted down the seconds to totality. At about the T-10 second mark, I peeked at the Sun with my unfiltered naked eye out of curiosity. I could see the brilliant crescent Sun on the left and a dimmer, but visible blob on the right. I concluded immediately that the blob was the Sun's corona. I learned on that day that it was possible to view the Sun's corona before the Moon completely covered the Sun's disk; something that I did not know previously. Ten seconds later, the Sun was totally covered by the Moon.

Nothing can prepare you for the sight of totality. It was one of the most beautiful sights I have ever seen in astronomy. The feeling that I had reminded me of when I first observed a total lunar eclipse in June 1982. The temperature actually became much more comfortable during totality. Outdoor lights came on and insects started making noise. The totally eclipsed Sun did not look dark. It looked more like a bright grey disk with a white-grey corona that blazed with the brightness of a full Moon. The corona appeared still, as if the Sun had stopped its activity for the eclipse.

I began taking images immediately. I had no idea where I could begin with respect to exposure time. I first guessed an 8-second exposure. I took the image. I saw nothing appear on the camera screen. I realized that I had left the solar filter attached to the 8-inch scope. I removed the filter and tried for a 2-second exposure. I immediately saw an overexposed blob appear. I had significantly overexposed the corona. I tried another image of 1/8 second. Again, overexposed. Finally, I tried a 1/60 second exposure time. Perfect! However, I had burned through my minute and 15 second time for imaging. I stopped imaging and I used the final minute to stare at the totally eclipsed Sun. I reattached the filter to the 8-inch scope in preparation for the Sun's re-emergence. The audience was absolutely silent as totality progressed.

The sky was not completely dark. All around us on the horizon, we could see what looked like a twilight glow as if the Sun had set in all directions. Thin reddish cloud, possibly peach-coloured, was also visible near the horizon. We were near the center of the Moon's shadow.

The announcer started counting down the last remaining seconds of totality. He then said, "Filters on! Filters on!" A brilliant shaft of light pierced the sky as the Sun re-emerged from darkness. The corona disappeared in the glow. I took an image right after re-emergence. I think I had said, "I can't believe that I have just seen this! This is spectacular!" but my memory fails me after such a mysterious event. The audience then applauded, cheered and screamed with joy. The students were very fortunate that they were able to witness such an extraordinary event at such a young age. I also felt fortunate that I was able to finally see it before I died.

The total solar eclipse of August 21, 2017 could be the final new extraordinary astronomical event that I will ever witness. Unless a supernova appears in our galaxy or a spectacularly bright comet adorns our skies, this might very well be true. I guess this is a good example of "saving the best for last".

The citizens of Franklin, Kentucky were also fortunate because they did not have far to drive after the event was over. Jane and I had about 18 hours of driving to get back to London, Ontario and another 5 hours to get back home. However, I took some more images after totality just to see the sunspots re-appear. Most of the audience had left the stadium about 30 minutes after totality. I was basically on my own again after such an amazing time meeting the townsfolk of Franklin, Kentucky.

Before the eclipse had begun, Ethan Steinquest, a reporter from the Franklin Favorite, a local publication, had asked me for an interview. After the eclipse had finished, we sat down for a short talk about my experiences in astronomy, the trip to Franklin, my impressions of Franklin and the magnificent total solar eclipse itself. I had nothing but praise for the monumental amount of effort by the Franklin Simpson High School, especially Matt Staggs and Scot Perdue, and I had said that Franklin did an A-1 job of welcoming both Jane and myself to their community. I have never been so welcomed in any other town that I had visited in North America. The article, called "Heart of Darkness" has been published. After reading the article, both Jane and I were very impressed by how well written it was and how well it conveyed the wonder and excitement that we all felt during the solar eclipse.

Shortly after the eclipse ended, Scot and Seth invited Jane and I to the Frosty Freeze; a restaurant and milkshake emporium very near to the Franklin Simpson High School. There, Theresa, a super-friendly server, saw to it that we received our treats. Over milkshakes, hot fudge sundaes and dipped cones, we talked about how wonderful the event was and how magical our experience was with the friendly people of Franklin. After own treat, we returned to the Exploratorium where we met with Matt Staggs and a number of students who were returning the tables and chairs after the eclipse. We talked at length about science and astronomy education in both Kentucky and Ontario, the Exploratorium and my own experiences at the Royal Military College of Canada; 1997 to the present. It seemed we talked about everything in only a few hours. Matt showed us a movie that he captured with a drone that was hovering about 650 feet above Franklin during the Moon's shadow crossing. We could see the shadow appear. We saw the lights of Franklin come on during totality and quickly turn off again after the Moon shadow passed by. What a perfect way to top off the day!

At about 4 p.m., we had to say so long to our new friends at Franklin Simpson High School. We wished we could stay for days, but we had to return to Canada to visit other friends. We returned to the Frosty Freeze where we had dinner. Sitting in the car, as I was just biting into my burger for the first time, Jane noticed someone staring at us from just outside the passenger side window. I rolled down the window and said hello. The person told us about a couple from Ontario who attended the Franklin Simpson High School solar eclipse event. We told her that the couple she was referring to was us. She had noticed our Ontario license plate and wondered if we were the same people who had attended the eclipse event. She told us that she was one of the five Board Members of the Simpson County Board of Education. After talking about the event for a few minutes, she wrote down her contact information and asked for us to send our images once we had returned to Canada. We found out that word gets around Franklin very quickly, especially if it involves two strangers from Canada!

Franklin was not my first choice for viewing the eclipse, but if I knew back then what I know now, it would have been, hands down. All that Jane and I could talk about after leaving Franklin for home was the magnificent hospitality that Franklin had given us; from Roger and the maintenance crew, to Scot's welcome, to Matt's passion for science, to Dr. Flynn, and of course the cheering audience. The amount of people in the audience was just right for me to enjoy the eclipse, while at the same time to enjoy the curiosity from each person in attendance. What was especially magical on that day was that no matter what your age, experience, title, education, or birthplace, we all understood each other's wonder and awe at the majestic celestial event that was unfolding before our eyes. We did not have to know why it was happening, we just enjoyed the event together as one group of people.

Finally, we wish to thank the following for their hospitality and their warm welcome to Franklin, Kentucky on August 21, 2017 (in order of appearance):

    The town of Franklin, Kentucky
    Franklin Simpson High School
    Mr. Roger Halcomb: Electrical Specialist
    Mr. Scot Perdue: Director of Technology
    The Exploratorium
    Mr. Seth Armour: Technology Specialist
    Mr. Matt Staggs: Science Resource Teacher - Exploratorium
    Dr. James Flynn: Superintendent of Simpson County School Board
    Dr. Stephen Pruitt: Commissioner of Education; state of Kentucky
    Mr. Ethan Steinquest: Reporter for the Franklin Favorite
    The students of Franklin Simpson High School
    The Frosty Freeze; Franklin, Kentucky
    Ms. Brigette Crawford: Board Member; Simpson County Board of Education

	10:56 CDT This image was taken one hour before the eclipse began. The Moon was likely not in the image at that time. I was very excited to see so many sunspots because we could then be able to see the Moon block the sunspots one by one. The sunspots could also be viewed and enjoyed by the bystanders at the high school, thus increasing the excitement. Exposure Time: 1/500 second (ISO 100 setting) Image by Dr. Michael A. Earl
	12:00 CDT The solar eclipse begins! This is one of the most exciting times of a solar eclipse because a part of the Moon can be seen at the same time as the Sun. Totality was approximately 1.5 hours away. Exposure Time: 1/500 second (ISO 100 setting) Image by Dr. Michael A. Earl
	12:15 CDT The eclipse continues. I remember being very surprised at how fast the Moon's silhouette was appearing to travel across the Sun's surface. The sunspots appear to be in the silhouette's sights. Exposure Time: 1/500 second (ISO 100 setting) Image by Dr. Michael A. Earl
	12:25 CDT A sunspot disappears. The other sunspots are due for obscuration. Exposure Time: 1/500 second (ISO 100 setting) Image by Dr. Michael A. Earl
	12:58 CDT A fat crescent Sun has appeared! All of the central sunspots have been covered by the Moon's silhouette. Only the two sunspots on the left hand side of the Sun's face remain. At this time, everyone was noticing that the daylight was darker than usual. Our shadows were also looking sharper than usual. From this time on, the light would grow ever dimmer. This was approximately the furthest extent of the eclipse back in Kingston, Ontario. Despite this, the skies still would have been a little darker than normal for the Kingston observers. Exposure Time: 1/500 second (ISO 100 setting) Image by Dr. Michael A. Earl
	~13:00 CDT I also had a 3-inch Schmidt-Cassegrain telescope at the Franklin, Kentucky high school. I placed a yellow filter on the eyepiece to make the Sun appear more yellow. Our Sun is a yellow star (G-type spectrum). I wanted to show the audience that our Sun is actually yellow in color, despite the extremely bright white light that they can see from it. The Baader Astro-Solar film that was placed over both 8-inch and 3-inch telescopes filtered out most of the yellow light and left the bluish colour that can be seen in the other images. Over the eclipse, many people wanted to take an image through the little 3-inch telescope with their smart phones. This is one example of the many successful images. Exposure Time: Unknown Image by Seth Armour: Franklin Simpson High School
	13:14 CDT A thin crescent Sun has appeared! Two sunspots still remain on the left-hand side of the Sun's disk. However, the Moon will soon cover these sunspots too! This is the furthest extent of all the solar eclipses I had seen before. After this moment, new territory would be traveled and the skies would continue to darken. Our shadows were very sharp by this time, to the point that our individual hairs on our head could clearly be seen. Exposure Time: 1/500 second (ISO 100 setting) Image by Dr. Michael A. Earl
	13:21 CDT The crescent Sun is even thinner! One of the two left-hand sunspots have been covered by the Moon. Our shadows have become razor-sharp. Totality would commence in about 7 minutes from now. At about this time, I spotted Venus about 30 degrees to the west of the Sun's decreasing phase. The skies were growing darker very quickly. Exposure Time: 1/500 second (ISO 100 setting) Image by Dr. Michael A. Earl
	~13:21 CDT At about this time, I spotted Venus about 30 degrees to the west of the Sun's decreasing phase. The eclipsed Sun (left) and the planet Venus (right) appear together in this wonderful image. Although the Sun's phase is a thin crescent, the Sun still appears bright enough to easily overexpose the detector. Note that the sky is now a dark blue rather than the bright light blue it normally appears at mid-day. Exposure Time: Unknown Image by Seth Armour: Franklin Simpson High School
	13:24 CDT A razor-thin crescent Sun appears! All of the sunspots have now been covered by the Moon. Totality would commence in about 3 minutes from this time. At about this time, I spotted Jupiter about 40 degrees to the east of the Sun's quickly decreasing phase. Jupiter made a good pair with Venus in the ever-darkening skies of Franklin, Kentucky. Exposure Time: 1/500 second (ISO 100 setting) Image by Dr. Michael A. Earl
	13:25 CDT At this time, we were less than two minutes away from the beginning of totality! The skies appeared to turn grey as the diminishing sunlight continued to fade. The Sun's crescent now appeared to shrink vertically, as if something was eating away the top and bottom points. Although a sliver of Sun remained, the exposure time was still the same. This indicated that the sunlight was still extremely bright and still could not be directly observed without filtering. Exposure Time: 1/500 second (ISO 100 setting) Image by Dr. Michael A. Earl
	13:26 CDT At this time, we were about one minute away from the beginning of totality! The greying skies appeared even darker than before. Venus and Jupiter were now prominent in the dark grey skies. The top and bottom of the Sun's crescent now appeared mottled because the Moon's rough surface was blocking different portions of the Sun's disk. The crescent's bottom portion appeared very striking. At about this time, I peeked at the Sun with the naked eye (without filtering). I could clearly see the brilliant crescent on the Sun's left-hand side and a white smudge on the Sun's right hand side. I immediately concluded that I was observing the corona BEFORE the Moon had totally covered the Sun! This surprised me, as I had originally thought that the Moon had to completely cover the Sun before the corona became visible! Exposure Time: 1/500 second (ISO 100 setting) Image by Dr. Michael A. Earl
	13:27 to 13:30 CDT Totality! The Sun's corona could be clearly seen in this image. The corona was larger than the round field of view of the 32mm focal length eyepiece; therefore the entire corona could not be seen in the image. However, the delicate strands of the corona were extremely interesting to view, especially at the bottom of the image. The bright red patch on the upper right of the Moon's black disk is a solar prominence peeking around the Moon's face. Another image would reveal several more prominences, as described in the next panel below. Since this was my first total solar eclipse, I did not want to waste the entire 2 minutes and 30 seconds trying to take images. I split the imaging and directly observing in two equal pieces. I would image for the first minute and 15 seconds and then observe the totality and the Sun re-emerging after another minute and 15 seconds. This was not my first image of totality. I did not know what the right exposure time was at first. I had thought that the corona was much dimmer than it actually was. Exposure Time: 1/60 second: unfiltered (ISO 100 setting) Image by Dr. Michael A. Earl
	13:27 to 13:30 CDT Totality! In this, the second image of totality, the bright corona is overexposed but several prominences (red spots) could clearly be seen around the right hand side of the eclipsed Sun. The colors of the eclipse really could not be captured or described by the camera. This image is the closest to what was actually observed: a dark grey disk surrounded by a white-grey corona. Even at a 1/8 second exposure time, the corona was still mainly overexposed! I was not expecting the corona to be so bright! Exposure Time: 1/8 second: unfiltered (ISO 100 setting) Image by Dr. Michael A. Earl
	13:27 to 13:30 CDT Totality! This is the same image as the one directly above but cropped and processed to bring out the red-colored solar prominences. I counted about 4 faint and 3 bright prominences on the right hand side of the disk. I was not expecting to see anything like this in the hastily captured images! Exposure Time: 1/8 second: unfiltered (ISO 100 setting) Image by Dr. Michael A. Earl
	13:27 to 13:30 CDT Totality! This was my first attempt at an image of the totally eclipsed Sun. What I saw in the resulting image was a bright blob of light, which was the over-exposed solar corona, and a slightly darker center, which was the Moon. Upon later inspection of the processed images, I saw patterns that looked familiar within the darker areas of the image. I later found that I could recognize features on the Moon, such as the Sea of Tranquility and craters Copernicus and Tycho. After heavily processing the image, I could clearly see the Moon's surface. During totality, the Moon's shadow does not cover the entire Earth. As a result, the Moon is still being lit by the sunlight reflected from the Earth's surface. This "Earthshine" was accidentally detected in the overexposed image. The bright white background is actually the overexposed and massively over-processed solar corona. The Moon appears lumpy because there were brighter areas that were more overexposed than others. The smaller round ring was likely the result of internal reflection due to the very bright and overexposed corona. Exposure Time: 2 seconds: unfiltered (ISO 100 setting) Image by Dr. Michael A. Earl
	13:27 to 13:30 CDT Totality! This is the same image as the one directly above, but with the prominent lunar features labelled. The large lunar seas, such as the Sea of Tranquillity and the Sea of Serenity, were the easiest to spot, with the largest craters being somewhat more difficult to recognize. Exposure Time: 2 seconds: unfiltered (ISO 100 setting) Image by Dr. Michael A. Earl
	13:30 CDT The Sun re-emerges! At this time, I felt somewhat cheated because I was expecting to bask in the totally eclipsed Sun for at least another several seconds! When the Sun re-emerged, the sky went from a dark grey hue without shadows to an instant bright light with sharp shadows. I had to place the solar filter back on the telescope to prevent my camera from receiving the Sun's brilliance in all of its (damaging) glory. Exposure Time: 1/500 second: (ISO 100 setting) Image by Dr. Michael A. Earl
	13:32 CDT The Sun's crescent grows. This part of the eclipse is more of an anti-climax because the best part (totality) was already over. At this time, some of the people at the venue were already beginning to leave. I was waiting to see a few of the sunspots re-emerge from behind the Moon's face. Exposure Time: 1/500 second: (ISO 100 setting) Image by Dr. Michael A. Earl
	13:35 CDT The Sun's crescent continues to grow. It would be another 1.25 hours until the end of the eclipse. Exposure Time: 1/500 second: (ISO 100 setting) Image by Dr. Michael A. Earl
	14:06 CDT Sunspots return! Over 50% of the Sun's disk returns from behind the Moon. Exposure Time: 1/500 second: (ISO 100 setting) Image by Dr. Michael A. Earl
	14:08 CDT More sunspots return! The eclipse would be over in about 45 minutes. Exposure Time: 1/500 second: (ISO 100 setting) Image by Dr. Michael A. Earl
	14:17 CDT My final image of the eclipse. The eclipse would be over in about 30 minutes. I had to pack up the scopes and we had to pack up the car for our long journey back to Kingston, Ontario. Exposure Time: 1/500 second: (ISO 100 setting) Image by Dr. Michael A. Earl

	The football field and scoreboard of the Franklin Simpson High School. Image by Dr. Michael A. Earl
	Photographers atop the James Mathews Stadium of the Franklin Simpson High School prepare to image the eclipse. Image by Dr. Michael A. Earl
	A portion of the James Mathews Stadium of the Franklin Simpson High School. The image was taken near the site of the telescope setup. Image by Dr. Michael A. Earl
	The Celestron 8i 8-inch aperture telescope (right) and the Bausch and Lomb 3-inch telescope (left) are set up to observe and image the eclipse. The 3-inch scope was also present to observe the May 10, 1994 annular solar eclipse in Kingston, Ontario Canada. These two telescopes would see a lot of use in the three hours of the eclipse. The white blob directly beneath the 8-inch scope is a small towel that was placed over the 12-volt battery to keep it cool during the very hot temperatures in excess of 100 degrees Fahrenheit. The temperature would fall by over 5 degrees Fahrenheit near totality. Image by Dr. Michael A. Earl
	A close-up of the photographers atop the James Mathews Stadium of the Franklin Simpson High School. Image by Dr. Michael A. Earl
	The Franklin Simpson High School tower. The symbol in the center is a wildcat. Their football team is called the "Wildcats". Image by Dr. Michael A. Earl
	The Celestron 8i 8-inch aperture telescope awaits its first total solar eclipse. Much like other events the scope has been at, it would be used by the bystanders attending the event. The white towel covering the 12-volt battery that is powering the scope can be seen at the bottom of the image. Image by Dr. Michael A. Earl
	Dr. Mike observes the Sun through the Celestron 8i telescope before inviting Scot Perdue (left, black shirt) and Seth Armour (right, blue shirt) to have their first look at the Sun through the telescope. Image by Ms. Jane E. Yaeger
	Scot Perdue, Director of Technology for the Schools of Simpson County, Kentucky, observes the Sun through the telescope as Dr. Mike towels the sweat off of his face. In this image, the 12-volt battery is clearly seen because the towel that once covered it is being used by Dr. Mike. Image by Ms. Jane E. Yaeger
	Mrs. Flynn (wife of the Superintendent) observes the Sun through the 3-inch telescope as Dr. Mike smiles for the camera. The 3-inch scope's eyepiece was fitted with a yellow filter in addition to the Baader Astro-Solar film at the front of the telescope. Image by Ms. Jane E. Yaeger
	A couple observes the Sun through the 8-inch scope as Scot Perdue and Seth Armour look on. By this time, the eclipse has begun. Image by Ms. Jane E. Yaeger
	Dr. James Flynn (left, red shirt), the Superintendent of the Simpson County School District, Dr. Stephen Pruitt (center, white shirt), the Kentucky Commissioner of Education and Dr. Mike Earl (right, white shirt), pose for a portrait. Matt Staggs, the coordinator of the entire event at the Franklin Simpson High School and the head of the Exploratorium, can be seen in the red shirt and broad hat in the background. Check out the American flag in the top right hand corner! Image by Ms. Jane E. Yaeger
	Dr. Stephen Pruitt observes the partially eclipsed Sun through the 8-inch telescope. The 3-inch telescope can be seen in the foreground with the Baader Astro-Solar film covering its corrector plate. Image by Ms. Jane E. Yaeger
	Dr. James Flynn (right in red shirt) shows the back of the t-shirt specifically designed for the Franklin, Kentucky total solar eclipse. The t-shirt back displays the latitude and longitude of Franklin, Kentucky, the duration of totality, the azimuth and altitude of the Sun during the eclipse, the width of the totality path and the speed of the Moon's shadow. After the event, we had asked for two t-shirts as souvenirs. The Franklin Simpson High School was very kind to find two t-shirts for us, since many of them had been sold before the event. The t-shirts were so well made that we had to have some for ourselves. Image by Ms. Jane E. Yaeger
	Matt Staggs adjusts a refracting telescope built by the students of Franklin Simpson High School. The Exploratorium held a telescope making class one week before the eclipse that introduced students to the basics of telescope optics and their use. These basic telescopes were constructed from PVC pipe and two lenses; the primary (at the front of the observing tube) and the secondary (the eyepiece). Before the eclipse, while waiting in the Exploratorium, I spotted one of these telescopes in a corner. I couldn't resist trying one out on a terrestrial object which happened to be the high stadium lights. When I focused the scope on the lights, I could easily see a bird sitting within the infrastructure. This was enough the convince me that these scopes could be used to spot the most exciting astronomical objects: from the Moon to Saturn. The funnel-shaped object in Matt's right hand is a device used to project the Sun so that it was not required to directly look through the telescope eyepiece, as that would be very dangerous, even during the final stages before totality. Of course, the scope could have been used to directly view the totality portion of the eclipse. Matt has been the driving force behind the eclipse viewing event that Jane and I had attended. Without Matt's enthusiasm, perseverance and patience, there would likely have been no eclipse observing event at Franklin Simpson High School on that day. We are both grateful that Matt took the large amount of time (at least one month) to coordinate such an event that went so smoothly and was able to handle our sudden appearance a few hours before the event. Image by Ms. Jane E. Yaeger
	Matt Staggs demonstrates the solar projection telescope to Dr. Mike when the Sun was a fat crescent - before totality. This showed that it does not require thousands of dollars worth of equipment to enjoy a solar eclipse. Image by Ms. Jane E. Yaeger
	The dark grey hue of the ground and of the sky was captured in this image taken during totality. Scot Perdue is in the foreground talking on his smart phone as he looks directly at the totally eclipsed Sun. It is dark enough that the person walking away to the left of Scot appears slightly blurred because the camera required a longer exposure time in the greatly reduced light. Note that the lights within the stadium box are fully on, indicating that the sensors think that night is coming. The students are sitting in the stadium seats enjoying the event. There were more students sitting on the football field. Image by Seth Armour: Franklin Simpson High School
	From left to right, this image features: the Celestron 8i telescope (extreme left), Scot Perdue (second left in black shirt), Jane Yaeger (second left in wide-brimmed hat), Dr Mike (second right in white shirt) and Seth Armour (right in blue shirt). Scot and Seth are wearing their eclipse viewers around their necks. Franklin Simpson High School were selling these eclipse viewers to raise funds for the Exploratorium. Although the Sun was at a thinner crescent phase at this time, the skies did not appear much dimmer, as this image shows. The clouds in the background scared me. Image by Ms. Jane E. Yaeger
	This is one of my favorite images taken during the eclipse. Matt Staggs, wearing the eclipse t-shirt, adjusts the small home-made refracting telescope just right such that a projected image of a thin crescent Sun can be clearly seen safely. For me, this one image sums up the entire event at Franklin Simpson High School on that day. The event not only focused on the total solar eclipse, it also focused on the excitement of science, the camaraderie between people of different states and different countries and the curiosity of people of all ages. In my view, Matt really planned this event well. He knew that naked eye viewing was all that was required to enjoy this event. Although I had brought my larger telescopes, the students would have enjoyed the event just as much without them because they all had the eclipse viewers and Matt's enthusiasm and motivation had made most of the students excited to want to view the event. Image by Ms. Jane E. Yaeger
	Dr. Mike stands beside his Celestron 8i 8-inch aperture telescope. The telescope has been at star parties all over Ontario, observed total lunar eclipses in Pennsylvania and now has observed a total solar eclipse in Franklin, Kentucky. The telescope has been very reliable and tough over its 10 years of use; so has Dr. Mike :-). Image by Ms. Jane E. Yaeger
	Dr. Mike's nametag that he wore throughout the event. This simple nametag was the first one that he wore that featured his new title of Dr. The Royal Military College of Canada is proudly displayed on the nametag. Image by Ms. Jane E. Yaeger

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*The Sun Shall be Turned into Darkness: The August 21, 2017 Total Solar Eclipse* Was Last Modified On August 31, 2017