Solar Eclipse 2024

by: Mike Read

View the Solar Eclipse 2024 Slideshow !

Early in the morning on April 6, 2024, Amy and I began our drive from Tucson to the middle of Texas to (hopefully) view the total solar eclipse happening in two days.
We arrived in Lampasas, TX later that evening after an uneventful drive and proceeded to set up our campsite on this nice ranch field that we had booked in advance.
The flower blooms on the side of the roads were beautiful and full of many colors.
The weather Saturday night was partly cloudy and the temperature was cool.

On Sunday we took a three mile walk around the neighborhood and I tested my telescope setup on the Sun.
At night, I set up my telescope and polar aligned it to ensure accurate tracking of the Sun during the eclipse.
I took this opportunity to scan the dark skies with binoculars and snap a few pictures of the night sky.
It was mostly clear all night, but then clouds started moving in towards morning twilight, when I finally decided to get some sleep.

Finally, Monday, April 8 had arrived - eclipse day!
I woke up around 9 am, only to find that the skies had almost completely clouded over.
We monitored the weather forecast and held hope that a break in the clouds would hit us and it would clear up.
Over the next few hours conditions improved immensely and we were treated to partly cloudy skies for the eclipse.
We all got to see the solar corona and a bright pink flare during totality.
Fast moving clouds spoiled the view at times, but moved out of the way quickly as well.
After the end of totality, clouds increased throughout the day and we started packing everything up after the eclipse in case storms moved in later.

We woke up Tuesday morning to some light rain so we packed up the tent and got out just as the storm intensified.
We made it back to Tucson safely later that night. I met so many wonderful people these last few days and I will always remember the great times we had during the solar eclipse of 2024.
Thank you to everyone for helping make it such a wonderful event!

Best,
- Mike (& Amy)

If you would like to stay in contact or share any pictures, you can e-mail me at: mikeread1978 at gmail dot com