ABAS activities · 2024

April 8, 2024

Total Solar Eclipse in Ozark Acres, Arkansas

Setting up in Ozark Acres

On April 8, 2024, a total solar eclipse crossed North America, passing through Mexico, the United States, and Canada. The American Boötes Astronomical Society’s eclipse observing team traveled to Ozark Acres, Arkansas, where they set up telescopes and cameras to observe and photograph the eclipse.

The observing site was an open grassy area beside a parking lot. The team used two setups, one for still photography and the other for video. Pointed at the Sun side by side, they captured both fleeting details and the eclipse’s progression.

Renjiang Xie beside two telescope-and-camera setups pointed at the Sun in Ozark Acres, Arkansas — The eclipse observing team prepares in Ozark Acres on April 8, 2024. Renjiang Xie stands beside the two setups, already pointed at the Sun.

A camera attached to the rear of a telescope on a white mount, pointed at the Sun — One of the two imaging setups at the Ozark Acres site.

A second telescope-and-camera setup on a tripod, with a shutter-release cable hanging down — The second setup. One recorded still photographs, the other video.

Around totality

During the brief transitions just before and after totality, bright light along the Sun’s edge and red prominences stood out in the images. The team’s photographs show the Moon’s dark silhouette covering almost the entire solar disk, with bright points and arcs of light along the edge and prominences extending beyond it.