TARDIS.DEV
The '24 solar eclipse
The exposition
After getting rained out of the '17 eclipse, the '24 eclipse through the
CONUS was simply a must. After finding a city to go to, the next
step was to find some appropriate gear to document this phenomenon on of
astronomical proportions. After a quick Google, I knew I needed at least a
200mm lens, but a 600mm would be the best. I was all ready to go, hopped on
the internet, and went to the lens store without an inkling of what was to
come:
The nadir and the rise
Surely this was the end? Surely no-one would be selling such an expensive
lens for tens of dollars? After having given up in despair, I went to a
local Hamfest[1] to wind-down. After
wandering the rows and looking at table after table of overvalued gear from
before 1970 CE, I went to fiddle with the CW keys. After that occupied my
meager CW skills (20WPM farnsworthed 8), I turned around and did a double
take: a table that was entirely inhabited by lenses, of all sizes. I quickly
approached the proprietor of the table and started talking to him about the
upcoming eclipse, and, to my immense shock, he sold me a 55mm-200mm F-mount
lens for $40. Sure, it was old, with a slow autofocus, but for the eclipse
one isn't going to be using the AF anyways.
The event
With my prize in hand, it was time to pack up and go. After having thus
collected my lens, I turned my eye to the next most important item: la
nourriture et les boissions. Sadly, one can't eclipse on an empty
stomach, and so collected such debases as camp meals, cartoned eggs, HEB
Sprite, and Oreos. After driving about 5 hours to the city of my choosing,
we set up camp, because it was looking to be a slow two days until the
event. After boiling in the tent one night and freezing the next, the day of
darkness had arrived. After making some pancakes for breakfast and imbibing
some "café français" (made by Nestle en É-Us), I cleaned up the
tent and setup my tripod. After a few minutes of partial, I took my first
exposure:
Neat and all, but not total- and with an hour and a half left, I wanted to
save my eyes (and the camera), and only took a few exposures with each major
checkpoint. However, like a shutter snapped shut, and exactly the appointed
time, the lights went out:
The aftermath
And that was that! After two minutes, the sun was returned to us, and with
it our worldly concerns. I then had to pack up the car and drive 6 hours
home and go to school the next day, with a Calculus test at 07h15.
Footnotes:
: something between a convention and a garage sale, usually with speakers, contests, a sale floor and a test session or two.