All I can say is Wow!

I travelled to Grandjean, Idaho to observe and image the 2017 solar eclipse. I thought I had found a unique location. There were hundreds of people there. No matter - the weather was great and so was the company. There was a little smoke in the valley from nearby fires, but not so much as to obscure the view noticeably. The day was otherwise cloudless and calm.

I imaged the eclipse using a modified Canon T2i and a Canon 200mm f/2.8 lens. I used a Thousand Oaks solar filter except during totality. Exposure times varied. Partial eclipse was captured at 1/250 sec (f/8, ISO 400). The totality shot in this series was a 1/4 sec exposure. The background image (trees, RVs) was captured during totality using my iPhone SE. Adjustments (levels) and composition of the series were made using Photoshop CS5

Interestingly, a significant rock slide occured nearby just seconds after totality. Possibly a little extra force from the alignment?!? For those who were there, feel free to drop me an email and share your images if you wish. More images to come!

The map on the right shows the location of the eclipse, so Mercury, Mars and Regulus should have been visible nearby. However, I didn't see stars in the sky or in my images. Perhaps the smoke compromised the sky just a bit. I heard that Venus was visible, but I didn't look for it. No matter. Still a major 'wow' experience. My only complaint - it was so short.

Enchanted Skies - Astrophotoimages copyright, Rich Richins)