On 14October, 2023 much of the western US was treated to an annual solar eclipse. Annual eclipses occur when the angular size of the Moon is smaller than that of the Sun. This happens because the Moon's orbit is not circular and at times each month the Moon is further from the Earth, and thus seemingly smaller. The Sun's size and distance also varies, but to a much smaller degree than the Moon's. So during an annular eclipse, the Moon is never able to completely cover the Sun (as in a total eclipse). If positioned properly, a ring of fire can be seen surrounding the Moon.

The centerline for the eclipse (thru New Mexico) is shown to the right. Roswell was in a good position, so a few of us met up in Roswell and did the ecipse together at Linda Vista Park (shown above). I was actually coming from several nights of camping at the Cosmic Campground where I had just imaged the Fishhead Nebula. A couple dozen other people were scattered around the park viewing the eclipse.

We set up several telescopes for viewing and imaging. I had it in mind to do a movie of the event, but never got serious about acquiring all of the needed images. Instead, I relaxed and took in the show. I did get some 'ring of fire' images. I also grabbed a pic of my van covered by hundreds of little eclipsed suns being filtered thru a nearby tree.

The field of view used to acquire the ring-of-fire shot is shown below. Clicking the van orthe mid-annulaity image (above) will bring up a larger version of that image.

Imaging Details
Imaging Date	14October 2024 ~17:42 UT
Imaging Location	Linda Vista Park, Roswell, NM (+33.43°, -104.52°)
Constellation	Virgo
Imaging Optics	Canon 300mm F/4 lens
Imaging Cameras	Canon T2i (mid-annularity); iPhone 12 (park and van pics)
Imaging Filter(s)	Thousand Oaks Solar Filter
Exposures	various
Guiding	n/a
Image Processing	Photoshop CS5 was used to tweak the color and contrast of the images. Topaz DeNoise AI was used to reduce noise and sharpen the images.