Eclipse 2024 – Once In A Lifetime

Fred Barrett | Apr 17, 2024

Eclipse! What to say! Humbling, I guess, at being a witness to a truly spectacular example of the immensity of the universe, our microscopic place in it and the certainty that we will never have any control over what goes on. We can only sit back and watch.

I travelled with 2 astronomy friends to Granby, Quebec. Just a short little 350 Km trip to make absolutely sure that we had a clear sky. We packed our telescopes and cameras and set off on the great adventure. We were able to find a large parking area in Granby for an industrial building nearby and, with the owner’s permission, set up our gear and were ready to go by the time the Moon started biting away at the Sun. An experienced amateur astronomer from Ottawa saw us and she happily joined up with us. A few friends from Montreal came by too and nicely rounded out our group.

As the last minutes neared, I watched and noticed vague shadows starting to darken. I was busy with my camera mounted on my telescope but not too busy to stop and look up and around. The shadows deepened and colours shifted and then it got dark so quickly and, I swear, it got downright chilly! Street lights and store front signs turned on to light up the sudden, unnatural night. It was spooky! It was all happening so fast! I fumbled to get the solar filter off my telescope so that I could get my totality pictures. My eclipse glasses ended up on the ground somewhere. I almost forgot to take pictures when the shear, colossal beauty of Totality revealed the Sun’s atmosphere. The Corona blossomed out from the black disk like a spreading flower. It moved and shifted slowly in space. A hush fell over us and we just stared at this beautiful example of one of Natures complex motions as it acted out above us. Every now and again I got back to taking pictures of the eclipse and trying to record a semblance of the feeling of the moment. I saw Venus and Jupiter riding escort on each side.

And suddenly, the diamond ring appeared, swiftly followed by Baily’s beads as the sun’s brilliance punched through the Moon’s mountains. And it was over! Many hands clapped over enthusiastically and many whoo hoo’s and yahoo’s rose up to the sky! I’s impossible to describe how excited we all were.

I have seen plenty of partial eclipses but was never able to be in the right place and the right time to view a Total Eclipse of the Sun. The long ride home did nothing to dampen our excitement and no regrets were voiced at all. If anything, we asked each other: “where’s the next one?”.