Greetings everyone.
What a very special day we have all had!
I have owned a William Optics 158 mm F/7 apochromatic refractor since late 2009, and I have finally observed a Partial Solar Eclipse for the first time with it. Using solar projection, a 1.25” 28 mm eyepiece and an A2 pad, which was placed on a Berlebach chair, it was my 7th observed Partial Solar Eclipse. My wife Valerie and some neighbours witnessed some portion of it or the entire whole event. We also handed out eclipse glasses to passers-by and kept 2 for ourselves.
I’m sorry to say at no time could I see a single sunspot and I tried very hard to see any. The A2 pad I have used before and it was a good distance away from the 28 mm eyepiece which meant the Sun’s disc was very large. Anyway I was not concerned about the lack of sunspots – after all it was all about the Sun and the Moon.
Everything was ready quite a number of minutes before 10 am local time. At 10.01 1st contact occurred right on time. It was my first time to see 1st contact of any partial solar eclipse during my entire life! I was greatly rejoicing to see the Moon taking its first “bite” out of the Sun. For about 15 to 20 minutes medium and low cloud caused the eclipsed Sun to disappear. But a full view without the clouds was to be had as the solar disc reappeared after 10.30 am. The blackness of the Moon and the whiteness of the Sun was extremely impressive.
We had completely clear skies right through to the very end from then on. At 11.08 maximum eclipse was happening and the Moon was covering 28.58% of the Sun’s chromosphere. It was then my wife and I greatly rejoiced again. We had clear blue sky all the time.
As this was not a Total Solar Eclipse, there was no 3rd or 4th contact. Therefore 2nd contact occurred at the very end at 12.18 pm. Or should I say even later? That’s because we could still see some part of the Moon on the solar disc for about 2 further minutes. Either way we were thrilled to bits we witnessed a Partial Solar Eclipse!
As my wife and I are both Christians we are thanking our Heavenly Father for permitting us to observe this very beautiful terrestrial event through His Son our Lord Jesus Christ! It’s definitely the event of the year 2021 thus far. It seemed almost as exciting as a Total Solar Eclipse. I have observed 11 TSEs and Valerie has seen 9. Which means between us we have seen 20 Total Solar Eclipses. We have now observed a 2nd Partial Solar Eclipse since our first one on 4th January 2011 from Dublin, Ireland.
Comments and corrections are very welcome.
I wish you all clear skies,
Aubrey.
