AGAIN A GREAT AMERICAN ECLIPSE
Total Solar Eclipse of 8 April 2024
USA - Arkansas, Nimrod Lake, +34°57'50.7" N, 93°12'35.8" W, 80 m a.s.l.
Local circumstances: C1 17.32.30, C2 18.49.31, max 18.51.39, C3 18.53.47, C4 20.10.24 UT, dur 4m17s
by Lorenzo Comolli

Daytime and instrumentation images


360° panorama of the observing location on the shore of Nimrod Lake. South at center, near our setups. Toward North (left and right side) many other Italian friends are placed.


From the left Lorenzo Comolli, Alessandro Gambaro and Emmanuele Sordini near our setups, respectevely TEC140+ASI6200MM and Canon100-400@150mm+Canon6D, Pentax75+ASI294MC and EDPH61+ASI2600MM, Pentax75+Canon90D. On the right our visual observation telescope, a Pentax75 on a tracking mount.


Another view of the instrumentation detailed above.


Lorenzo Comolli with TEC140+ASI6200MM and Canon100-400@150mm+Canon6D+ZWO AM5 mount.
Power supply from a 12V car battery, continuously charged using a 230V charger, powered by a 12V-230V inverter, powered by the 12V car output.

Same setup as above, on the right the acquisition PC with the Sun screen for easy view of the display in full daylight.


Another view of all the instruments.


Alessandro Gambaro with Pentax75+ASI294MC and EDPH61+ASI2600MM on a EQ3.2 goto mount.


Group photo of the Italian friends gathered all in the same place. Thanks to Alberto Ghiotto for sharing!


Temperature and humidity data logger, at the base of the tree, while sensors are placed at about 1 m heigth on the side in shadow of the tree.
In the foreground all our setups.


View of the groups placed North of our setups.


Alessandro Castiglioni shows a classical view of the pinpoint eclipsed Sun.


The night sky at the Nimrod Lake was really good, SQM 21.56, expecially because of the heigth above sea level (80 m) and the light from the capital of Arkansas, Little Rock, visibile in the middle.
Please forgive me the quality of the image... a 10 s exposure via my Samsung A52s smartphone, handheld.


Alessandro, Lorenzo and Emmanuele a few minutes before Sunrise, with the telescopes covered for the night humidity.


Sunrise at Nimrod Lake with the telescopes covered for humidity of the night, well aligned to the North pole.


Visit to the Space Center Houston: Alessandro, Lorenzo, Emmanuele in front of the Boeing 747 and Shuttle.


Visit to the Space Center Houston: Lorenzo in front of Saturn 5.


Visit to the Space Center Houston: Lorenzo in front of Mission Control of the Apollo missions.
Visit to the Space Center Houston: meeting of many Italian friends.
Visit to the Space Center Houston: Marco Cardin and Lorenzo Comolli in front of the Shuttle control panel.
The huge quantity of luggage containing all the above instrumentation.


Lorenzo inspect the lens of TEC140 apochromatic refractor after disassembling from the tube.


TEC140 before and after reassembling two days before the eclipse.


The flask spectrum setup, extremely light and simple. A FL=100 mm f/4 doublet lens with a QHY5III174 camera and Star Analyzer 200 reticle.


Lorenzo, Alessandro and Emmanuele in our Ford Explored rented car, that was just barely enough to carry our luggage.


A few hours after the eclipse we drove South toward Texarcana and we found a very powerful thunderstorm. We were very lucky for the great view!!!


Our location on the shore of Nimrod Lake, together with the main eclipse data from the Xavier Jubier website.


Forecast from NOAA NAM model 54h before the eclipse. At that time we were in Houston with a travel plan to go west to San Antonio.
Looking at this map we decided to change the plans and move North in the middle of Arkansas, about 800 km drive.
We evaluated also other options like travelling by car toward Indiana, or travelling by plane toward New York and then Maine by car.

HTML Editing and Publishing by Lorenzo Comolli. Email me at comolli@libero.it.
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