The weather forecast for the 2024 partial solar eclipse was iffy at best. We started with slightly cloudy skies to start with, but the clouds thinned into very wispy high-altitude clouds for the majority of the event. The impact of those clouds was minimal at best and only occasionally were visible as they moved across the face of the eclipsed Sun. They did start to fill back in but only after the period of maximum eclipse (which was predicted to be about 75%).
We handed out 324 eclipse glasses to our guest observers. These included the college’s women’s softball team, several of the nursing school’s students, as well as quite a few of the colligate high school students. Several of the groups had their own eclipse glasses so we estimate around a total of 350 guests.
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In addition to the eclipse glasses we had a hydrogen-alpha telescope as well as several white light filtered telescopes. Numerous guests attempted to take smart phone pictures through the scopes, and a few got some pretty remarkable shots.
The club was well represented.
- Frank Atchison
- Robert Forrester
- Donna & Tom Haugh
- Curt Kroha
- Prof. Chris Mizell
- Scott Morgan
We would like to thank the staff and administration of Northwest Florida State College for sponsoring the eclipse watch and we look forward to working with them again for the September 14th International Observe the Moon Night event.