Time to prepare for the coast-to-coast US eclipse on August 21, 2017!

The posted photo is my first solar shot using my 8" Newt in conjunction with a DIY solar cell I made for it with ND3.8 AstroZap solar film.  I was fortunate to set up the testing on a day during which the sun graced us with a sunspot, this one coined 2670.  I've added Jupiter and Earth for size comparison.  With the sun coming in at 109 times the diameter of Earth, it should come as no surprise that this "small" sunspot is larger than our home planet!

My solar cell I've fabricated allows me to safely image the sun using my existing equipment with fast exposures.  Because it is neutral density filtering, the images are captured as "white light" photographs.  For this reason, I've false-colored the disc at #ffc554 with an 80% blend in Photoshop to give a more familiar appearance.

As preparation for the eclipse, this scope (as filtered for direct solar photography as demonstrated here) will be used for high-resolution captures of the partial phases leading up to (and perhaps following) totality with full exposure of the disc.  During totality, however, I will switch to my 200mm lens (400mm equivalent focal length after crop factor) to attempt to catch the reaches of the solar corona, which can reach upwards of 5 solar radii!

The excitement is building toward this marvelous event in a few weeks, my first such astronomical experience!