2017 Total Solar Eclipse

August 21, 2017 by Frank Holton in Photography.

Since Raleigh is so close to the path of the solar eclipse and this could turn out to be a once in a lifetime opportunity, I convinced a couple of my friends to drive down to South Carolina with me. All in all the trip was an amazing experience and I had tremendous fun. The total solar eclipse is truly an amazing sight that cannot be captured only in pictures.

Sunday (The day before)

Our adventure began Sunday afternoon, as we set out to Hartsville, South Carolina where we planned to stay the night. After checking out the hotel we drove over to the Carolina Sandhills National Wildlife Refuge to try and photograph some wildlife. The only thing we found was one hungry heron that was out fishing.

Bird

After that we grabbed some dinner and turned in for the night, hardly able to sleep because of our excitement for the next day.

Monday (The big day)

We woke up nice and early at 10 AM and headed out towards the path of the eclipse. We picked out a pretty empty looking spot based on the map and started driving, searching for a good place to pull over as we drove. Just as we got to the area we picked we found the perfect spot right in the middle of a couple of large fields. We pulled over on a side road and set up our cameras. When we first arrived we were the only ones aside from one other car. As the time of the eclipse drew closer and closer the side of the road became more and more filed with people ready to watch the big event.

Our spot

Our Spot

The eclipse begins

At 1:14 PM the eclipse began with a bite out of corner of the sun. Also if you look closely you can see a couple of sunspots in the photos. The sun slowly shrank away behind the moon for the next hour and a half.

First Signs Halfway there Quarter left Eighth left Almost gone

Total Eclipse!

This was the big moment. The moon had completely covered the sun and the only thing visible was the bright white corona. At this point we could take off our glasses and see the eclipse directly. It was about as dark as it gets right after the sun set. You could just make out the brightest stars.

Total Eclipse

Last moment before the sun peaks around

The total eclipse only lasted about 2 minutes before the sun started to peak around on the other side.

Saddened by the short duration of totality we put our eclipse glasses back on and continued to watch for a couple more minutes Sun other side

The long journey home

At this point we packed up and headed out with the hope of beating some of the traffic out of South Carolina. Unfortunately an ill timed stop for dinner cost us about two extra hours on the trip home.

Trip well done

All said and done this was an amazing experience that I'm glad I was able to go to. I'm also glad I was able to convince a couple friends to put up with 10+ hours stuck in a car to join me. Who knows maybe I'll even try to go to the next eclipse in 2024.