Watched the #eclipse from a friend’s place in the hills of northwest #Austin. Lots of clouds but had just enough gaps here & there to see the eclipse progressing, including views of the corona at totality. The darkness at totality was an incredible experience. This is a composite selected from the before/during/after shots I was able to get.
So. That was impressive. Here’s a quick sample from the backyard. Of note: temperature drop from 79.3 to 74.8, #solar production from the panels dropped to 0 and the house draw from the grid was the usual constant 420 watts, once the sun started coming back out the panels ramped back up, the temperature continued to drop for a few minutes to 74.5 but finally started edging up, and the dog could give a shit and just wandered around sniffing like usual.
Wow. The pictures don’t do it justice. Jupiter was visible to the left and Venus to the right (not in picture).
Ran an insect blacklight during the totality, with a control run the evening before. Got a ton of insects during both, but very different species. Fascinating. More later.
The sky looked like this most of the time here, but I did get to see the eclipse at peak, almost 90%. Weirdly, nobody else around me had eclipse glasses or was paying the slightest attention to the sky. #eclipse#eclipse2024