So yeah, I’m well outside of the range of the annular eclipse, still taking place as I type this I believe, and my friend in Kansas thought he was too. But at least he was watching carefully at sunset when he got the right conditions.
No filters needed when it’s this low on the horizon, since the atmosphere cuts the light levels down to manageable levels. Notice how the sun broke from underneath the cloud cover to make its brief appearance, by my estimate for less than 200 seconds.
Around here in North Carolina, the haze is usually too great to see anything within a few degrees of the horizon, and my only clear vantages that low generally have things like the interstate in the foreground. Typically, every meteorological event that’s come up in the past several months, including just plans to use the full moon two weeks ago as a light source for long exposures, has been trashed by bad weather. We’ve even had several electrical storms, all obscured by low clouds to prevent any lightning pics.
So yes, Jim, I hate you.
