Photographing the Solar Eclipse


LaVonna snapped this photograph of me on the deck of the Dawn Princess on February 26, 1998. The picture was taken a few minutes before the solar eclipse reached totality. The solar filter is in place over the objective lens, and was removed for photography during the total phase. The short total phase of an eclipse is the only time it is save to view the sun through a telescope without a proper filter!

The telescope is an Orion Short Tube 80 refractor with a 400mm focal length (f/5). Coupled to this is a Sears 2X teleconverter and my Pentax ZX-5N 35mm camera. The filter protecting my vision is an Orion glass solar filter. All of this is sitting on top of a Bogen 3063 fluid head connected to a Gitzo G415 tripod.

The sunbathers behind me are wearing their solar viewing glasses, which were provided to all passengers by Princess Cruises.

[Getting ready for totality!]

The Orion Short Tube 80 is sold by Telescope and Binocular Center. Also, Celestron now sells a version of this telescope.


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