Annular eclipse of October 14, 2023

I had never seen an annular solar eclipse before, so I went with my family to Midland, Texas, to see the eclipse the October 14, 2023. Midland was very close to the center line of the eclipse path, which meant that if the clouds stayed away (and thankfully they did) we should be able to see an almost perfectly symmetrical “ring of fire” in the sky at the peak of the eclipse.

We went to The Blakemore Planetarium in Midland for their eclipse viewing event. The eclipse officially began at 10:18 local (Central) time; the above picture was taken two minutes before the beginning of the eclipse, when the sun was still whole.

By 10:30, a small “dent” was visible in the top of the sun as the moon began to cross it from above.

Other than eclipse glasses (and a colander), we did not bring any special equipment with us. All the pictures on this page with a brown or dark blue background were taken with an iPhone “wearing” the eclipse glasses while pointed at the sun.

When taking a picture without the eclipse glasses between the phone and the sun, the sun’s rays are overpowering, and the shape of the eclipse cannot be seen clearly. However, the phone also generates a ghost image, showing the actual shape but reflected upside down (and stretched a bit), which can be seen near the bottom of the picture.

Below is a zoomed-in version of the ghost image.

Roundabout this time we got out the colander to see the pattern the eclipsing sun would make on the ground. The spiral pattern almost looked like a horde of Pac-Mans. (Pac-Men?)

The pictures above were captured with a basic iPhone with a single rear camera. The next few, with differently colored “ghost” images, were taken with a phone with several lenses.

Pictures, of course, can never do an eclipse justice. The feeling of anticipation as the moon overtakes the sun, the sight of the sun turning from a ball to a crescent to a ring and back again, and the eeriness of the shadows all combine to make a magical moment worth experiencing, even if it can’t be truly captured.

Once the sun had set that evening, we had dinner at a restaurant called Miguel’s. The art on the wall seemed apt.