Annular Solar Eclipse

2012, May 20

May 2012. New Harmony, North St. George, Utah

An annular eclipse occurs when the Sun and Moon are exactly in line with the Earth, but the apparent size of the Moon is smaller than that of the Sun. Hence the Sun appears as a very bright ring, or annulus, surrounding the dark disk of the Moon.
I drove 400 miles from my home in Southern California to just North of St George, Utah. Six hours each way and a total of 800 miles in one day. I setup on a side-road next the Veterans Memorial Highway (I15) along with several other people, and observed the Annular eclipse just four miles South of the center line. First-Contact through Third-Contact were all observed, however the Sun set shortly before Fourth-Contact.

Imaging Telescope: Astro Physics 130GTX f6
Camera: Canon T3i

Mount: Astro Physics Mach-1
Thousand Oaks T2 Solar Filter

Data Imaged on May 20, 2012.
Data acquisition & Processing by David Churchill.

Annular Solar Eclipse of May 20, 2012

Location: Longitude: 113d 13′ 44.6″ W. Latitude: 37d 27′ 18.72″ N
First-Contact: 00:23 UT.
Second-Contact: 01:32 UT.
Maximum Eclipse: 01:34 UT.
Third-Contact: 01:36 UT.
Fourth-Contact: 02:37 UT.
Sunset: 02:17 UT.

Saros Series: 128, Member: 58 of 73
Annular Totality Duration: 4m 23s

ASE-20120520-9136
00:23 UT.
ASE-20120520-9223
00:38 UT.
ASE-20120520-9310
00:52 UT.
ASE-20120520-9397
01:07 UT.
ASE-20120520-9484
01:21 UT.
ASE-20120520-9136
00:23 UT.
ASE-20120520-9223
00:38 UT.
ASE-20120520-9310
00:52 UT.
ASE-20120520-9397
01:07 UT.
ASE-20120520-9548
01:32 UT.
ASE-20120520-9562
01:34 UT.
ASE-20120520-9575
01:36 UT.
ASE-20120520-9484
01:21 UT.
ASE-20120520-9548
01:32 UT.
ASE-20120520-9562
01:34 UT.
ASE-20120520-9575
01:36 UT.
ASE-20120520-9658
01:50 UT.
ASE-20120520-9745
02:05 UT.
ASE-20120520-9811
02:16 UT.
ASE-20120520-9818
02:17 UT.
IMG_9954
Portable Setup
IMG_9962
Imaging Setup
IMG_9952
Imaging Site
ASE-Full
Location: State View
ASE-Area
Location: 4 miles from Center-Line
ASE-Site
Location: Imaging Site
IMG_9971
Camera Reflections - Post 1st-Contact
IMG_9973
Camera Reflections - Mid-Eclipse
IMG_9976
Camera Reflections - 3rd-Contact