Jack, Sue, and I, along with out neighbors, the Knops, viewed and photographed the “Great Eclipse” of August 21st, 2017, from a lot in Crab Orchard, Nebraska, a tiny rural town quite close to the center of the path of totality.

The partial eclipse started at 11:37:44 AM local time, with totality occurring at 1:20:49 PM local time and lasting for 2 minutes and 35.8 seconds.

The morning of the eclipse, rain clouds were in the area and in fact it did briefly rain just about the time the partial eclipse started. Although the day remained cloudy, we were luckily able to see and photograph both the partial and total eclipse through breaks in the cloud cover.

 

Although I was lucky enough to view the total eclipse of 1979 in Bow Bells, North Dakota, with an astronomy group from Lincoln, I was thrilled that my family was able to see this total eclipse, since totality is something that you have to experience yourself to really appreciate.

The bottom line was… we had an AWESOME time that I know we will all never forget.

And let me also give a shout out to our wonderful hosts in Crab Orchard, Gwendell Hensee and Kieth Bigsby who so kindly invited us to attend their eclipse party and provided a wonderful location for viewing and taking our shots.

Below, you’ll first find two time-lapse videos we shot using two different iPhone cameras.  Next you’ll see two galleries of photos, first the ones that Jack shot followed by the ones that I shot.

Great Eclipse of 2017 – Time lapse of the group

This time-lapse was shot with an iPhone 7 as we viewed and photographed the eclipse.

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Great Eclipse of 2017 – Time lapse of the sky

This time-lapse was shot with an iPhone 6 and shows the partial and total eclipse without using a solar filter.

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About These Photo Galleries…

When you click on a thumbnail image in the galleries below, depending upon the browser you are using, the image may appear in a large box on the left side of the screen.

  • Click the image in the large box to advance to the next image
  • Click the small “x” at the upper left corner of the image to close the box.

Great Eclipse of 2017 – Photos by Jack Lortz

All images were shot with a Sony A350 DSLR and a 75-300 lens set to 300mm at f8, ISO 200.  Shutter was bracketed from 1/25 to 1/40 when solar filter was on lens, and then at 1/1000 when it was removed before totality. At totality the shutter was set to 1/8.  The solar filter was homemade using filter sheets from Thousand Oaks Optical.

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Partial eclipse using solar filter

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Partial eclipse using solar filter, notice clouds crossing the sun

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Partial eclipse using solar filter

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Partial eclipse using solar filter, clouds causing haziness

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Partial eclipse using solar filter

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Partial eclipse using solar filter

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Partial eclipse with solar filter removed

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Partial eclipse with solar filter removed.

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Partial eclipse with solar filter removed. Last shot before totality, but clouds will cover the diamond ring phase.

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Totality.

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Totality

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Composite image of 2017 Great Eclipse

Great Eclipse of 2017 – Photos by John Lortz

All photos were taken with a Sony A6000 mirrorless DSLR  using a 500mm fixed lens and a 2x teleconverter (taking the focal length to 1000mm).  Aperture was set to f8 and ISO to 200.  Shutter was bracketed from 1/3 to 1/6 for partial eclipse, and then 1/1600 for partial eclipse and solar filter removed.  Totality was braketed from 1/13 to 1/2.  Solar filter was homemade using solar filter sheets from Thousand Oaks Optical.

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Partial eclipse with solar filter, notice 2 sunspots at lower left.

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Partial eclipse with solar filter. Can still see the 2 sunspots

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Partial eclipse with solar filter. Sunspots are still visible

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Partial eclipse with solar filter removed.

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Totality. Caught the diamond ring at it’s very end (clouds covered the start of totality)

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Start of totality showing prominence’s on left edge.

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Totality continues with prominence’s on left, slight beginnings of prominence’s on the right edge.

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Totality continues with longer exposure showing the corona. Prominence’s on the right edge now visible.

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Totality continues with corona shifting.

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Totality continues with corona shifting

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Totality continues with a shorter exposure to better show the two prominence’s on the right edge.

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Totality continues with another longer shot again showing corona.

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Totality continues with last shot before the clouds covered the end. Notice corona brightest on the left as sun gets ready to emerge.

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