The April 2024 Total Solar Eclipse: Prepare to be Gobsmacked!

Bob Hamers and Jeff Shokler will help you prepare for your total eclipse experience by sharing the insights, tips, and lessons learned from their own eclipse experiences. During the talk, they’ll help you consider your eclipse viewing and/or imaging goals, discuss the many ways one can enjoy experiencing a total solar eclipse (including the numerous phenomena to keep an eye out for), and share important safety considerations.

If photographing the eclipse is one of your goals, they’ll also talk about the kinds of imaging gear that is most appropriate for photographing total eclipses, and how to plan and prepare for taking pictures – particularly under the demanding, tight timelines total eclipses present imagers...

Why Solar Eclipses Matter and Why Totality Matters More Than Anything

There are two important solar eclipse events coming up: the October 14 2023 Annular Solar Eclipse, and the April 8 2024 Total Solar Eclipse. This talk will be a general introduction to solar eclipses with a quick look back at the August 2017 event (seen by many MAS members) but a thorough look ahead to the two upcoming events. Why should you care and how should you prepare? Everything you need to know about planning for and then observing these two events will be covered.

John Rummel is a long-time member and past president of the Madison Astronomical Society. He made his reservations for a place to stay in Texas nearly 3 years ahead of the April 2024 total eclipse!

This meeting will take place in-person at ...

Theory and Observation in the Pseudo-Annular Eclipse reported near Vienna on 17 June 1433

This talk analyzes a solar eclipse that is described as annular, but that other reports and modern calculations show to have been very total. I explore the reasons for this odd state of affairs, since most eclipse observers are impressed by the darkness, not what’s happening immediately around the Sun. I argue that the report comes from a theoretically sophisticated observer with access to a 14th c. annular eclipse report that shaped his observation, which was then used to refute the concentric-sphere astronomy of al-Bitruji, an influential 12-13th century Arab astronomer.

Michael H...