My first total solar eclipse
Here is an actual blog post, for real. As a kid I was interested in astronomy. And I was waiting for the total solar eclipse in 1999 like Christmas. However my parents decided that they won't bring me into the track of totality because I was the only person in the family who were interested in the event. Since then there were no total eclipses in the Europe at an accessible location. 27 years have passed since and in 2026 I had the opportunity to finally watch a total solar eclipse on 12th August. Because the shadow will intersect Europe the first time in the 21th century. In 2024 I have made the decision that it is my time to watch the eclipse. Since it would be in Spain, I started to learn Spanish. I had two years to master that language just in case I need to talk to somebody.
As we approached to the eclipse I started to make plans where to go. I've found the Palma de Mallorca's airport is right within the the track of the totality. So the plan is simple: fly there, watch the event, then go home.
6 months before the event. I've booked my flights. There were no direct flights to Mallorca that morning, so I needed to fly from Budapest to Frankfurt first, then fly to Mallorca from there. Then after the event, there is a direct flight back to Budapest.
Months before the event I started preparing. I've got a passport made. I've bought a tripod and and a camera. The tripod has arrived in time, but the camera was late. So I ordered a binocular L-bracket to mount the binoculars to the tripod, I've also ordered an adapter which I can use to mount a smartphone to the ocular of the binoculars. And of course I've ordered the ND 5.0 solar filter foil, from which I made a solar filter which I can put onto the binoculars. So if I don't get the camera in time, I still have the opportunity to at least have something.
The adapters have arrived a few days later so I started experimenting with the setup (just as usual on this site click on the image to enhance it, then you can click again to open the image itself):
Then as the day was approaching I've made the solar filter from cardboard as instructed by the instructions that came with the solar filter film.
However just 3 days before the trip the camera has arrived. So I had just 3 days to test it out and learn to use it before the trip. It was nice that the solar filter I've made for the binoculars fit onto it just nice:
Satisfied with the result. I've decided to bring only the camera with me and leave the binoculars and all the adapters at home.
Before the days leading to the event, I tried to go to bed at 20:00 and wake up at 4:00, so I will be rested when the day comes.
Then the day have come. The alarm clock rang at 4:00. started to prepare, I checked everything to ensure I have everything for the trip. At 5:15 I was on the bus and started going to the airport. First I needed to go in Budapest, then through Budapest, then to the airport. I arrived at the airport at 6:50. I went through the security without issues. Gate was announced at 7:20, and passengers started boarding at 7:50. The aircraft was an A319 if I remembered correctly, and it wasn't even full. The plane rolled out and took off without stopping at the start of the airstrip, I were airborne at 8:15. In this first flight I've put my backpack into the overhead bin, so I could not use my camera. I've made only a few smartphone images. I landed in Frankfurt at around 9:45. We were put in a shuttle bus to go to the terminal, it lasted an eternity to get to the terminal. But I've reached my connection just fine. The flight to Palma de Mallorca was late and departed at around 11:45. The aircraft was an A320 neo, with geared turbofan engines that have a different sound than the usual turbofan. They make those characteristic "whooping" sounds when revving up. This time I've put my backpack under the seat of the person in front of me and I've used the camera a lot. I've made most of the pictures on this flight. The plane landed just at around 13:10. The weather was hot there, so I stayed at the airport until 18:30. I had videos loaded on my phone to kill the time. The tap water at the Mallorca airport had a weird aftertaste but internet search showed that it's safe to drink.
At 18:30 I decided to walk out to the beach. The weather was still hot, but there were some wind to refresh me. I've reached the beach at around 19:00 and I was thirsty, I used my mobile data (roaming is free in EU fortunately) to find drinking fountains on the beach. I've found one bottle refill station which seemed to have water that does not have an aftertaste.
At around 19:20 I've found my viewing spot and set up the tripod and the camera, where I have seen other people who are also photographing the event. At around 19:40 the partial phase of the eclipse started. The time has passed slowly, I was just enjoying my time. This is the first time I was on an actual beach near the sea. As the Moon got in front of the Sun, the sky got gradually darker and darker. I occasionally started a video on my phone to record the status of the event. 5 minutes before the totality I started the video on the main camera. And started to talk about how I feel as we were approaching totality. The light levels started to drop very quickly as the totality approached. When the last sliver of the Sun was gone I've removed the filter from the camera. The image was quite under exposed, so I reduced the shutter speed in order to get a better image of it. It still wasn't perfect, but at least it was visible. Here is a still frame from that video:
After the eclipse I stayed there until sunset to process the experience. Then I packed up all the gear and returned to the airport. I had to pour the good water out, because I couldn't bring water on the plane. After the security there was a drinking fountain which also had the water with the weird taste. So this wasn't a problem with the tap water in the toilet but this is what water is on Mallorca.
The plane back to Budapest departed a bit late around 23:20, and arrived at Budapest at 2:00. I managed to reach the 200E bus at 2:26, then I used the night buses to finally get home. At 4:00 I finally got home.
I prepared to sleep, when I've got an explosive diarrhea, I guess it was from the water. So I was on the toilet for 20 minutes. But after that I went to bed and fall asleep almost immediately. But then I could sleep only 4 hours when I wake up I had to go again. After that I could not sleep anymore and started to work on all the pictures. I tried to set the levels and label the places I've seen on the images so I can find them on the map later.
Overall everything went fine. I just need to learn about the light levels of an eclipse in advance to set up the exposure correctly. The inner corona is 106 times fainter than the Sun's photosphere. The outer corona is about 109 times fainter. The ND 5.0 solar filter I used reduces brightness 100000 times. So during the partial phase configure the exposure so you see the Sun well through the filter. And during the totality after you removed the solar filter, be ready to crank up the exposure at least 10-fold to get an image of the inner corona. Then 1000-fold to get an image of the outer corona as well. In my case of the sunset eclipse, I must have also taken into consideration that the brightness of the Sun goes down as it approaches the horizon, this also needs to be taken into account. I also recorded a video because I wanted to capture what I'm seeing, but it was quite a bit underexposed.
After some post processing you can see the the mountains hiding at the bottom of the frame.
Since this was a Schengen-trip no one asked for my passport.
So on 2nd August 2027, there will be another eclipse. And again it will be in Spain at the southernmost part. Since this is the only place in the EU where the eclipse is visible, I expect a huge crowd to go there. This means I cannot stop learning Spanish just yet. I haven't made the decision to go there yet though.