Observing report: annular eclipse on October 14, 2023

An index card cutout showing our route from SoCal to the centerline of the eclipse path.

I’d been so focused on next year’s total solar eclipse that spring was halfway over before I realized that there was going to an annular eclipse this fall. Not only that, but the path of annularity would slash right through central Utah, where I usually go to hunt for dinosaurs. But by the time I wised up, all of the hotels in Utah were either booked up or charging ruinous prices. I looked farther east, and found affordable lodging in Gallup, New Mexico. So that became the base camp for my family’s eclipse expedition.

Solar halo and sun dogs, from Kingman, Arizona, on Friday, Oct. 13, 2023.

We drove to Gallup on Friday, October 13. It was a long drive, but a beautiful one. We stopped for gas in Kingman, Arizona, and some high, thin cirrus clouds produced the best solar halo and sun dogs that I’ve ever seen. The forecast for October 14 in northwestern New Mexico was originally partly cloudy, but by the evening before the forecast has cleared out.

The observing field at Little Water, New Mexico. The SUV in the center with the open hatch is mine.

The day dawned clear and cold – at least, cold by Southern California standards. We headed north on US 491, to a point about halfway between Newcomb and Shiprock. I’d originally planned to meet up with fellow PVAA member Frank Nelson, who had a spot picked out bang on the centerline. Just a few miles short of that spot we came across Little Water, New Mexico, which seemed to consist entirely of one gas station and a house some way in the distance. The gas station had a convenience store and restrooms, it was only about six miles from the centerline of the eclipse, and a gaggle of other eclipse chasers was already setting up there to observe. We decided to stay there in Little Water and take advantage of having snacks, drinks, and a restroom close to hand.

My usual solar observing rig: SkyScanner 100, homemade Sun Funnel, and dollar-store mustard bottle sun-finder. When the dot of sun shining through the cap of the mustard bottle is centered on the bottom of the bottle, the scope is pointed at the sun!

For observing the eclipse we had eclipses glasses and a small telescope with a Sun Funnel. I’d built my first Sun Funnel back in 2012 for the annular eclipse that cut across the desert southwest that May. After 10 years, a total eclipse, and transits of Venus and Mercury, that original Sun Funnel was old, dusty, and falling apart. I discarded it when I moved households this spring. Fortunately they’re easy and inexpensive to build, and I got the new one together and tested in the back yard a couple of days before go time.

The Adams-Wedel party at annularity: Aidan, Jenny, London, and me.

We shared the observing field with about twenty other amateur astronomers, who had come from Southern California, Arizona, New Mexico, and Colorado – the most distant being from Crestline, California, and Denver. Other observers at the site had filtered binoculars, hydrogen-alpha refractors, and a computerized 10-inch Newtonian with an eyepiece camera sending live images to a laptop. We all shared views through our setups.

Baily’s Beads at third contact. I got better views of them this time than I ever have before.

My little reflector and Sun Funnel were pretty popular, especially for observing Baily’s Beads – detached points of light formed by sunlight streaming through valleys on the limb of the moon – at the start and end of annularity. The skies were clear and the cool air made for pleasant viewing, since we were all sitting or standing in the sun for the better part of two hours. We did notice that it got distinctly cooler for a few minutes on either side of annularity, which is an effect I’d only experienced before with a total eclipse. We also took time to enjoy our weird shadows during annularity:

All too soon the show was over and it was time to get back on the road. We drove northeast to Monument Valley, and spent Saturday evening in Flagstaff, before coming home on Sunday. All in all it was a great trip, and it’s already got me looking forward to future eclipses.

Our head editor at Sky & Telescope asked all of us who write for the magazine to submit observing reports from the eclipse. Mine got included, with one of the photos I sent in — it’s about 3/4 of the way down the page here.