Partial Solar Eclipse from Hawai’i

We were all ready to view to eclipse from Keck HQ in Waimea. The gear was ready to go, our astronomers setup to answer questions, the public invited…

It rained.

Not to be deterred I grabbed my little telescope and headed for the Sun. The satellite showed a reasonable possibility of clear skies in Kawaihae. As I rolled into the parking lot at Pu’u Kohala Heiau National Historic Site I found the hole in the clouds needed for eclipse photography.

I was not the first there, I met another gentleman setup with a 70mm Meade ETX, we chatted as I set up beside him. I found out later that a couple of the gals from CFHT were setup at Spencer Beach just below the heiau. For clear skies this was about the only reliable place on the island other than the summit.

I quickly setup my little TV-76mm and got the images I was looking for at maximum. We only got to 47% here on the big island, but still worth the effort to see.

Author: Andrew

An electrical engineer, amateur astronomer, and diver, living and working on the island of Hawaiʻi. View all posts by Andrew