Free Astronomy Magazine May-June 2024

5 MAY-JUNE 2024 ASTRO PUBLISHING day before to head towards the northeastern United States in the hope of more reassuring skies. The band of totality in which the total eclipse could be seen was about 200 kilometers wide, with the duration of totality decreasing from the center of the band to its edges. Outside, observers were able to observe only a partial eclipse, more-or-less impressive depending on the distance from this band. The Sun's shadow moved at a speed of about 2500 km/h. Personally, I made the trip to Mazatlán, Mexico, the first city hit by the Moon's shadow coming from the Pacific to the northeast. The cloudy sky the day before had wor- ried everyone, but the next day, at seven in the morning, the sky was enough clear, with some light cirrus clouds. The city of Mazatlán had or- ganized an observation site in the T he beach of Mazatlán, on the edge of the Pacific, was the first piece of land touched by the shadow of the Moon, before continuing towards the north- east of Mexico, then Texas, and up to Montreal and beyond. [F. Blateyron] E quipment brought for the eclipse: TS APO 60/360 telescope with Baader solar filter, StarAdventurer Gti mount powered by a Roypov power bank, Manfrotto video tripod, Canon 90D camera with wireless remote control, and GoPro 11 in par- allel. [F. Blateyron] center of the city, in collaboration with NASA, and with the presence of Fred Espenak, the famous “Mr. Eclipse.” The place was expected to be crowded with people and not conducive to the installation of as- tronomical equipment. Our small group of eclipse hunters set up on the beach just before 9 a.m., near our hotel, north of downtown. Some of us had brought spotting scopes, equatorial mounts, tele- photo lenses and even an H ! solar telescope. Setting up a day station is always complicated. After having set the latitude of the place at ap- proximately 23° north, it is necessary to orient the axis towards the true north, using a compass, and correct- ing the magnetic declination be- tween magnetic north and true north, here of 6°40'. You then point at the Sun and focus precisely; fortu- nately, two small groups of sunspots