BEEKMANTOWN — Will Recor, 12, had a plan, and he practiced beforehand and implemented it flawlessly to capture the Great North American Solar Eclipse of 2024.
Below the Beekmantown Middle School student shares his saga.
RC: When did you become interested in astronomy and space?
WR: It was the end of September 2023.
RC: Is there a specific person or event that triggered it?
WR: I saw the moon one day and used my sister’s telescope to look at it, but it wasn’t good enough, so I got my own.
RC: Have you ever been to a planetarium or observatory? If so, please share your experience?
WR: Yes. The Plattsburgh one a long time ago. I was about 5. I liked it. But I don’t remember much other than the stars on the ceiling.
RC: How excited are you about the Great Eclipse of 2024 and why?
WR: Very excited. Because I get to use my cool gadgets to look at the eclipse. It’s like a one in a gazillion chance of happening at my house. Glad we have a big yard.
RC: When did you decide to buy a telescope and how did you decide on what type to buy?
WR: January 12th, 2024. I used birthday and Christmas money that I had saved up since I was little. I looked for the biggest focal length for a telescope for the best price. I searched Google and then found one and then did some research. Went on Amazon to see what attachments came with it and then I found the 127 mm slt. It came in a box in a box in five other boxes. It has two eye pieces, but I bought others. The two original ones were the 20mm and the 9 mm, but they weren’t powerful enough to see what I wanted to see so I bought the 5x Barlow to increase the magnification of the eyepiece and that lets me see the Orion and Beehive Nebulas and Pollux and if I go out early enough and it’s clear, I can see the Andromeda galaxy.
To look at the sun, I originally bought a solar filter film, but it was terrible so then I went back online and found a slip-on solar filter that attaches to my telescope and can now see the sun perfectly — sun spots and everything.
My telescope slews to objects, so it tracks them even if I step away for a couple seconds. The only problem is that it gets cold easily and the motor stops. I tried everything including a hairdryer to keep it warm, but it still didn’t like the cold. Hopefully, my telescope will enjoy the good weather for the eclipse!
RC: What are your expectations for Monday, April 8? Where are you going to be viewing the solar event from?
WR: For it to be clear out and warm with no clouds. I expect to get a good time lapse photo and watch the world go dark. I will be in my backyard in Beekmantown — the best place.
RC: What images are you hoping to get?
WR: Clear ones- time lapse and one of absolute totality with the corona coming out and maybe see the stars that are bent by the sun’s gravity — and then the stars too in the daytime.
RC: If there is anything else you want to share and I didn’t ask, please feel free to do so.
WR: Since January, if the sky was clear, I would go outside on our deck at night and take a picture of the moon. I’ve gotten very used to the cold now. I’ve attached two of my pictures for you. One of the sun from March 27th and the one of the Moon from March 17th.
RC: Tell me about how your eclipse day:
WR: I waited with my telescope in my backyard for a while for the moon to take a little sliver out of the sun. Then I hooked up my phone to my telescope to do a time lapse video. Unfortunately, I had to readjust my telescope every minute or so to keep them in the frame.
I was so surprised that it got really buggy (so bad) when it got close to totality—the temperature dropped too by a lot-and my mom got on a blanket.
When it got to totality, it was beautiful. I even got to see Baily’s Beads and a Prominence with the naked eye. I was so excited about seeing totality that I didn’t take off my solar filter, so I didn’t get any pictures. But I will next time!