Two years prior to the 2017 eclipse, then President Chris Todd gave a presentation to generate interest in the eclipse and he provided many thoughtful planning considerations. I know that I, for one, benefited from this presentation. Just prior to the eclipse date, I asked eclipse observers to record notes and images related to their eclipse experience. I called these notes in to use as a basis for a review of HAL’s collective eclipse experience, which I presented at HAL’s September 2017 meeting.

At the June 2021 HAL meeting, I embarked on a three-part series of HAL presentations that will culminate in a review of HAL’s collective experience at the 2024 eclipse. The series title is The Great North American Solar Eclipse of 2024, and the three parts are:

Part 1 – An Amateur Astronomer’s Guide to Solar Eclipses, (June 17, 2021) A general guide to solar eclipses and solar eclipse observing. Part 1: June 2021 YouTube recording

Part 2 – HAL Lessons from the Great American Solar Eclipse of 2017 (July 21, 2022). This presentation is the best “pre-game show” that I can recommend to prepare for the 2024 eclipse. While each and every HAL member or guest experience in 2017 was amazing, our collective experience is something quite special and worth revisiting. I prepared this presentation by starting with the with the 2017 collective experience, and added notes to derive helpful lessons for the 2024 eclipse. This presentation provides a sense of the variety of sites to which HAL members and guests traveled, their travel and lodging experiences, various experiences with weather, traffic, observation notes, and photos of sites, equipment, and the eclipse. This is a good place for someone to get a sense of what to expect in April. Part 2: July 2022 YouTube recording

Part 3 – The Collective Experience of the Howard Astronomical League. This part of the 2024 series has not yet been written, but I will be soliciting your eclipse notes and images for compilation into HAL’s record of the 2024 eclipse. This compilation will be presented at the May 2024 HAL meeting.

I encourage all to review parts 1 and 2 as you complete eclipse observing and travel preparations, and to get a sense of the kinds of information that I will be asking you to collect for the 2024 collective experience presentation as the eclipse date draws nearer.