AAA members travelled far and wide (well, narrow) to experience the 2024 total solar eclipse. Find a map of all locations below, followed by individual stories and images.
Our members first stood under the shadow of the moon on a cruise ship in the Pacific Ocean, witnessed it in Mexico, Texas, the midwest, New York, Ontario and Quebec, Canada, Vermont and in eastern Maine.
Press Coverage
Pacific Ocean, 21° 39.4″ N, 107° 26.6″ W – Gabriela Levit
My husband, Ken, and I saw the total solar eclipse aboard the Sky and Telescope eclipse cruise, off the coast of Mazatlán, Mexico. We had 4 minutes and 20 seconds of totality! The captain maneuvered around bands of thin clouds and found a clear spot. Amazing experience – can’t wait for the next one!
Mazatlan, Mexico – Chirag Upreti
I planned a family trip to Mazatlán, Mexico to view my fourth total eclipse, but first with my family. I was drawn to Mazatlán by the longest totality we’d ever witnessed and the optimal viewing conditions predicted. Despite some cloud risks, the event was successful, marked by great communal excitement and an indelible eclipse experience.
https://www.astronomy.com/picture-of-the-day/photo/a-tale-of-two-coronae/
Torreón, Mexico – Tony Hoffman
I knew from early on that I wanted to observe the 2024 total solar eclipse from Torreón, Mexico—a city of 700,000 so far off the tourist track that it wasn’t even in the index of any of the guidebooks I’d checked—based on its high probability of clear skies and long duration of totality. I’d hoped to see it with my El Paso friend Tom; we had discussed driving down from there but ended up flying. I accepted an invitation to see the eclipse with the AAA’s Bruce Kamiat and his partner Joan, who were also in Torreón. Weather projections for eclipse day had swung between iffy and grim, and the sky was mostly murky when Tom and I took an Uber to their hotel. But while clouds obscured the eclipse’s early partial phases, but mid-level cloudiness departed about 10 minutes before totality, leaving only high, thin clouds that somewhat impeded my photographic efforts but allowed for a good view of totality. The highlight was a pink loop prominence, easily visible to the unaided eye, which was so bright that it led some in our group of friends, guests, and hotel staff to prematurely think that totality was ending. This was the sixth total solar eclipse I have been to, and it ranks among the top three. I am really glad I got to see it from Mexico with friends, and Torreon proved a most hospitable location.
Eagle Pass, Texas – Preston Stahly
At Eagle Pass, TX, we were the first in the continental US to witness the 2024 Eclipse. However, thick cloud cover persisted throughout, allowing only an occasional peek through all phases. Nevertheless, when totality arrived, day became night, the temperature fell, and the crowd went crazy with emotion – an unforgettable experience.
Uvalde, Texas – Mike Akerbergs
Uvalde, Texas; 400 umbraphiles with Twilight tours-my first! Thick cloud cover, bummer! then the stillness as the world descended into darkness – Awesome! then, at 90 seconds of totality remaining, a break! Only five seconds of corona through high clouds, but I’ll take it! iPhone and point-and-shoot cameras.
Fredericksburg, Texas – Dave Gerard
Photo taken at Hye Meadow Winery 20 miles east of Fredericksburg, Texas. Thru breaks in the clouds we got a great view of the total solar eclipse including the prominences, the experience enhanced by the vineyard’s band playing Eclipse by Pink Floyd during totality.
Waco, Texas – George Preoteasa
I was in Waco, Texas. We had passing clouds that allowed for full corona visibility for maybe 50% of the time or more. Pictures taken with a 400mm focal length telescope and Sony a7iii full frame camera.
Plano, Texas – George Hripcsak
After having our accommodations cancelled three times in a row near Fredericksburg, TX, we settled on Plano, north of Dallas, with family and friends. A rainy morning broke open by totality, and we were treated with clear sky for the first half and some scattered clouds at the end. Our 15-inch Dobsonian telescope revealed highly detailed prominences, and a 10×42 binocular showed a beautiful corona. We did not focus on imaging, but took a few iPhone shots when clouds came by.
Guilford, Indiana – Giselle Pemberton
I drove out to Kentucky on Saturday expecting to only see 99% of the eclipse and found out my friends had plans to drive into Indiana to their friend’s farm where it was 100%!
I practiced all day Sunday and figured out how to program the custom functions on my camera as well as the timing on the intervalometer. This practice turned out to be a great thing because we arrived just as the moon started eating into the sun. All I had to do was point my Celestron 127 SLT and my Canon R7 + Sigma 150-600mm into the sun. I was able to capture images from the Celestron using Celestron’s NexYZ mount and my iPhone.
At the moment of totality I was able to shout “Look Up” to everyone and we all enjoyed the magnificence. I didn’t have to fiddle with equipment and miss any of it.
All thanks to Stan for showing us the way.
Simcoe, Canada – Bill Magnus
Simcoe Canada Eclipse Trek by Bill Magnus – My daughter was in the path of totality in St. Catherine’s Canada. St. Catherine’s is a small city about 25 minutes from Niagara Falls. I could not think of a better place to spend the eclipse than in her driveway with my grandkids. I promised my wife that I wouldn’t chase the eclipse. April 8th there was total cloud cover. Total panic. Took a vote and drove west, one and a half hours through Canada’s farm country to Simcoe Canada. Found an empty park with a playground for the grandkids and setup. Shortly thereafter, a group from Alberta Canada set up next to us.
An adventure this great is hard to tell in fifty words. All I can say, the eclipse was amazing.
North East, Pennsylvania – Steve Bellavia
I was in a small town called North East, PA with vineyards that grow along the shore of Lake Erie.
I polar aligned the night before. It was raining at 1:00 PM of eclipse day. I set up imaging and visual rigs. It cleared just in time for the eclipse.
Buffalo, New York – Jim Fakatselis
Batavia, NY – Parker Bossier
I went upstate to Batavia with friends and the toddler. No luck for the eclipse, but the night sky before and after were GREAT, so I captured Bode’s Galaxy with the same rig. Either way, the boy loved the new toys 😂
Adirondacks, Westport, New York – Rocco Cetera
A friend’s comment on my 2023 Annular Eclipse photo determined Westport, NY as my location for Totality. “You’re staying with us, right?” Locked in, cloud and traffic stress were eventually dispelled by atmospheric happenstance. Thanks again to the McKay-Hanys family for keeping the clouds away to catch the spectacle.
Saranac, New York – Tom Haeberle
My single frame photos of the Total Eclipse of the Sun (TSE) plus iPhone video.
We were near the centerline at Saranac, NY, north of the Adirondacks. No photos or words can describe the visual beauty and emotional affect this has when seeing this event in person. It was my son Tom and my dream to see an eclipse in our home state and we did it! This was the best TSE my family experienced.
It was like the Moon had sucked the light out of the air at second contact. The high cirrus clouds added drama and color to the event. The woman yelling in my video was almost hysterical when she saw the prominence as she was calling it out as “a red spot.” I can understand why the ancients went out of their mind seeing these things.
Burlington, Vermont – Gowrishankar Lakshminarayanan
Imaged from Leddy Beach on the shores of Lake Champlain overlooking the Adirondacks. Abundant high clouds still allowed for the totality view. The bright red prominence appeared as a flare that I’ll never forget. People jumped into the waters during the Totality, perhaps seeking cosmic blessings!
More Info & Behind The Scenes pics: Eclipse Meetup Presentation
End-to-End Eclipse Timelapse Video: YouTube Link (I’m extremely proud of this work after weeks of toil !)
Stowe, Vermont – Alfredo Viegas
My wife, Dora and I drove up to Stowe, Vermont on Sunday, April 7th. We had booked a hotel at the Stowe Village Inn literally almost a year ago. The I-91 corridor was jam packed of people and trying to find a not too crowded place to get lunch was a challenge. However, we finally got a nice lunch at the Putney General Store Deli and arrived in Stowe at around 4pm on Sunday. The hotel parking lot had a nice view of the Sun, as it was sunny when we arrived and I immediately parked the car in the perfect spot to be able to setup tomorrow and image without worrying about going anywhere. Lots of people were coming to Stowe, and many were planning on taking the Gondola to the mountain summit but we had no desire to join that crush.
My goal for this eclipse was to try and image the surrounding star field in order to replicate the 1919 Arthur Eddington experiment and measure the deflection of background starlight in accordance with Einstein’s theory of relativity. I had brought along my Skywatcher 70ED scope which is a 420mm focal length telescope and my ZWO 1600MM camera which is a mono camera. So pretty pictures was not really a goal. I also brought my PST for solar viewing. The former camera and scope rode on an old NexStar SE mount which did an adequate job of tracking, but the PST was on a tripod which was challenged to hold its weight, nevertheless it worked ok for casual H-alpha viewing leading up to the eclipe.
The day started off awesome with not a cloud in the sky. By 2pm when the initial eclipse started, wispy clouds started to encroach on the scene. By totality we had high cirrus clouds which while they did not obscure the spectacular prominences and sheer magnificence of the experience of totality, it did make my background star detection less optimal than I would have wanted.
Another challenge was the short time of totality. In 2017 we were in Jackson, Wyoming and enjoyed almost 3 and half minutes of totality. I don’t know why I chose Stowe over being closer to the center-line but it was a mistake as I only got just shy of 2 minutes of totality. With the clouds I had to try a bunch of different exposure settings in sharpcap. Because I was trying to capture the background stars, the cirrus clouds played havoc with my longer exposure settings blowing out the background and shorter exposures of course could not cut through and get me the stars. Additionally, longer exposures blew out the corona which I think was much more evident this time around than in 2017, in fact I think the wispy clouds exaggerated this.
In any event, I still managed to take a few seconds here and there and look at the sun. It was a marvelous site and the ruby red prominences are etched in my mind, wow. Apart from the eclipse, I suppose the other highlight for me was the CNN interview on Sunday. That was fun to do also.
My wife and I are definitely going to Spain for 2026 and we may also go to Gilbralter for 2027, although I would love to go to Luxor, but I doubt I can convince my wife to go there!
Stowe, Vermont – Rajat Pal
My wife Sudakshina and I were supposed to go to Texas to watch the eclipse, but weather pushed us more north from Massachusetts and we ended up near the base of Mt.Mansfield, the highest peak in Vermont to watch this spectacular event. This is my second total eclipse and my wife’s first one after a long time. It was a surreal experience and watching it together with my wife made it extra special!!
Stowe, Vermont – Sudakshina Chakrabarty
Chasing the total eclipse…
Me and my husband, Rajat, planned to capture this event for quite a long time. He is always my inspiration in the field of amateur astronomy and has been associated with this for a while, whereas this was my first total eclipse to photograph. For a beginner, this was not a very smooth journey as the weather was very tumultuous throughout North America this time. We planned our eclipse trip in the warm west but ended up in the snow and cold weather of Vermont. So, we decided to update our plan accordingly and choose a ski resort in Stowe to park out there from the very early morning on eclipse day and stay there until the end of the show
Even though the morning sky was spotless and it started looking very hopeful as soon as the eclipse started some light clouds also started to fly in. This forced us to update and change all the camera settings at the very last moment and keep changing it throughout the totality. Being a beginner, I became very confused and ended up shooting everything “as I saw” instead of following all the tutorials we watched together and made the preset modes accordingly. And of course, kept saying “I can’t find anything”. The moment it hit the totality it was surreal, the snowy landscape of the mountain, the bright pink glow around the Sun, everything around us felt like something I never experienced before! It was an out-of-the -world experience which we will never forget and which I would never be able to capture without the assistance from Rajat as well as tutorials and amazing lessons from Stan!
I had to bring down the exposure and adjust the highlights to bring out the Bailey’s beads and Diamond Ring in the pictures. I was able to capture the Bailey’s beads both Pre-C2 and post second contact. The Diamond ring was captured after the third contact.
About the pictures:
Bailey’s Beads Pre-C2 – ISO 100; f/6; 1/4000 sec
Bailey’s Beads and Solar Prominence – ISO 100; f/8; 1/180 sec
Diamond Ring- ISO 100; f/8; 1/45 sec
Richford, Vermont – Theresa Hong
YouTube link for Timelapse Video: https://youtube.com/shorts/u1k-eQfEdxE?si=4yEDXwsaXi-_J_nt
I ended up chasing the Total Eclipse all the way to the tiny town of Richford, Vermont right next to the border of Canada. It was the transcendent and spiritual adventure of a lifetime experiencing and capturing this holy cosmic event. Mother nature’s cosmic alignment blew my mind away with her beauty and majesty. I can’t wait for my next Eclipse in 2026!
Newport, Vermont – John Bills
My first totality – mind blowing experience with my wife and two oldest sons, all deeply impacted now avowed eclipse chasers!
Inspired by Marcy and Stan’s chase, we traveled from Watertown, NY leaving at 0421 for the same lake (US side), then back to our NYC apartment at 0421 Tuesday! Worth all the travel!
Sentinel Rock, Vermont – Dan Sullivan
The day before the eclipse, I found a last minute location at Sentinel Rock, Orleans VT which had a stunning overlook of Lake Willoughby and the Green Mountains. Weather conditions were beyond perfect for my first time experiencing totality, a memory that will last a lifetime.
Magog, Quebec, Canada – Stan Honda
My eclipse adventure was going to start in Texas but I ended up in Canada, via upstate New York. I met with Marcy Cohen and her friend Keith in Watertown, NY, near the Canadian border. While studying the Ventusky cloud app, Marcy insisted we head to Sherbrooke, Quebec, only 4.5 hours from Watertown. So we drove north after finding a b&b in the town of Magog, QC. We eventually saw the eclipse from Lake Memphremagog, a beautiful setting, well worth the extra drive.
Magog, Quebec, Canada – Marcy Cohen
Chased the eclipse 1,900 miles from Waco, TX to Watertown, NY to Quebec, Canada. Perfect final shooting spot and weather found at the beach on Lac Memphremagogin, Magog, Canada. A beautiful eclipse spent with our own internationally acclaimed eclipse photographer extraordinaire, Stan Honda, loads of fresh baguettes and the Magog eclipse-rave dancers.
Eustis, Maine – Cristina Pruzan
Hodgdon, Maine – John Delaney
Eclipse day in Maine was perfect weather! Also convenient—a mere 2-and-a-half hour road trip into the path of totality. The experience was fantastic. Took lots of great images, including my goal: a diamond ring shot. I also managed to publish an article about the event in our local paper.
