Timelapse of the solar eclipse from Vienna, Virginia U.S.A. on April 8, 2024 from 2:03 p.m. to 4:32 p.m. Maximum 89% eclipse was at 3:20 p.m. Occasional light clouds passed by but overall spectacular weather for experiencing the eclipse. According to our personal weather station, the outside temperatures dropped from 73 deg. F. to 67 deg. F. (~23 deg. C. to ~19 deg. C.) during the first half of the eclipse and then rose again. And the solar radiation decreased from a peak of 1,073 W/m^2 down to 62.6 W/m^2 at the maximum 89% eclipse! The light outside was dimmed so that it seemed as though you were wearing dark amber-tinted sunglasses.
I filmed this on an iPhone 15 Pro Max mounted on a tripod and with a solar photo filter clipped over the lenses. I used 5x optical zoom and exposure locked to reduce brightness. I also clipped several index cards across the back of the phone around the solar filter to shield the rest of the phone from the direct sunlight and avoid overheating. I took 15 individual timelapse clips that were each about 9 minutes long. This ensured that each timelapse clip retained 2 frames/second, resulting in a consistent 15x speed per clip relative to real time.
In iMovie for iOS I further increased the speed by 12x and centered and enlarged the clips on the screen to keep the images of the sun on about the same portions of the screen. There was no other image or video processing.
The solar photo filter I used was purchased on Amazon and can be found by searching for Visisolar CPLS2PK or for ASIN “BOCFBX3KNN”. This video is not sponsored by Amazon or Visisolar in any way.
I will post another video (hopefully soon) on how to make and use a pinhole projection viewer to measure the diameter of the sun. Stay tuned.