HARLINGEN — Andy Miller trekked to his sister’s home in Western Kentucky to view the solar eclipse on a hill in her backyard.
“It was just incredible,” Miller said. “But it ended much too soon.”
He said Venus, Jupiter and the rings of Saturn were also viewable from where he was yesterday.
Miller, 61, a Brownsville St. a Joseph Academy astronomy teacher and chief instructor for UTRGV’s STARGATE Academy, a center that allows high school students to experience modern astrophysical research and learn basic astronomy had been planning with his sister for more than five years to see the eclipse from her home.
“I told her an eclipse was going to pass right through her home and I wanted to watch it from here with her,” Miller said.
He said his sister, Sandy Miller Sasso, was so emotional throughout the event because she said it was a beautiful and incredible experience.
They were in the company of more than 25 family and friends from the community.
“Once the Moon covered the Sun completely you could see the Corona – the atmosphere of the Sun,” Miller said. “Everyone was stone silent and mouths were just open.”
Miller said the sky was like a late twilight as the day turned dark for about one minute during totality.
“I had never seen anything like it,” Miller said. “We could see basically what was seen from South Texas.
“The first thing we noticed was it wasn’t hot,” Miller said. “And then it got darker and darker.”
Miller said he set up his tripod and prepared his camera settings early.
Armed with his 200 millimeter camera lens, Miller was able to capture photos of the eclipse he was waiting for a long time.
Miller took several images of the eclipse.
He captured shots of the last bit of Sun before totality.
The total eclipse took place at about 1:24 p.m. from where he was standing.
“It was a very brief time,” Miller said. “I’m happy the way it came out.”
He said at the point darkness filled the sky frogs and crickets began to croak and chirp like they would any regular evening.
‘It was great, it was a great experience,” Miller said.
