12 of the best total solar eclipse 2024 photos from our readers

It’s been two weeks since the total solar eclipse on April 8.

Whether your experience was beyond anything you could have imagined or for some, unfortunately, a total bust, the celestial phenomenon will no doubt have lasting effects on all who experienced it, many of whom captured some truly remarkable images.

Fortunately for us, our readers quickly sent in their awesome eclipse photos, many of which we included in our post-eclipse photo roundup story. But since then, they just keep on coming!

Instead of letting many of these wonderful eclipse views go to waste sitting in our inbox, we decided to highlight some of the best eclipse 2024 Space.com reader photos here in another story for all to enjoy. From diamond rings and Baily’s beads and exquisite close-ups, behold, the total solar eclipse 2024 in all its glory.

The path of totality crossed four Mexican states, Sinaloa, Nayarit, Durango, and Coahuila, before passing over 15 U.S. states: Texas, Oklahoma, Arkansas, Missouri, Illinois, Kentucky, Tennessee, Michigan, Indiana, Ohio, Pennsylvania, New York, Vermont, New Hampshire, and Maine. It then moved through Canada, with the total eclipse seen in seven Canadian Provinces: Ontario, Quebec, New Brunswick, Prince Edward Island, Nova Scotia, and Newfoundland.

The image below was captured by Space.com reader Rajat Kumar Pal from Stow, Vermont.

The total solar eclipse on April 8 as seen over Stowe, Vermont (Image credit: Rajat Kumar Pal)

“In this image, a lot of things are going on: First, obviously the eclipse itself, second almost 40 % of cloud cover, making it difficult to get a clear picture of the solar disk as well as the corona and other features; and third, a constant for fiddling around with the exposure as clouds interfering with the intensity of light from the eclipsed sun!” Pal told Space.com.

“Above all, it was an amazing experience to watch it with my wife, Sudakshina, who experienced this after a long time (her last eclipse experience was when she was a kid, and she forgot most of it).”

“It was a beautiful and surreal experience, and experiencing it with my wife is something special!” Pal continued.

Pal’s wife Sudakshina Chakrabarty also captured an incredible close-up view of the eclipse with a diamond ring effect and visible solar prominences flaring pink.

April 8 total solar eclipse diamond ring effect. (Image credit: Sudakshina Chakrabarty)

“This was my first total solar eclipse photograph,” Chakrabarty told Space.com.

“For a beginner, this was not a very smooth journey as the weather was very tumultuous throughout North America at this time. Even though the morning sky was spotless, as soon as the eclipse started some light clouds started to fly in which forced us to update and change all the camera settings at the very last moment,” Chakrabarty continued.

“Nonetheless it was an out-of-this-world experience which we will never forget and which I would never be able to capture without the guidance and lessons from Rajat.”

Breck DeWitt sent us this awesome image of an airplane crossing the sun during the partial eclipse phase on the east coast of Amelia Island, FL.

Airplane and partial solar eclipse on April 8. (Image credit: Breck DeWitt)

“I was pleasantly surprised to capture this image as I am located well east of the area of totality for the eclipse,” DeWitt told Space.com

“Had I not been looking at the live feed of my ZWO telescope when the plane crossed the sun, it would have probably been weeks before I stumbled across it with the nearly 4 hours of video that I shot.” DeWitt continued.

Greg Meyer sent us three fabulous eclipse photographs, we couldn’t decide which one to include so we thought “Let’s show them all!”

April 8 total solar eclipse from Kerrville, Texas. (Image credit: Greg Meyer)

Meyer captured these stunning images from Stonehenge II located in Kerrville, Texas on the centerline of the eclipse.

April 8 total solar eclipse from Kerrville, Texas. (Image credit: Greg Meyer)

Meyer used a Canon 6D Mark II with a Sky-Watcher EQ6 R Pro mount and Sigma 150-600mm lens (at 600mm, F8, ISO 500.) to capture the solar eclipse in all its glory.

April 8 total solar eclipse from Kerrville, Texas. (Image credit: Greg Meyer)

Image processing was carried out in Adobe Lightroom and Photoshop.

Robert Antol captured this exquisite close up image of the partial eclipse phase on April 8 from Stargate 4173 at Grimaldi Tower Observatory,  Poughquag, New York.

Partially eclipsed sun on April 8. (Image credit: Bob Antol)

Antol saw a 92.95% eclipsed sun from his location on April 8.

Jim Abels looks as though he peered right into the eye of the eclipse with this impressive totality image captured from Eustis, Maine. His journey to the eclipse was a rocky one, but it looks like it all certainly paid off in the end!

Total solar eclipse from Eustis, Maine on April 8, 2024. (Image credit: Jim Abels)

“We did a 1,100-mile road trip to find a clear place to capture the eclipse!” Abels told Space.com.

The first destination was the Adirondacks in upstate New York. We arrived mid day Saturday and found a great place to capture it. Once we woke up on Sunday, we check our weather app and noticed clouds coming in around 3 p.m. so we decided to drive 5.5 more hours to Eustis, Maine which had 0% cloud coverage.” Abels continued.

“Since all the hotels would be booked, we slept in our cars. It wasn’t easy but well worth it!”

In this, the moon is lit by sunlight reflecting off Earth in a process known as Earthshine.

“This HDR ( High Dynamic Range) of various exposures are blended on each other to show a wide range of light. From left to right, stars captured here are 88 Piscium, Zeta Piscium B and HD 6568. Planned using PhotoPills, Stellarium and Astropheric.” Abels continued.

Our very own content manager Josh Dinner captured this incredible image of the total solar eclipse over his hometown Bloomington, Indiana.

The 2024 total solar eclipse over downtown Bloomington, Indiana. (Image credit: Josh Dinner)

Not only did he take some incredible photos of the eclipse but he proposed during totality! You can read more about his wonderful eclipse proposal experience here.

Belinda Prinz captured the beautiful pink solar prominences during the eclipse from her home in Independence, Ohio.

Total solar eclipse from Independence, Ohio. (Image credit: Belinda Prinz)

“I was thrilled to capture the pink glow of solar prominences at the beginning of totality.” Prinz told Space.com.

“Using a series of shutter speeds paid off, as it was hard to predict ahead which setting would work best.  I also used a remote, focusing once, so I could watch the eclipse and shoot at the same time.” Prinz continued.

Josh Dury traveled to Dallas, Texas for the eclipse but it wasn’t all plain sailing.

Total solar eclipse from Dallas, Texas. (Image credit: Josh Dury)

“I managed to make it to Dallas, Texas, but I must admit, it was a battle with the cloud,” Dury told Space.com

“But such an amazing event to be shared by all.” Dury continued.

The solar eclipse looks particularly fierce in a “miracle” image taken from Kimball Bend Park in Central Texas by Space.com reader Justin Maune.

A fierce looking totality over Kimball Bend Park in Central Texas on April 8 (Image credit: Justin Maune)

“I traveled 30 hours from SoCal [Southern California] to Texas to see this,” Maune told Space.com.

“The clouds were looking terrible. Overcast. And then it cleared. Like a miracle, 10 minutes before totality, the sky was clear, and I was able to snap this pic.” Maune continued.

Now, I know I said “12 of the best eclipse photos” but I couldn’t resist adding this bonus one. This adorable image was sent in by Lisa Cattanach, showing four-legged friends Lily and Bo donning their eclipse swag in Paducah, Kentucky.

Lily and Bo enjoying the total eclipse in Paducah, Kentucky. (Image credit: Lisa Cattanach)

Thank you to everyone who sent in their eclipse photos to us! It was a tough job shortlisting just 12 images (plus one bonus one!) for this piece. I hope you all enjoyed seeing these eclipse photos as much as we did.

We’ve got some seriously talented readers out there, without your contributions we wouldn’t be able to write stories like this. Thank you.

If you have any photographs you’d like to share with Space.com please email us at [email protected].