1. Some Basics to Learn
DWARF Telescope Owners,
Welcome to another exciting celestial event with DwarfLab! Hot on the heels of fortnight’s total lunar eclipse, we now turn our attention to the upcoming partial solar eclipse on March 29, 2025. While this event won’t bring totality, it will still offer a fascinating view as the Moon partially covers the Sun, creating a stunning celestial display.
This eclipse will be visible across Eastern North America, Northern Europe, Western Africa, and Western Asia, with some regions experiencing a significant portion of the Sun obscured. If you’re in these locations or planning to travel, you won’t want to miss this! To help you prepare, we’ve put together this detailed observation guide so you can capture the moment with your DWARF telescope like a pro! 🌘🔭
Credit: timeanddate.com | Eclipse Coverage Area
If you're not quite sure what a solar eclipse is, please refer to the illustration below:
Credit: sciencenotes.org
Strongly recommend watching "Solar Eclipse 101" produced by National Geographic：
2. Choose Your Observation Location
For the upcoming partial solar eclipse on March 29, 2025, we’ve got an excellent tool to help you prepare! The website Time and Date offers a detailed breakdown of the event.
By simply entering your location in the search bar, you’ll get an illustrated view of how much of the Sun will be covered, and the exact timing for each phase of the eclipse. This includes the start and end times, the peak moment of the eclipse, and the duration of each phase—helping you time your observations and ensure you use your solar filters at the right moments.
Additionally, the site provides real-time weather forecasts and educational articles on solar eclipses, making it an indispensable resource for both beginners and experienced observers. Be sure to check it out before the big day! 🌞🔭
Credit: timeanddate.com | Useful Information For Your View Plan
Credit: https://stellarium.org/ |Using Stellarium, you can obtain simulated images of the eclipse for your area and obtain a rough time of the phases. Due to the sun being in an active phase, sunspots are clearly visible.
3. Easily Capture the 2025 Total Solar Eclipse with DWARF Telescope
Those who have experienced a partial solar eclipse before often describe it as an awe-inspiring moment—a humbling reminder of the grand cosmic dance we are all part of.
And let’s be honest—you’ll want to capture this rare event, because simply watching won’t be enough! Whether it’s the crescent-shaped Sun filtering through tree leaves or the eerie change in daylight, recording these fleeting moments will let you relive the experience. That’s where DWARF, a fully automatic, smart telescope with integrated tracking, imaging, and processing, becomes your perfect tool for seamless eclipse photography.
Traditional astronomical telescopes (with cameras and tracker), DSLR cameras (with telephoto lenses and tracker) and DWARF Smart Telescope.
As the most portable smart telescope on the market, DWARF Telescope has the size of a dictionary and weighs less than two pounds, making it easy for you to carry it on a plane or in the backseat of your car.
With its built-in rotatable celestial tracking base and 700 mm long-focus dual lenses, you can easily locate and track the sun. The package also comes with a magnetic sun filter for reliable attachment and easy removal.
Combined with the user-friendly DWARFLAB App, a few minutes of simple setup allows you to track and record the entire eclipse process and share it instantly with just one click on your phone.
With DWARF, fully enjoy this universe show without the hassle of fumbling with your camera halfway through!
DWARF Astronomy Photography Demonstration
4. How to Capture the Sun Using DWARF
4.1 Set Up and Level
Position DWARF as level as possible. The flat design of DWARF ensures more precise automatic tracking.
Wear ND filters now to protect the sensor from blinding by sunlight. Do not look directly at the sun for we will not take any responsibility for any harm this may cause.
4.2 Powering On and Connecting
Briefly press the power button to turn on the device, while holding it down will turn off the device.
Click on "Connect" and follow the prompts to connect to DWARF.
4.3 Locate the Sun and Focus
Face the lenses approximately towards the sun, then use dual-lenses locating or the joystick to center the sun in the tele photo view.
Please note due to the absence of calibration in this process, it is very important to keep the lens cylinder face to the front side (DWARFLAB MARK) while tracking the sun and moon.
Dual Lenses Locating: Switch to and double-click the wide-angle view moves the green frame indicator (telephoto view). This feature allows you to locate and quickly focus on objects in the wide-angle lens, like birds in the backyard, pedestrians on the street, or celestial bodies in deep space.
Switch to the telephoto lens and click auto-focus. DWARF will automatically detect the sun and apply the best settings(brightness) for it.
4.4 Perform Tracking and Settings
Activate 'Function-Feature-Sun Track'. The camera will calibrate (move up a little, don't panic) and then track the sun.
In tracking mode, the sun remains centered, allowing continuous observation or shooting videos/time-lapses.
During auto-focus, the camera auto-adjusts parameters, if you may know, typically at 1/600s-1/150s shutter time, gain at 0, and IR Cut. Do adjust Hue and WB as preferred.
Adjusting the appropriate white balance can present the Sun in different shades of yellow, such as egg yolk or creamy yellow. If you want to manually focus, you can use two fingers to zoom in on the screen and use sunspots as a reference for precise focusing.
4.5 Start Imaging
Tap the 'Shoot' button to take pictures of the Sun.
If you want to capture dynamic footage of the sun, you can select the 'Video' mode.
And if you want to record the sun's movement over time, you can choose 'Time Lapse' mode.
The above is the complete process for photographing the Sun. You can practice it a few times in advance to familiarize yourself with the shooting process.
5. Tips for Stable Solar Tracking with DWARF
Credit: AstroXperiences|Partial Eclipse Process
Summary of Operation Steps:
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Setup and level the unit
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Wear solar（ND） filters
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Power on and connect to your phone
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Use the dual-lens and joystick to locate and center the Sun in the wide-angle view
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Switch to the telephoto view and click "Focus" for automatic or manual focusing
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Adjust appropriate parameters and hues in the "FUNCTION" menu
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Once prepared, enter your preferred shooting mode
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Click "FUNCTION-FEATURE" and select the sun tracking function
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Configure settings such as shooting duration
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Click shoot to start imaging
Notes:
1. Ensure the telescope body is as level as possible.
2. When tracking the sun, keep the telescope cylinder facing the side with the Dwarflab logo (not the battery compartment side).
3. Avoid calibrating or performing panoramic shots before tracking the sun (when the motor needs to move to the axis limit positions for position calculations). If you have performed any of these actions, restart before tracking again.
4. Most importantly, make sure you are using the latest App and firmware.
5.When you switch the app to the background or disconnect, the shooting process will still continue.
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Recommended parameters: Since you won't experience totality, which means a portion of the sun will always be shuttersed, making it impossible to remove the filters, so during the entire partial eclipse process, you don't need to adjust any parameters. You can set the shutter between 1/600s to 1/150s and gain 0 throughout. Remember, longer exposures may result in blurrier images with less detail, while shorter exposures may result in darker images with poorer quality. The specific parameters depend on the state of the sun during the eclipse in your location. You can check the local time of the eclipse in your area beforehand, go out and take some test shots at the same time, and choose and remember your preferred parameters!
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Shooting mode: We recommend using time-lapse mode, as it can effectively capture the entire process. If you want to remove the filters to record totality, we suggest setting intervals of 3-5 seconds. If you're not removing the filters, intervals of 30-60 seconds are recommended. An infinite total duration is also a good choice. If the eclipse lasts for two hours, the resulting footage should be within 15GB.
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Eclipse Works：A beautiful egg yolk, with the clouds adding a dreamy atmosphere⛅️. Check the weather forecast to see if your location will also be cloudy on April 8th. Fingers crossed for no rain.
From @Kelly Cr, a time-lapse demonstration of the annular eclipse captured using DWARF
6. FAQs
Q: Should I polar align or calibrate to make my tracking more accurate?
A: No, DWARF cannot be calibrated during the daytime. To save you the trouble of polar alignment, the sun tracking algorithm operates under the assumption that the device is in a level position. We will continue to refine the algorithm based on this situation and release a software update in March that will allow continuous tracking for several hours.
Additionally, regardless of your location, we recommend setting up DWARF and entering tracking mode half an hour before the eclipse begins. Since nighttime calibration is not possible, to extend tracking time, you can exit tracking, recenter, and re-track in the last ten minutes before the eclipse starts.
**The position of the sun cannot be adjusted or manually centered while in tracking .
Q: How can I record the eclipse with a series of photos?
Update: Burst Mode now online for you!
Burst mode in 'Function-Feature' includes a 'Settings' option.Set the time interval (from 1s to 60s) and the number taken of this set of pictures. Note that there's a brief delay in saving photos after hitting stop on taking the burst. So it might take some time for the photos to show up in the album.
Note: The change of Interval settings during a shooting session will take effect to make sure you get a better record of a whole imaging process saying totality!
Besides preparing your gear, scouting the perfect location, and keeping an eye on the weather, don’t forget to fully charge your DWARF in advance. Take it outside beforehand to test your settings, fine-tune the exposure, color tones, and shooting modes that work best for the Sun at different phases. Also, decide on your shooting intervals and—perhaps the toughest call of all—whether to remove the solar filter at certain moments. A tricky choice, isn’t it?
Alright, that pretty much covers it! The best shots come to those who practice, so get some trial runs in before the big day. Wishing you a perfect eclipse adventure!
Oh, and by the way—March 29th is a Saturday, so no excuses! DWARFLAB thinks everyone should make it a celestial weekend. 🌞🔭✨
The media and websites referenced in this article are duly credited to their respective creators. All copyrights belong to the original authors. DWARFLAB extends special thanks and respect to these creators for their contributions to astronomy.