Update:
We didn't hear a "boom", maybe if we knew to listen we'd have noticed. Interesting though and I found a few links that talk about it:
Link 1, Link 2, Link 3,
@Susquatch , I can't speak to the quality of their science.
I also got a few photos:
Our rigs: On the right using a pair of binoculars to project an image on a back plane, on the left leaning on the chair, a tube with a 1.25 diopter lens projecting on the view plane and in the middle of it all Kira guarding the rear flank. The folks behind sounded like they were from South America.
I built a couple of rigs because I didn't know what would work and since the weekend was cloudy I couldn't test.
The lens in a tube gives an image like this:
We had a bit of a breeze going so it gave a more stable image than the tripod/binocular viewer.
The binocular rig:
The binocular viewer gave a pretty good image between breeze gusts and after I figured out settings to get a good image with the camera.
Totality!
This is just a straight photo using my camera. It didn't capture exactly what we saw (auto-metering), there's more flaring and less detail compared to the naked eye image. Pretty awesome though! With the naked eye there was a small bright spot to the lower left at about 7 o'clock through totality, maybe a flare? I think some talked about a diamond? There's that cloud approaching.......
And the cloud. Again the camera decided how it wanted to take the photo but interesting still.
In case anyone is interested in the rigs for next time in Spain/Portugal......
The binocular rig is pretty simple, basically hard mounted to a board with a projection screen of card stock inside a (mostly) light proof box. It's on topic for the forum because I used the mill to make the tripod adapter and binocular mount.
It's hard to see but there's an aiming pointer on the front plane that projects a shadow on the front of the trap door.
The tube viewer is pretty basic, some DWV and some gas tubing with a 1.25 diopter lens from a pair of Wallyworld reading glasses behind a 1/2" hole in the front plane and projecting on the back plane. Easy to make at the last minute with things on hand and I was really pleased with the image, much better than the recommended pinhole camera. Focus is adjusted by sliding the tubes in /out, the cardboard is a shade. We leaned it up against a chair for aiming!
The parts - pretty basic: tubing, cardboard, paper, a tin can and a lens! I was lucky to have all the bits on hand.
I can't claim any credit for the ideas behind the rigs but they were fun to make and play with and we were pleased with the results. Maybe something more refined for next time in Spain....
D