Angges,
Sangihe Talaud (Sulawesi, Indonesia)
General: Time 05h13m, Alt. 59 degrees, Saros 143,
path 75 km, duration 01m54s (Max 02m10s)
Angges, Sangihe Talaud: Gerhana Matahari Total
Originally booked on New Delhi, India, I changed my mind as soon I knew the small island Sangir was assessable. This small island, north of Sulawesi, Indonesia and about 3 degrees above the equator, was complete in the path of totality. This was the last significant continent the moon shadow would touch before ending in the ocean on October 24, 1995.
Only three weeks prior to my departure of October 9, 1995, I was informed a few domestic flights were cancelled. I should travel by local transport such as buses, boots, etc. from the south to the north of Sulawesi and to the island Sangihe Talaud. With many efforts, sweat water and blood and hours of transport I reached the island and at last I was on the spot 3 days in advance. Sangihe Talaud was effective and with a GPS I aimed being as much as possible on the central line. Sleeping companions were rats, mousses, cockroaches and hand sized spiders. Gastronomic surveillance bats, rats, mousses and dogs. Nevertheless, I could experience the eclipse on an exotic palm tree beach, far from human beings and alone with the animals. This was a natural beauty and I refused doing any projects as I used to do, such like meteorological and sky brightness measurements. I even did not make any photographically exposure and I stucked up to my C90 telescope and the naked eye observations.
The monsoon was started and expectations where not that high in that period. The few days I was there in advance, did not promise a good sky. Rain started in the afternoons while eclipse totality would be at 13h13m local time. The morning of the eclipse, it started raining at 6 in the morning. It seemed it wouldn't stop for the rest of the day. But in fact, it looked it changed plans and the sky cleared up. Even before first contact the sky was open and only a thinner film of cirrus clouds could be noticed in the area of the sun. At the horizon, above the Celebes Sea and in the direction of the island, there where alto cumulus clouds. The few eclipse tourists, one English, three German, one Japanese and about two hundred Indonesians would observe the eclipse from Tahuna, the capital from Sangihe Talaud and a few miles south of my exotic place and from Naha, a small airport strip at the other side of the island Vulcan Awu.
Using only a dictaphone and the telescope, I reordered the reactions of the local animals. A few larger birds just above in the palm tree, and smaller birds, spiders, ants, butterflies, dragon-flies, crickets and the waves of the sea where my partners. I felt like Robinson Crusoe, deserted, and left over to the power of the nature...
With an eclipse viewer, a paper with pinholes and through the telescope, I could follow the partial phase and could follow the crescents of the sun, projected on the stones on the beach. Due to the thinly film of cirrus, a small halo was widely around the sun for 120 degrees. The larger birds quarrelled in the trees and the crickets make a beautiful concert, as nothing is happening, more than a half hour prior to totality. Men can notice the decreased sun power and the shadows on the floor are unfocused. The silhouettes on the floor do have a strange shape and are giving a strange effect on me too.
A big dragonfly passed just in front of my nose and does not know what is happening while the birds and crickets continue with their concert. The sky is covered with the darken effect just twenty minutes of totality. In the telescope, the profile of the moon can be seen at the edge of the sun. I have to remove an irritant ant from my bag. The nails of my fingers do have a shadow of those like in a horror film. Projecting crescents everywhere on the ground and my hair shows if I was coming from a different planet. I was glad I did not have a mirror with me, who knows in what creature I was changed...
Only 8 minutes to go and a small breeze of wind shows up. No flying shadows are visible. Although it became silent, the crickets were still noticeable and it looked they were singing louder. A small butterfly passed by and it seemed he was completely confused.
Only a few minutes, and it looks like the crickets don't stop singing. The shadow on the floor is very vague. The sky is good and only a very thinly film is in the area of the sun. The silhouette of the moon is beautiful in the telescope. The crescent of the sun is very small and the Baily's beads are breaking down. A spider is racing on a piece of paper and does not know what is happening. The horizon is becoming reddish and a small fly irritates and flies by my nose. The night is falling. I do see Venus horizontally and left from the Sun. In advance I did not see any planet due to the wrong location I was looking at. Farther left is Jupiter. The diamond ring is following. Waaaww!!! Very bright and beautiful. Totality is effective.
The corona was very symmetric and wide at the equator of the sun. At the poles of the sun, through the telescope, there were smaller 'bristles' and in the structure of the corona, bright streamers could be seen. The prominences were bright, large and spectacular. One, at about 3 o'clock, a vertical filament was visible. There was an interruption and wide from the suns edge, it continued vertical a farther away from the sun. A lope prominence was at about 5 o'clock and there were more and smaller at 8 o'clock and higher left. This was fantastic and unforgettable.
The corona and the streamers were really in the same equator and direction of the planets. At the left side, horizontal Venus and Jupiter, while at the right side Mercury. The sky was still bright at the horizon and a reddish glow was seen above the Celebes Sea. This was great. Just before third contact, just less than 2 minutes, the lope prominence shows brighter and larger. This means the sun edge is coming back. Indeed, a long and beautiful diamond ring is coming back and at the same time a big large bird flies out of the palm tree just right of the eclipsed sun. This was spectacular! The Baily's beads are growing again. Totality was over. Mercury cannot be seen anymore but Venus and Jupiter can be followed. The crickets and the birds began their concert just after totality again, if nothing was happened. Venus could be seen even 20 minutes after totality while a swallow passed by. Only 3 quarters after totality a big cloud covered the sun and even at the end of fourth contact, rain started again. Wasn't this a gift again?
After the eclipse, when I went back to the 'human civilization', in Tahuna a smaller cloud was in front of the sun during totality. No details in the corona or even the planets could be observed. While in Naha, at the other side of the island, the eclipse was observed in good circumstances. Sangihe Talaud was history again, but the experience will never be forgotten...
Report by Patrick Poitevin (November 1, 1995)
Picture by Frans Dillen (Belgium) from Thailand
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