What and where we
observed
We just booked an overnight trip to
We flew out from
For the position we were, we had 3 minutes and
39 seconds of totality. Just a little
south of Side, near
That morning, the sky was so clear and
blue. Too good to be true? About an hour and a half before first contact,
we took all gear to the beach and selected a nice spot to see the coming and
outgoing shadow and set up all the instruments.
Two solid tripods. One for Jo
with the C90 and 25x zoom Sony Hi8 camera, the other for my C90. The mount suffered the check in on the flight
and did not look that stable. Though
good enough for visual observation. Laura
settled the Sunspotter on an empty crate of drinks. We spread out the big white hotel towel in
front of us to observe any possible shadow bands and next to my C90 telescope
the light meter, GPS and weather station.
Some smaller sunspots were visible.
Laura (Sunspotter) and I (C90) noticed the
first bit out of the sun, about 20 seconds after the predicted and calculated
time for our site. First contact and
still blue sky. Exciting! First contact was opposite of where the sunspots
were. The sun was covered for only 28
percent (magnitude 0.285) and Jo noticed the light drop. Indeed the light measurement dropped from
100000 to 87400 Lux at this stage. The
wind was quite disturbing for easy and comfortable observing of the edges of
the sun/moon. Some smaller cirrus clouds
were low in the western horizon and seemed to split up. Magnitude 0.546 and you could feel the
temperature drop. It was getting
cold. In the sun, at first contact, it
was 39.6 degrees C, while at this stage 34.4 degrees. A drop of over 5 degrees C already.
Magnitude 0.676 and you could guess the shadow
on the sand was quite fuzzy. Five
minutes later and there was a slight haze under the sun, the fingers showed a
fuzzy shadow. At magnitude 0.807, about
12 minutes before totality, Venus was visible south west under the sun. Crescents were visible and created by crossed
fingers. Magnitude 0.872 and it is dark
now. Not much wind. The light meter at that stage was 13000 Lux
only and the temperature in the sun dropped to 23.3 degrees C, about 16 degrees
C less as at first contact. The relative
humidity increased and doubled from 25 percent to 50 percent.
About 5 minutes before totality and still no
shadow bands visible. The sky is still
blue and clear. It is cold. And two minutes before second contact, the aerie
colours of the sky appeared. The
atmosphere is sticky. A minute before
totality, the shadow bands appeared on the white hotel towel in front of
us. Wonderful. The Baily's beads where not that pronounced
and the diamond ring was quite flat.
Totality. Wow!!! Beautiful corona, long and pronounce streamers. White plushes visible on the poles. What a beauty. The moon appeared very black and nothing
visible on the surface. Mercury is
visible between the eclipsed sun and Venus.
It is very dark and no readings could be made. The 360 degrees horizon was colourful and marvellous. With all the excitement of the shadow bands
and the corona in the beginning, I forgot to take off the filter. The prominences were wonderful and there
where a few in the beginning of totality and as well, at the other side, nearly
at the end of totality. Looking with the
naked eye and through the telescope, it was truly wonderful. What a beauty!!! Hairy plumes, polar or magnetic corona,
streamers, horizon, Venus, Mercury, temperature drop, humidity increase, dark
black moon, shadow bands, etc.
The chromosphere is visible. Nearly the end. The diamond ring at third contact was
excellent. It was over ... No coming or going shadow seen. In the distance, we could see the flashes of
the cameras, during and after totality.
Good we were not around ... The
temperature in the sun dropped in total 19.4 degrees c, the relative humidity
increased from 25 to 70 percent. The
light drop was to 166 Lux only.
After totality, more clouds appeared west,
We packed up nearly at the end and we went celebrating
in the hotel. The Hi8 shots Jo made,
where brilliant and wonderful. We took
some extra pictures with camera's and we compiled a general eclipse resume (see picture), including the measurements we
did (see graph). Another successful eclipse and up to the next
one.
Comments? Please send e-mail to solareclipsewebpages@btopenworld.com
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