Eclipse Chasers

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TSE 22/21 July 2009

China

-compiled by Bill Kramer

Numerous eclipse chasers were in China for the longest eclipse of the century. Unfortunately the weather conditions did not cooperate for many with rain in the sky over Shanghai and hazy clouds over much of the path. Holes in the clouds and the determined effort of eclipse chasers did permit some to get images.

Pictures are shown below with descriptions from various locations across China. Click on the smaller images to see larger versions.

Partial phase Totality Diamond Ring Diamond Ring Pictures of the Expedition	Jan Langhaug from Norway reports: We where located at Tianhuangping Water Reservoir north of Hangzhou during the totality. It was a 4 hour drive by bus from Hangzhou, and it was cloudy all the way. It was cloudy when we arived, and cloudy a little bit into the partial phase as well. But then, it became clearer, and around 1 hour before the totality, it was clear enough to get a decent view of the sun and the moon. From around 30 min before the totality, and all the way into the totality, during and after there was clear enough! What a magical experience it was! And I was quite lucky when trying to capture the totality with my camera too. More images on Flickr
	Juanjo Manzano from Grupo de Observadores Astronómicos de Tenerife was at Jinsawei China (80km south of Shanghai) for the eclipse. Unfortunately he was clouded out for all but a few seconds of totality. Images just before and after totality through hazy cloud cover. José Ángel posted animations of the eclipse at Flikr - before 2nd contact into totality, 3rd contact in to rain!
Original Image Composite Image	Carlos Luis Vázquez Darias and one other member of the Agrupación Astrónomica de Tenerife travelled to China to see the Total eclipse. Located at a Top of a mountain , Jiangnan Sky lake in Anji, about 60 km northwest of Hangzhou... despite the haze and clouds, they got great pictures! Report in Spanish 1, 2 (pdf) Weather data chart (pdf)
	Andrew Hinds, south of Shanghai, was able to get a few pictures during totality with a haze in the front. The corona appeared very small and it was not as dark as previous eclipses he has experienced. That may be due to the haze and clouds. Complete story >
Wide angle view with labels for bright stars and lots of thin whispy clouds. Even through the clouds, check out Oscar's amazing images of the chromosphere and beads. More images at Flickr and excellent videos at YouTube Camera Zoomed in, Mid zoom, Wide angle, Wider angle	Oscar Martín Mesonero (Saros Group) from Xiantao China Chromosphere Baily's Beads C2 Baily's Bead Chart with Oscar's C2 image inset showing bead formation 1.6 seconds (original image)before totality. Another image at 2.9 seconds (original image) before C2.
	Ken Lee, Mountain Adventures, We were set up at Yuanyan just northeast of Hangzhou, along the Qintang river (along with a reported 10,000 other people). These pictures are as much of the eclipse as we were able to see. Right at totality the clouds covered completely. A record tidal bore had been predicted, it turned out to be a bit disappointing, although still interesting.
	Neelima Thatte tried to observe TSE from Jiaxing, 150km southwest of Shanghai. "Thick cloud cover all over and it started raining as well. I missed 1st & 2nd contacts. Could see glimpses of corona and exit diamond ring. Clouds were moving fast; so it was difficult to catch the moment. All previous calculations about exposure, ISO etc were washed away. Nikon D40, 300mm lens, ISO 400, F8, 1/10th second.
	Karl Kirk sent these images taken in Wuhan China
	Wulin Square - Hangzhou China - From David Byrne (images on Flikr) Happy to report an un-interrupted totality, and fairly clear partial phases too. Having seen the thick blanket of cloud in Hangzhou, near the West Lake, I decided to try the Airport, and then if nothing was happening there, get a taxi somewhere near the coast. The difficulty was that I had no idea of where to go (the Internet had been slow to dead, Tuesday - Wednesday morning). I decided to walk to Wulin Square, where I could get on the airport bus. As I got near to the Square, there did appear to be a very slight thinning of the cloud, and a hint of colour in among all the grey. I waited for a few minutes at the edge of the square, then saw the sun forcing its way through. The Square was not busy, around 20 people near me; a total of maybe 50 that I could see. The cloud came and went between 1st and 2nd contact, but totality was near perfect, with only a slight film of haze. Serious telescope viewers may have been a bit disappointed, but my 10x50 binoculars and the naked eye, were perfectly happy. I managed to snatch a pair of binoculars from a middle aged lady before 2nd contact, and gave her a spare pair of viewing glasses, for which she was thankful. I had to snatch the same binoculars from her husband after 3rd contact. It makes me very nervous to think how many people may suffer eye damage, through not understanding these basic things. It is also surprising how many people need to be told to remove their glasses for totality.
	Andrew Stern - I took some pics from the observation park above the Three Gorges Dam on the River Yangtze. It was my second total eclipse but the first without cloud. It was the first time I have attempted to photograph an eclipse and I am new to SLR photography but thanks to some good advice and a tripod I ended up with a range of shots at different exposures. (Editor's note: He did very good!)

Note about images: Haze and clouds do funny things to electronic camera images. The colors are not true color as some have a blue or green tint. Image enhancement helps bring out the details better but at the risk of further color problems. All images are presented in the color they were provided by the original photographers.

Reports from the SEML:

Hangzhou - close call for Twilight Tours and Joel Harris
Xiantiang River tidal bore - an unlucky choice by Alex Scutt

Links

Other 2009 eclipse reports:

Costa Cruise

Paul Gauguin Cruise

Joe Cali's Report - Clouds south of Shanghai (Excellent report!)

Fred Espenak's report - relocating the day before pays off.

Glenn Schneider's report - Wuhan

Arne Danielsen - Tianhuangping Pumped-Storage Hydro Plant, Zhejiang province picture gallery. Written report by Lloyd Franklin

Shanghai Eclipse View - YouTube video by Fernando Fernandez

Shanghai Beach - YouTube video of the Planetary Society group clouded out by Robert Harmon.

Wuhan China cool web site by Dr. Wolfgang Strickling with weather data and great pictures. English and German.

Wuhan China - Bioengineering University by Geoff Sims

Hangzhou China - report and pictures by David Kodama

Wuhan China picture gallery by Alson Wong.

Wuhan China - web site by Robert Nufer with flash spectra.

Wuzhen China web site in German.

Wuzhen China - pictures page by Bernd Brinkmann

Hangzhou, China Part 2 Part 3 - YouTube Videos in Chinese

Eclipse Total de Sol en Anji. El Tiempo más corto del Mundo - YouTube video (2nd version)

More reports...

Chongqing China - from Andrey Litvinov (More images on Flikr)

My wife and I arrived in Shanghai on July, 19th. From the hotel we visited different places for possible eclipse observation. The forecasts were bad in Shanghai and vicinities and they all worsened in the morning of the 21. We then made the decision to fly to Chongqing. In the morning we managed to reserve tickets on the last flight for Chongqing.

At 3:00 am we arrived in Chongqing. Secured lodging at a hotel near the airport and rested for a couple hours. At 7am we went to find a place to observe the eclipse.

The sun had a halo around it. Light clouds were in the sky and it was hazy but that did not prevented the eclipse observations and photography!

Camera used was a Canon 30d with EF100-400 on Kenko Sky Memo. Shooting was sequenced by the Eclipse Orchestrator program.

Baily's beads sequence

QIANTANG RIVER BORE - from Alex Scutt (shortened version, longer version to appear in the Astronomical Society of Victoria (Australia) magazine Crux.

- We decided to set up at the Qiantang River Bore. Here at each new moon, the tide rushes up the narrowing river in a large wall of water at two or three times the speed of a normal tidal current. It is a phenomenon that is much anticipated by the local people. The journey from Hangzhou would take about two hours by bus. When the bus stopped, clogged in a traffic jam beside the embankment to the Qiantang River we got off and made our way up to the walkway. I looked up. Directly above me was a tiny portion of blue sky. It was 9.01 am and this gap in the grey was a small ray of hope. In the half-hour following we saw only fleeting glimpses of the sun through the clouds. Twenty minutes to go, and the sun is becoming an increasingly narrow crescent; it is a game of peekaboo with the clouds - in, out; in, out. This is spine-tingling stuff. 9.32 am, and the moon has covered the sun for all but the tiniest of crescents, just visible through the cloud. The temperature is dropping noticeably. Things begin to happen very fast. Stephanie looks up the river and notices a very strange light on the western horizon. The shadow of the moon is approaching. I allow my eyes adjust to the altered light. It is getting very dark. There is a dramatic drop in the light. Totality is just seconds away. The sun goes behind the clouds. The slate-grey sky is darkening and I reckon it is total. It is very dark. It is eerie, it is quiet. There are fireworks on the other side and we can hear the popping of them, at first mistaking them for thunder. We can see a bat. The bats have come out. We saw them along the lake at Hangzhou yesterday evening after dark. It has become night. There is silence but for a few voices, and the extraordinary experience of being in darkness - and very very hard to describe. It has started to rain. A few moments and the sound of car breaks the silence as it passes on the road. It has got its lights on. We are now probably about mid-eclipse. It is so dark I cannot even see the time on my mobile phone. Opening it was unthinkable: it would activate the intrusive light of the LED screen. Stephanie can just see her watch and tells me that it is 9.40. Totality is not going to last much longer and we haven't seen the sun at all. We can actually see the firecrackers on the other side. It must be quite a show over there. It is starting now to become light: very markedly so. Totality is over and seemed to go very very quickly. I think the firecrackers will become invisible and rather redundant in just a few more minutes. It's day again. The birds have started now to move around. It is now 9.42 am, the eclipse moves on, dashing on towards Shanghai, the East China Sea and the mid-Pacific and into the history books. Quickly the temperature climbs to well over 30 degrees, and we have around two hours to wait for the tidal bore.