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Programmer: Bill Kramer
Last update: April 17 2015
Eclipse Chaser
(noun) - Anyone that wants to see a total solar eclipse.

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Australia - South Pacific

Annular Solar Eclipse: Australia enjoyed an annular solar eclipse just months after the total solar eclipse of Nov 2012.

Observers stationed themselves along the eclipse path attempting to capture an annular eclipsed sun rising to those wanting a higher target. Most reported clear or hazy sky conditions. The following reports come from the SEML.


Great View from Tarawa

We arrived in Kiribati the day before the eclipse after an 18 hour flight delay out of LAX. After a one night layover in Fiji we took a flight to the atoll of Tarawa. I wad seated two rows behind the president of Kiribati.

On arrival we learned that nobody knew anything about the impending eclipse. The morning of May 10 we experienced a lot of cloud and passing rainstorms. I separated our team into two groups where myself and Lynn traveled to a private viewing spot behind the Kiribati parliament building and the rest of our ten member team remained at FEMA Lodge about 2 miles west.

Clouds cleared a few minutes after 1st contact and remained good until 25 minutes before 2nd contact. Cloud persisted until s gap appeared just 3 minutes prior to 2nd contact. The gap became a complete clearing and the entire main feature was clearly seen.

A number of people attending a tsunami workshop came out and we showed them an annulus on the floor of an adjacent thatched roof hut.

We returned to the lodge for the rest of the 4 hour partial phase period. However before 4th contact we had two rainstorms and persistent cloud. Overall an excellent experience.

Paul
Ring of Fire Expeditions
NASA Johnson Space Center Astronomical Society
Www.eclipsetours.com


Report from the southern limit south of Tennant Creek

I observed from just within the southern limit, around 30km south of Tennant Creek, on the side of Stuart Highway. During the lead up to annularity, only half a dozen car drove by, their drivers all oblivious to the celestial spectacle in progress. Banks of slowly moving thin clouds persisted throughout the eclipse but without really impending the observation. The light on the reddish outback landscape became subdue well in advance of annularity, possibly already 20 minutes before. Swarms of small flies had been harassing me as soon as daylight broke but they all went away on the lead up to annularity: dozens of them could be seen sitting still on the white chassis of the rental car. Several times during the first partial phase, a strong wind picked up for a few minutes. I don't know if that was related to the reduction of solar radiation brought by the eclipse or not.

Annularity was brief (far too brief!!!) but displayed a spectacular long and uninterrupted arc of Baily's beads, around 20 degrees wide or more, closing the ring of photospheric light. Baily's beads could also easily be seen on the "eclipse horns" before and after the annular phase. Due to the geometry, the "rapid" rotation of the long and almost round crescent of photospheric light was also mesmerizing.

The evening before the eclipse it was great to meet up with Jay Pasachoff, his wife and some other eclipse chasers traveling with them.

Ciao, Luca Quaglia


Report from Tarawa Kiribati

Joanne and I observed the annular solar eclipse of 10 May successful from the remote northern island of Tarawa Kiribati. Ten minutes before first contact, sky went clear and besides approx 10 minutes of clouds, remained clear all time.

We had a successful first and second contact and had a brilliant 6 minutes annularity. Observed and imaged with Lunt 35 and DMK41 and visual with C90.

Joanne and Patrick Poitevin


Time Lapse Video

For the recent eclipse, I was assisting the amazing Australia timelapse photographer Colin Legg. Colin had the crazy idea to time lapse the eclipse from a number of locations (originally four, but we later settled on just three!).

North limit (Canon 1DC 4K video + C8 2000 mm; Canon 5D2 + 800 mm)
Centre line (Canon 5D2 + 800 mm)
South limit (Canon 5D2 + 800 mm)

Colin was north, I was south, and the centre camera was remotely deployed*.

He has been working tirelessly to edit the footage, and has released a "first cut" on his Vimeo page:

http://vimeo.com/66223828

It was a mammoth task to plan these shots - while it may not be obvious, there was an exceedingly small region where we could place the C8 telescope on a static mount, to see the horizon, annularity and C3, all within one frame of the Canon 1DC (1.3x crop) at 2000 mm focal length.

I must personally thank our own Michael Zeiler and Xavier Jubier for their mapping and eclipse circumstance expertise, which we certainly would have been lost without.

There may be a "second cut" later on, as we have additional footage (some nice chromosphere sequences) that haven't been processed yet.

I hope you enjoy the video. If you would like to check out any more of Colin's work, there are videos on this Vimeo site, or you can follow him on Facebook:

http://www.facebook.com/ColinLeggPhotography

cheers,
Geoff Sims

* Incidentally, the site of the remote camera was the same location of Xaiver et al., and it gave some of his crew a fright when it started firing off shots at 1 fps just minutes before the eclipse, while hidden behind a shrub on the top of a ridge!

Links to external websites

Williams College (Pasachoff)
BBC Report on eclipse
FullTVNews YouTube video
Joe Cali (sunrise)

List presented in random order


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