Solar
Eclipse Expeditions 2002, 2003 & 2005
In late 2002, I was given
the opportunity to travel as an eclipse specialist and guide to the southern
skies with a group of American and British eclipse chasers around Australia.
South Australia was to experience a total eclipse of the sun where the moon
passes between the earth and the sun blocking a narrow path of light from
the sun. This area is known as the umbra and is the desired location to be to
view the eclipse in all its spectacular glory. Our viewing site was located
approximately in the area of Mount Hopeless a spot so named by the explorer
Edward John Eyre after his fruitless search for an inland sea. The total solar eclipse commenced
at approximately 6:43pm South Australian local time and went total at around
7:42pm local time. The path of totality stretched from the coastal town of
Ceduna in South Australia across to Lyndhurst and ended near Cameron's Corner when
the sun began to set below the horizon. Below are a selection of pictures taken
of the eclipse and of the expedition by a number of different photographers.
Please be patient as these pictures may take a while to download.
Please click on thumbnails below to see full
sized pictures.
This sunset sequence was taken at Lyndhurst by Larry Shore.
Mike
'the Guru' O'Leary projecting eclipse image on van using his 25cm reflecting
telescope at Purple Downs, SA.
In
this series the diamond ring before totality and totality were taken by Howard Duncan and the diamond ring after totality
was taken by Susan Walker.
British
visitor Alan Gard exams one of the telescopes at the Old Sydney Observatory in
New South Wales.
Shot
of totality taken from Roxby Downs South Australia by Neil Bittner.
Gail
(from South Australia) and Susan (from California) pose for a snapshot during a
lunch stop during the 5 hour drive from Arkaroola in the Northern Flinders
Ranges in South Australia, to the viewing site near Mount Hopeless.
Dionne
Warrington standing by Mike 'the Guru' O'Leary's eclipse projection.
Astronomical
Society of South Australia members preparing to leave Arkaroola for the trip to
Mount Hopeless.
Aris
'Moses' Moustakas, Dr Victor Gostin and Paul 'Starman' Curnow during lunch break
near Mount Hopeless.
A
vast array of photographic and viewing equipment is set up near Mount Hopeless
in anticipation of the eclipse.
More
equipment at Mount Hopeless at the ready in anticipation for the eclipse.
Shot
of eclipse taken from Mount Hopeless by Steve Blum shortly away from reaching
totality.
Image
of astronomers viewing eclipse low on horizon near Mount Hopeless captured by
Robert Strutz.
Some
of the boys posing in front of one of two main buses ferrying people to the
eclipse viewing site near Mount Hopeless in South Australia.
Partially
eclipsed sun setting on the horizon near Mount Hopeless in South Australia.
Geologist
Professor Ian Plimer (Melbourne University) and Paul Curnow (Adelaide
Planetarium) celebrate in the Northern Territory with Uluru (Ayers Rock) in the
background after the 2002 solar eclipse.
Eclipse
chasers enjoying an outback dinner near Uluru (Ayers Rock) a couple of days
after the eclipse.
Solar
Eclipse 2003
Clear skies prevailing, most of Australia, New Zealand and the
southern tip of South America were able to view a partial solar eclipse the
morning of the 24th of November. If you go by the Universal Time Clock, the
eclipse was on the 23rd of
November, 2003.
To see the total solar eclipse you had to be in or near Antarctica. There were
several expeditions to view and photograph this eclipse: a Russian icebreaker,
which left two weeks earlier from Cape Town, South Africa; a Russian Ilyushin
76TD cargo plane that also departed from Cape Town and landed on the ice; a
chartered LAN Chile Airbus A340 jet out of Punta Arenas, Chile; and a chartered
Qantas Boeing 747-400 out of Melbourne, Australia.
The following photographs are from the Qantas flight.
Image
#835 was photographed from seat 65B straight out clean windows at 9:45 Local
Time 24/11/03 (22:45 UTC 23/11/03). The moon completely covered the sun's
photosphere. The sun's corona was very pronounced and brilliant white with very
dark, clear skies. This photo was taken approximately 1 minute into the eclipse.
On the ground, the duration of totality was up to 1m 57secs. From our vantage
point of 35,000 ft. and flying at Mach 0.87, totality lasted 2m 30secs.
Image
#848 shows the sun beginning to overtake the moon. This
"Diamond Ring" was absolutely dazzling to the eye and looks like one!
In
image #850, the lunar surface appears more spherical. All photos were taken
using a hand-held digital SLR Canon 10D with a 300mm lens, image stabilization
and manual focus.[1/60 F5.6 ISO400]
Image
#852 is within split seconds from the previous photo. It was the most beautiful
diamond ring I had ever seen. The corona is still very visible on the opposing
side.
In
image #854, the sun's photosphere was so bright that I could no longer look
through the view lens. I kept releasing the shutter hoping I got this picture.
This
map is courtesy of Fred Espenak and Jay Anderson, NASA.
Qantas Flight 2901 location was: 60° 59'S 93° 01'E
A special thanks to Captain John Dennis and crew of QF2901 - Glenn Schneider
of Steward Observatory, University of Arizona who calculated the flight plan -
Phil Asker and staff of Croydon Travel responsible for chartering the Qantas
Boeing 747-400 - Susan Walker in seat 65C and Jim Blanksby in seat 65A who
shared his window - Paul Curnow, fellow eclipse chaser, for providing this
forum.
Howard Anton Duncan
Oceanside, California (December 2003)
Another
shot taken from the Qantas Boeing 747-400 by Professor Jay Pasachoff the
Director of Hopkins Observatory. http://www.williams.edu/Astronomy/jpasachoff/
or http://www.williams.edu/astronomy/
2005
solar eclipse photos
Also
visit: "Eclipses by the rules"
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Last
updated 10th of February 2006
