Total Eclipse of the sun over Turkey, 29.03.2006
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A black, new moon under the flag of the crescent moon
Eclipse - Day
29.03.2006, Hotel Sunrise Queen, 36°47'13" N / 31°22'39" E
You can find reports of the eclipse-day and first pictures here shortly after this event
Our observing place with instruments, left to right : Johann Spuling, Dirk Ewers, David Galvin
(Image : J.Spuling)
The Total Eclipse of March, 29th, 2006 was observed under nearly perfect weather conditions.
At the place we decided to go - a green on the ground of the hotel, positioned near the
beach - the instruments were built up from 07:00 (UTC + 3h).
One by one each of our small group had breakfast and finished preparations after that.
Shortly after dawn a striking blue sky without any cloud was above us.
For the hotel manager, Altan, this must have been the hardest day that he had come across.
It's not every day a hotel manager has to deal with a total eclipse of the sun at their hotel.
In spite of this he took time for the wishes of many of his guests and we were supported by
him perfectly, e.g. with a small, ornate secure area and a mains power supply that we required
at our observing place.
Right : Private area for the american travel agency Travel Quest
(Images : Sunrise Queen Hotel)
My neighbour, "Mr.President" :-) : David Galvin, LAS (
"Liverpool Astronomical Society"
)
making adjustments with his GPS-Receiver
Right : As time grew near the balconies filled with tripods
(Images : Mike McGovern)
View to the helipad that was used by the international group with Rick Brown and Glenn Schneider
(Image : Carol McGovern)
First contact was spotted at 12:38:20 with our instruments.
Thereafter the time to second contact flew by. For me especially this was the case
because I had to set up five different cameras - without including the ETX for visual observations.
More than two minutes before second contact John shouted "I can see Venus !", which was at a
height of around 20 degrees above the south-west horizon.
Shortly before 13:55:00 local time a diamond ring heralded the upcoming totality and shivers were
"dancing tango" on my neck.
Directly after this a beautiful "butterfly" appeared at a height of 55° above the horizon, with the palms
and the sea in the foreground.
The wings built by coronal streamers reaching into the sky, radiated from the eclipsed sun, the body consisting
of an extremely black surface of the moon.
Here we were again shown what an overwhelming spectacle a total eclipse is and why many people who have
seen this beautiful event of nature before don't shy away from even the longest journeys to repeat an
experience like this !
After successful observations of five total eclipses my first statement of this eclipse :
The best weather conditions, darkest sky, longest time of totality, best visual impressions
(by naked eye and through the ETX 90) and by far the most equipment at all.
Considering the fact that not all aims were achieved, the quintessence for future eclipses
may be "less is more"...
Small holes between the leaves of the trees are projecting crescents of the sun on the ground before (left)
and after totality (right, orientation vice versa)
(Images : Mike McGovern)
Colors on the horizon during totality
(Images : Carol McGovern)
Wideangle-Composit 2x 28mm f:4.0, ISO 100, 2s each
Image taken with APO-Telelens 500mm x Crop 1.6, f:6.3, ISO 100, 1/4s
Pearls and prominences at 2.(left) and 3.Contact (right)
Images taken with Meade LX200 12" + Focal Reducer 2000mm, f:6.3, ISO 100, 1/2500s
Video 2.Contact timelapse-sequence 8x (DivX5.0)
Video 3.Contact timelapse-sequence 4x (DivX5.0)
Video 2.Contact timelapse-sequence 25x (DivX5.0)
Video 3.Contact timelapse-sequence 8x (DivX5.0)
If necessary you can download the videocodec for free at :
DIVx5-Codec
