Annular solar eclipse - 10 may 2013

[H31l0 (Michael)]

Ohhhh and one more thing (sorry to spam),

Considering that we're only afew days away, those who will also be in Tennant Creek for the eclipse, have you decided where you'll be headed to best view it? - Im aware that this was discussed earlier in the thread but im thinking that some may have finalised where theyd be? As we know, the centre line is approx. 70km North of Tennant Creek - I would love to hang out with other amateur astronomers - ill have my 10X50 binos with my filters - I'd love to meet other like minded people and see the array of equipment too!

[Aussiearcher (Greg)]

Originally Posted by BrettK

30 kms is a long way from the limit. The things that are special about observing from close to the limit are best when you are only a few kms inside. In my experience. So it's up to you if you want to back track - I wouldn't.

Bailey Beads are best photographed with 500 - 1000mm, At least the best shots I ever got were at 1000mm. That said I have got them well with 400mm too.

I am still coming to grips with digital - yes I know. So far my best advice would be to try and expose for the BBs then under expose by three stops - and then bracket your shots with 3 stops either way. This has worked okayish with my camera. It's tricky though.

I am actually taking an OM1 with 1000mm and film - 'cause that's all I've got with that much telephoto reach. Just hope the shutter still fires !!!

Thanks Brett

I will take your advice re exposure. Borrowed a 400mm so with a crop, a full frame, a 1.4x and a 2x, my biggest problem now is deciding what i want. Am in Darwin and on schedule to be at Renner Springs Thurs night. Only called this evening to book and was no trouble. Said they'd leave the key in the door if we were going to be late. So if anyone is looking for a northern side venue - http://www.rennerspringshotel.com.au/ Am still tossing up whether to go back to a few klm within the fringe, or image it with Renner Springs as a foreground

OM1 - gone this long, manual shutter should be fine

Cheers
Greg

[BrettK]

Good luck with it.

The weather for southern Cape York Peninsular looks promising just now so....

The old OM1s had the ability to lock up the mirror to reduce camera shake and here's a tip - don't lock up the mirror during the partial phases as it will burn a whole in the cloth shutter. I fixed it with some Silastic.

It's amazing how fast the shadow moves. Joe Cali and co will be in Newman watching and a couple of minutes later it will be my turn - all that way across the continent. Why would anybody need New Age mysticism when reality is just so amazing.

[axle01 (Alan)]

Originally Posted by BrettK

It's amazing how fast the shadow moves.

It moves more than 2000klm per hr. even a FA18 cannot keep up with it.

Other facts of interest:

• The longest duration for a total solar eclipse is about 7.5 minutes.
• A total solar eclipse is not noticable until the Sun is more than 90 percent covered by the Moon. At 99 percent coverage, daytime lighting resembles local twilight.
• Eclipse shadows travel at 1,100 miles per hour at the equator and up to 5,000 miles per hour near the poles.
• The width of the Moon's shadow is at most 170 miles wide.
• The maximum number of solar eclipses (partial, annular, or total) is 5 per year.
• There are at least 2 solar eclipses per year somewhere on the Earth.
• A total eclipse can only happen during a new moon.
• Total solar eclipses happen about once every year or two.
• Nearly identical eclipses (total, annual, or partial) occur after 18 years and 11 days, or every 6,585.32 days (Saros Cycle).
• From the Earth's surface, the Sun's corona ("crown") can ONLY be seen during a total eclipse.
• Every eclipse begins at sunrise at some point in its track and ends at sunset about half way around the world from the start point.
• Partial solar eclipses can be seen 2,000 to 3,000 miles from the track of totality.
• Before the advent of modern atomic clocks, studies of ancient records of solar eclipses allowed astronomers to detect a 0.001 second per century slowing down in Earth's rotation.
• Total solar eclipses happen because the Sun is near one of the nodes of the lunar orbit, and the Moon is near perigee at this node at the same time.
• Annular solar eclipses happen because the Sun is near one of the nodes of the lunar orbit, and the Moon is near apogee at this node at the same time.
• Shadow bands are often seen on the ground as totality approaches.
• Light filtering through leaves on trees casts crescent shadows as totality approaches.
• Local animals and birds often prepare for sleep or behave confusedly during totality.
• Local temperatures can drop as much as 20 degrees during a total solar eclipse.
• During totality, the horizon is illuminated in a narrow band of light, because an observer is seeing distant localities not under the direct umbra of the Moon's shadow.

Alan

[schoppy (Joerg)]

Originally Posted by OzEclipse

Other IIS members eclipse chasers are arriving. Colin Legg is scouting another location NW of me, just missed each other today. Geoff Sims arrives tomorrow Terry Cuttle, Jay Anderson (eclipse weather expert) and Xavier will be getting here soon. People in Newman seem unaware of the eclipse, yet to meet a local who knows about it. Being near sunrise they'll hardly notice.

Will be taking some test shots & measurements in the morning then heading up to Karijini NP for 4 days.

Joe

I will fly to Newman this afternoon. Very unfortuanetly we will miss the eclipse (Rain and Clouds) when Jay Anderson and I will be at the same place to watch so please Jay stay far away from Newman...

Or is this the time to break the bane ?

Cheers

Joerg

[Antares]

Originally Posted by shahgazer

Hi Guys,

I'll be flying down from Kuala Lumpur to Perth, and driving up to Newman for the eclipse. South of Newman, seems to be be a no-man's land (according to Google Map).

Any idea exact spot I should go? Or should I remain at Newman throughout the eclipse?

Thanks

Regards
-Shah-

Hi.

We (a group of 3 from the South West) will be staying at a place about 2-thirds from Meekathara to Newman called the Kumarina Roadhouse. We are starting tomorrow and doing the trip in two days, staying just the one night there.

As for viewing location we haven't exactly decided whether we will go to find the path of annularity to the north of where we are staying, either by going to the Colyer Ranges or find a track east of the highway - or going to the southern edge to see the bailey beads (we're not doing any photography as far as I know).

My first time chasing an eclipse so wouldn't mind seeing full (94%) eclipse but if the BB are a show, then it makes sense to go to the southern limit. Happy for suggestions.

Currently a lot of bad weather done south at the moment. Hoping it doesn't reach Newman in a couple of days!

EDIT: Btw, how do you change the thread back from listing new messages last instead of first?

[Paul_Cox (Paul)]

Hi all - I'm still desperately searching for an image feed of the eclipse for our public broadcast!

The images broadcast are only 428x428 so the bandwidth requirements are extremely modest. I have some software that can deal with the automatic upload of images so you can concentrate on the eclipse and imaging it rather than providing the feed.

We can also help with expenses for anyone providing a feed.

See my post here for full details, or drop me a line at coxy@slooh.com

Paul

PS Thanks to Mike for allowing me to use the IIS Forum for this shout out!

[Kurt]

Hi all - Long time reader, first time poster.

I've been following this thread with keen eyes for the past month and I've finally bit the bullet. So, I too, with a close friend of mine, will make the trip up to the Tennant Creek area from Sydney for the Eclipse. Safety in numbers right?

We're arriving in Alice early on Thursday and picking up a 4WD for the leisurely stroll up to TC and plan to be off the road by sundown. This will be the first eclipse for both of us, but we're still not sure whether we'll make it all the way up to the centreline or just hang out a tad south of TC for those widely spoken-about Bailey Beads. (Having researched a lot about both centreline and Beads, I still can't make up my mind, d'oh lol...)

Either way we're roughing it in the 4WD for the Thursday night somewhere. I've done a lot of Google-Mapping of the centreline area and can see a few safer-looking spots to plonk ourselves around if we go up that far. So to save last minute mucking around on the Friday morning, I hope to be stopped at our final viewing location on Thursday eve; whether that be somewhere near Stuart Memorial, Churchills Head (Telegraph Pole area) or somewhere just off the main road to avoid the highway madness and oncoming lights throughout the night etc. I wonder how many other enthusiasts we'll come across along our travels?! (If anyone has any location suggestions, or would like company, let me know)

If we end up viewing the Eclipse south of Tennant Creek, we'll probably just stay in TC overnight on Thursday with the 4WD and then head out during dawn on Friday and veer off the main road somewhere to set up for imaging. In this case I imagine it will be one of those close your eyes, point at the map kind of decisions over a beer the night before, lol.

We're also pretty excited for the Thursday night in fact as the original plan was to camp out with the 4by and enjoy a pure night under the stars and get in some real astronomy time. Sure gotta look better than Sydney skies mmmm, thinking time-lapse...

For the eclipse itself, we'll be safely imaging with various different equipment, but mainly a 5D MKIII, 7D and a trusty 450D. Also at various lengths, 500mm, 400mm + 2x Converter and a 1200mm 5in Scope. Eyeball MKII will also get a look in with our fancy Eclipse Shades . So hopefully we get something with all of that.

One thing I am curious about however, is the increasing cloud cover that seems to be appearing from the South West. It's something I've been watching develop over the past few days and now has me slightly worried about what impact it will have to viewing. Is anyone else remotely concerned about some weather websites predicting that between the 0630 and 0930 local time-frames, indications show somewhat up to 69%-74% cloud cover around the centre of the Top End? I don't know how reputable these websites are, and maybe I'm just getting worried about nothing, but at the very least they've got me slightly concerned...

Weather 1
Weather 2
Weather 3

I've also been keeping an eye on SkippySky, and even the predictions there show that total cloud cover between 18UTC THUR9 and 00UTC FRI10 is to be around the 70's and 80% with lots of reds and oranges shown for the centre of NT too... eeik!

I'm no weather expert and of course these things can change, and most other general weather websites say mixed things for Friday like, 'Mostly Sunny' and 'Partly Cloudy' with icons showing a Sun with cloud in the front.... so really, it's just a mixed bag at present. But, fingers crossed the predictions become much more favourable for Friday morning in any case.

After the Eclipse our plan is to head back down to Alice during Friday, making a stop at the Marbles and then some other local things around Alice later on. One night in a Hotel in Alice booked then the flight back to Sydney on Saturday morning. Hopefully it's a successful first-timer trip. We would really love to get some good images, so fingers crossed.

If anyone has any suggestions or tips for our trip, please let me know. Kudos to you!

Good luck to everyone else making the trip out too, whether to FNQ, Newman or the TC area. Should be a fun couple of days. Stay safe!

Cheers,
Kurt

P.S: Antares - You can change the display mode for threads in your User CP Settings | Edit Options | Thread Display Options. Had me baffled for a bit too when I signed up. All good now.

P.S.S: Thanks also to all on this wonderful forum for your continual in-depth knowledge and expertise and willingness to share and contribute to such a wonderful knowledge-pooled community of like-minded individuals.

[Willoughby (Willoughby)]

Yes, weather looking so-so at present with significant cloud cover possible at TCA. Eeeek!

Here is the ECMWF forecast, too: http://www.yr.no/place/Australia/Nor..._detailed.html

[cyclone]

i'm now planning to drive to the centre line over FNQ.

[BrettK]

Originally Posted by cyclone

i'm now planning to drive to the centre line over FNQ.

G'day Cyclone

I fly into Cairns at 1 pm tomorrow then I will drive up to the Hann River Roadhouse. I expect to get there between 7 and 8 pm Thursday night.

If you are about it would be nice to meet up.

[Willoughby (Willoughby)]

Hello from Tennant Creek. Have already bumped into a few eclipse chasers at Devil's Marbles and just now a bloke from Japan!!

Feel free to say hi to us. We're in a black Great Wall 4WD with 'STRAWS' add the number plate.

[gaa_ian (Ian)]

Well, sitting here at home in Cairns with Total Cloud cover, Rain & and more of the same forecast for tomorrow morning :-(
Perhaps there will be those further to the NW of here, who will have better luck ?
I am seeing and hearing very little coverage of this in the Mainstream Media, I guess 1 eclipse in 12mths is all they can cope with ?

[H31l0 (Michael)]

Originally Posted by Willoughby

Hello from Tennant Creek. Have already bumped into a few eclipse chasers at Devil's Marbles and just now a bloke from Japan!!

Feel free to say hi to us. We're in a black Great Wall 4WD with 'STRAWS' add the number plate.

I just arrived myself - Where are you headed to view the eclipse? It'd be great to meet - my friend and I are staying at the youth hostel at tennant creek - I'll be waking up around 5:45 and want to head north - not sure where I'm going though (which is why it'd be good to know where others are setting up camp) - hope to get a response!!!

[Willoughby (Willoughby)]

There are a heap of campers just south of the centre line at Attack Creek on the Stuart Highway. There sure are plenty of folks about! We'll be heading towards near the centreline.

Check your PMs Michael.

Plenty of low cloud about tonight over the region. High cloud set to increase, but hopefully this afternoon cloud that has developed from the ENE in response to the incoming shortwave trough BURNS OFF!

[Kurt]

Hey all,

Currently enjoying a hearty meal at the Memorial Club in TC. Didn't quite make it up to Attack Creek just yet. The devils kept us busy.

Going to head up there nice and slow after dinner to meet the mob. The plan is to actually head north of Attack Creek, to either of the rest stops just shy of the telegraph tower turn off. We don't know anyone, but feel free to say hello to two good looking blokes in a champagne Nissan X-Trail. Should be there around 21.30 tonight.

Wish this cloud would go away. Fingers crossed team.

Cheers,
Kurt

[OzEclipse (Joe Cali)]

Camped 250 -300 km sth of Newman just below Geoff's Knob with my friend Bengt Alfredsson not far from the south limit. Sky is clear, mount is set up on the knob and ready for an early start tomorrow.

Geoff Sims is set up 1.5km to our NE away on Joe's Ridge. Terry Cuttle(Astrotraveller) and Jay Anderson are near the center line as is Xavier Jubier (Eclipse Maestro). Colin Legg is up near the north limit.

Hoping for clear skies for all those in Tennant Creek and Cairns.

Regards

Joe

[h0ughy (David)]

Originally Posted by OzEclipse

Camped 250 -300 km sth of Newman just below Geoff's Knob with my friend Bengt Alfredsson not far from the south limit. Sky is clear, mount is set up on the knob and ready for an early start tomorrow.

Geoff Sims is set up 1.5km to our NE away on Joe's Ridge. Terry Cuttle(Astrotraveller) and Jay Anderson are near the center line as is Xavier Jubier (Eclipse Maestro). Colin Legg is up near the north limit.

Hoping for clear skies for all those in Tennant Creek and Cairns.

Regards

Joe

I wish you guys all the best, and i am envious of your potential views and i really hope your get to capture some spendid shots!

[jjjnettie (Jeanette)]

I'm really excited for you all. Good luck, clear skies, and I'm looking forward to the piccies.

[Willoughby (Willoughby)]

Good morning!

Looks like some high cloud about at the moment over TC, low cloud burning off to the northeast.