Total Solar Eclipse, Mt Carbine. Photos added.

[von Tom (Tom)]

Thanks to everyone who posted their pics and videos. There are some amazing images!

With a last minute approval to change work shifts I managed to make the road trip up to Mt Carbine, west of Port Douglas, to see the eclipse. I decided to load the 12" Dobsonian into the car and borrowed a couple of DSLRs from friends and catch as many aspects of the eclipse as I could.

On arrival the day before, I picked out a spot about 10km west of Mt Carbine along the Mulligan Highway, from which to observe the eclipse. The next morning, when still dark, I drove to the spot and set up.

The Eastern sky was clear until sunrise when scattered cloud started to move through, as well as some thin high stuff. I couldn't see the very start of the eclipse and was worried I would miss totality due cloud. They moved out of the way as totality started and it was a wonderful sight. I have not seen anything like it and now know why people chase it around the world! Such a perfect black circle in the sky, with the pure white of the first and last instances of sunlight. Just beautiful.

Here is a video I made of the event, utilising an iPod, iPhone, 4 DSLRs, and a point and shoot camera. I hope to add some photos as I process them

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=a_d47knEdq0

Click here to load the video

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Cheers,

Tom

[iceman (Mike)]

I enjoyed that, Tom! Lots of different angles and focal lengths.

[RickS (Rick)]

Great video, Tom!

[multiweb (Marc)]

That was bloody awesome! Loved it.

[Matt Wastell (Matt)]

Super job Tom!

[SkyViking (Rolf)]

What a great video, thank you!

[geoffsims (Geoff)]

That's great Tom, nice work!

I had originally planned on setting up a timelapse and/or still camera facing west, but ran out of cameras :-)

cheers
Geoff

[h0ughy (David)]

top shelf stuff - loved it

[Derek Klepp]

Excellent Tom my apologies for not being able to join you.Still got an Ok partial down here.Especially liked the diamond ring effects on the video.
Cheers Derek

[StephenM (Stephen)]

An excellent record of the event Tom! Very well done.

Cheers,
Stephen

[ChrisM]

Well done Tom - I enjoyed your compilation.
Chris

[gary]

Tom,

To date, of all the images and videos I have seen of the event, your video is the
one I have enjoyed the most.

Firstly, it captures the eclipse so well and secondly, with the introduction that puts the
area into some context, I can personally relate to it as we were just up the Mulligan
Hwy from you.

As a footnote, what did surprise me is that you had cloud. You mention you
were 10km from Mt Carbine. We were 44.8km by road from Mt Carbine
and except for the thinnest veil of cloud low down on the horizon looking
over the mountains at sunrise, the skies were crystal clear the whole time.

The clouds you had must have been quite low as we could not see them.

I did some measurements on Google Earth. Whereas you were probably around
18km west of the Tablelands as the crow flies, we were around 45km.

When we first arrived in Mt Carbine on the Tues afternoon, I felt the place was
still just a little too close to the Tablelands with regards the likelihood of clouds
washing over them. So we headed about as far away from them on the tarmac as
we could but as close to the centerline as possible. We ended up about 10km
south of the centerline.

What has been fascinating in looking at everyone's images is that the jig-saw puzzle
of who had cloud and who had clear skies is starting to come together visually
rather than just through verbal descriptions.

The cloud in your video adds a little drama in any case but if I had bet that it was
also totally cloud free at your location, I would have lost.

Thanks for a wonderful video and I know family members who were with us are
going to enjoy it too!

[Deeno]

Great stuff Tom!

Really enjoyed that....

[gregbradley]

Great work Tom.

Greg.

[spacezebra (Petra)]

Brilliant Tom. We were based at the pub.

Cheers Petra d.

[alexch (Alex)]

Great video, Tom!

The emerging Bailys Beads are just sublime!

Thanks for sharing.

Alex

[Larryp (Laurie)]

Great work, Tom!

[Jen]

excellent Tom very well put together

[gaa_ian (Ian)]

A great eclipse documentary ! I enjoyed it & I re-lived each moment of the eclipse as I watched :-)

[von Tom (Tom)]

Thanks for the comments, I am glad you like the video .

Derek, sorry you couldn't come - it was a last minute opportunity for me anyway. A week prior I wasn't considering going and I am very glad I could.

Geoff, I love your work. One can never have enough cameras . My daughter left her iPod in the car so I used it to attempt to record the shadow bands on a large white card I brought with me. The frame rate/exposure wasn't good enough to capture the rippling shadows in much detail. They were a curious thing to see.

Gary, I thought I was going to be on the verge of the cloudiness. It was clear up until sunrise and then started clouding in the east over the range. I was thinking of moving west up the highway if it didn't improve but took the punt to stay. Lucky I didn't rely on moving in a hurry because I had a flat tyre waiting for me that I must have done in the dark!

Did anyone else see that semi coming down the highway during totality? He must have got a bit of a shock if he didn't know it was going to happen, or what it was going to look like.

Mareeba Maccas was packed, with not a few people reviewing their images, including me

Here's a pic of what delayed my trip back to Brisbane:

Cheers,

Tom