Annular solar eclipse - 10 may 2013

[cyclone]

anyone making the trip ?

[h0ughy]

is this visible from your place ;)

[cyclone]

no, i'm outside the path, i would have to travel 6 hours north and the wet season is late here

[h0ughy]

mmm well that might count me out:sadeyes:

[astroron]

I hope to be going:)
Cyclone, is Laura that far from you ?
The eclipse is still a month away,so anything could happen to the weather:shrug:
Cheers:thumbsup:

[Willoughby]

Looking at heading to south of Newman, WA for this!

[mithrandir]

I guess you mean on the Great Northern Highway somewhere near 24° 19' 10" S, 119° 42' 15" E

The idyllic position for Territorians appears to be on the Stuart Highway about 100km north of Tennant Creek at 18° 57' 58" S, 134° 03' 38" E

[cyclone]

I think its a 6 hour drive, i will find out more during the week.
We are expecting some big rainfall in our area this week.

[doppler]

Have put in for time of work and will be making the 1900 km trip from Mackay to north of Tenant creek. Aparently there is a landmark on the highway called Churchill's Head that is on the center line of the eclipse. Its a long way to go for a 4 minute show but its on my bucket list.

Churchill’s Head, NT
18° 56′ 29″ S
134° 06′ 58″ E
Eclipse duration 4 min 18 sec

Here is a link to a google map page. http://xjubier.free.fr/en/site_pages/solar_eclipses/ASE_2013_GoogleMapFull.html

Cheers Rick

[OzEclipse]

Andrew,
Depends on your definition of idyllic. The best bead displays are at the limits esp the southern limit. Some eclipse chasers believe that you head to the center line for totals and to the southern limit for annulars. I've seen two center line annulars and they are pretty static affairs. I'm thinking southern limit this time.

Dan Fisher gave an interesting talk about why you should head to the limits for annular eclipses at the last solar eclipse conference. SPACE put all the talks online....
http://tinyurl.com/btuy358
NOTE: This video is 28 minutes long!

Tennant Creek definitely offers a sweet combination of the best weather prospects, cheapish fly/drive access via Alice Springs and an eclipse that starts with first contact on the horizon at sunrise and annularity at 16 degrees elevation.

The weather prospects deteriorate rapidly across Cape York and out into the Pacific Islands.

I've written a preview article covering the annular eclipse and partial eclipse covering Australia and the Pacific on my web site at : -

http://www.joe-cali.com/eclipses/PLANNING/ASE2013/index.html

Joe Cali

[mithrandir]

Joe, the link http://eclipse-chasers.com/tseCalculator.php on your page does not appear to show annular eclipses. Xavier's page http://xjubier.free.fr/en/site_pages/SolarEclipseCalc_Diagram.html does.

[OzEclipse]

Andrew,

Both calculators are very similar. Neither are set to default to the May 10 annular eclipse. You have to select the eclipse of interest from the menu.

Bill has the default set to select the USA 2017 total eclipse. The link you posted to Xavier's page has it's default set to the 2010 total eclipse. Just scroll down to the bottom of Bill's eclipse-chasers.com page and select the appropriate eclipse path.

I know both Bill Kramer and Xavier Jubier. I'm on good terms with both - Xavier might be traveling with me in Newman so don't read anything into the link. Both calculators give equally accurate results. In fact they cross test their software to make sure results are consistent. The only reason I prefer and link to Bill's rather than Xavier's is that you can block copy the circumstances table from Bill's output but not from Xavier's.

When I'm exploring options, I prefer to use Xavier's Google Earth interactive tool. But if you copy the circumstances from that tool, it pastes everything perfectly except it strips the hrs off the event times and just pastes the minutes and seconds. I used his interactive path map as the backdrop to my sunrise referenced map.

Bill's calc lets you paste, but it's foible is that inside the path times are in local time zone, outside, they are in UT but using a 12hr am/pm clock. No problem if you are just looking up your one location but soo confusing if you are doing a large group of locations in and out of the path and across multiple time zones the way I do.

So they all have their idiosyncrasies but they are amazing tools compared to what we had 10, 15, 20 years ago. So, I'm not complaining. These guys have put in serious hours producing these resources. These tools make our planning so easy. I just understand the weaknesses and strengths and use the best features of all of them depending on what I am doing.

Michael Zeiler just released his map set tonight
http://eclipse-maps.com/Eclipse-Maps/Gallery/Pages/Annular_solar_eclipse_of_2013_May_1 0.html

Michael uses special versions of Bill and Xavier's calculators that generate high spatial res plotting data for his GIS software system. He produced early versions of the Newman maps for us about a month ago but there has been a lot of behind the scenes email circulating about the Newman maps trying to sort out the path refraction corrections.

cheers

Joe

PS I've added screen shots showing the eclipse selector.

[shahgazer]

Hi all,

Will driving from Alice Spring to Tennant Creek the night before the eclipse advisable?

Looks like all the motels there are fully booked, and there's not many of them.

My best bet is to start from Alice Spring....


Should I go for caravans? Would be nice to get a few nights out as well under the stars...

.. and of course I'll be travelling all the way from Kuala Lumpur to Perth and later to Alice Spring! :eyepop:

my 2nd eclipse trip down under! :thumbsup:

[mithrandir]

Shah, it is 500km from Alice Springs to Tennant Creek. Even with the NT's speed limits being higher than the rest of Australia that will take more than 5 hours.If the motels are all booked you might see if any of the hotels have accomodation. Otherwise you could wind up sleeping in the car overnight.

[cyclone]

at 94% mag, would one goto the centre line or southern/northern limit ?

[mithrandir]

See OzEclipse Joe's link to his web page a few posts back. He recommends the southern limit for this (and maybe all) annular eclipses.

That is a bit south of Tennant Creek so you might not even have to drive out of town.

[cyclone]

I will (if the road and weather is ok) will be doing the drive from Mareeba to the cape (QLD) but the sun altitude is much higher ( i think 27 degrees) than WA AND NT.

[OzEclipse]

I must apologize, I made an error when I referred to the southern limit in my post. Both limits give this effect but I said southern limit because the southern lunar limb is more mountainous than the northern lunar limb resulting in brighter beads. However, southern limb and southern limit are two different things.

Here's a brain twister - and I hope I finally have this right way round........

On the sth limit on Earth you are seeing the nth lunar limb mountains graze the edge of the suns disk. North lunar limb mountains are smaller than the sth lunar limb mountains and hence produce beads that are not quite as bright. The brightness is also a function of how close you are to the limit zone - ie how much photosphere is visible. So the north limit (southern lunar limb) produces a better bead display than south limit(northern lunar limb). Both however produce a more interesting show than the center line.

Your observing site should be near but not on the limit. Because of the lunar limb, the limit is a band not a line. Dan shows results from varying distances inside the limits in his talk.

It's in two parts. I only listed the first part in my original post - I have edited that post.

http://tinyurl.com/btuy358 PART 1 [17mins]
http://tinyurl.com/coz9usu PART 2 [11 mins]

The idea is that you are in a position where the Baily Beads fire off tracing an arc around the limb. Of course you won't see the symmetrical annulus. In my post I linked to Dan Fisher's talk at the last international solar eclipse conference. It's a 28min video but explains it quite well.

For those of you still euphoric about last years total, don't believe for a second that a 94% annular is 94% of a total eclipse. It's a very different event.



Cyclone, you only need to drive about 80km north of Lakeland to get to the southern limit. So if the road conditions are suitable to get there, you'll only be an hour or so from the sealed road to get back. Being a local, you should be able to tell if rain's coming and hi-tail it back to tarmac.

If you check out my web page, you'll note that weather prospects on the east coast are not the best but if I lived in Mareeba I'd probably head to that spot on the development road north of Lakeland too.

Tennant Ck is likewise near the sth limit. You can go to the north limit but it will mean sleeping out or driving several hundred km in the dark. As I found out last year, that has its hazards. I hit an animal while night driving on my way to Cairns.

So choosing where to go is not as simple as heading for the longest duration on the center line. If you have accommodation in Tennant Creek, I'd recommend you head just a short way south but stay inside the limit a good distance.

In Newman, we're already near the north limit so that's probably the area where I'll stay. The only thing that might push me south is that the highway at the south limit is much closer to the end of the path of annularity - sun lower to the horizon.

I've added a table of contact times for Australian locations to my web page.

http://www.joe-cali.com/eclipses/PLANNING/ASE2013/index.html

Joe

[cyclone]

I've got a 4x4 with dual tanks and Codan HF, so travelling is not a real issue.
I'm curious to know if any locals will be doing the trip ? there is no talk about anywhere !

[Liz]

The Townsville Group kinda forgot about it!! We are camping out near Charters Towers, so some will watch from there, I will still be in Townsville until later that day. :shrug:

[OzEclipse]

I can understand that and I'm not surprised. You guys in FNQ get so many central eclipses - this is the 3rd in 14 yrs. They're so regular for you that you take them for granted. :D

Joe

[Liz]

:lol::lol::lol::lol:

[EclipseMaestro]

You can easily set the default eclipse, location or timezone with mine by appending parameters to the URL. The two following links show how to do it:
calculator set to ASE 2013 (http://xjubier.free.fr/en/site_pages/SolarEclipseCalc_Diagram.html?Eclip se=%2720130510%27)
calculator set to ASE 2013 and to compute the local circumstances in Newman in local time (http://xjubier.free.fr/en/site_pages/SolarEclipseCalc_Diagram.html?Eclip se=%2720130510%27&Lat=-23.35959&Lng=119.73278&Alt=545.9&TZ=%27+0800%27&DST=0&Calc=1)



Be careful with Bill's calculator for ASE 2013 as the limb corrections appear to be wrong near the northern limit.
They are correct with my Google Maps and in Google Earth and Occult is in very good agreement.
The current public release of Solar Eclipse Maestro (http://xjubier.free.fr/en/site_pages/solar_eclipses/Solar_Eclipse_Maestro_Photography_S oftware.html) has a small bug very near the limits when the limb corrections can exceed 15 seconds (already fixed in the next coming public release at the end of April) with some annulars such as ASE 2013. The bug was detected when Michael and I worked on the ASE 2013 maps.
Last EO appears to not provide any limb corrections for ASE 2013...?!



Joe, if you tell me more I could certainly "fix" the behavior.



I just tried and didn't have anything stripped when cutting from GE and pasting in a text editor. Please make sure you generate a new KMZ file using the 5MCSE web tool (http://xjubier.free.fr/en/site_pages/solar_eclipses/5MCSE/xSE_Five_Millennium_Canon.html) or else just click on this link (http://xjubier.free.fr/en/site_pages/solar_eclipses/xSE_GoogleEarth.html?Ecl=+20130510&Acc=2&Umb=1&Lmt=1&Mag=1&Max=1) to directly generate the new KMZ file for ASE 2013.



:thanx::thumbsup:

[OzEclipse]

Hi Xavier,
You were right, my kmz file was 3 years old. I reloaded a new version and the stripping problem is gone. You can cut and paste easily.

Personally, from my own work flow standpoint, I find its much more efficient to work in Google Earth when planning an eclipse expedition than using the calculator. This is because I plan all expeditions with my friend Bengt in Sweden and a number of other friends scattered around the world, in GE, I can leave my own place markers, notes and paths then export them to kmz and email them to Bengt or other collaborators coming on the expedition.

Now that I can cut and paste circumstances, it does everything I need.

I was not concerned about the default eclipse setting. It was someone else who commented about that.

I'm sure you are in the same boat as me that at any one time, I am at different stages of planning multiple expeditions with other people. At the moment, we're working on expeditions to next months annular, Novembers total in Africa and the Atlantic and the 2015 total up in the Arctic so I'm constantly switching eclipses around anyway.

cheers
Joe

[axle01]

Hey guys I'm in Townsville and considering heading north beyond Cooktown till the sealed road runs out.

I am thinking of leaving Townsville about 11pm the night before and drive till I find a good spot north of Cooktown take some photos then head back to Cairns for a rest then head back to Townsville.

Had a disappointing total solar eclipse from Cairns, got 90% cloud so I hope it is clear this time.

Alan

[cyclone]

you have to turn left at lakeland

[BrettK]

Hi guys

I have just registered. Thanks Joe.

I will be arriving Cairns at 1 pm on Thursday and will drive direct - probably to Laura and observe from there.

I plan to drive back to Cairns on Friday, do a dive trip on Saturday and fly home to Hobart on Sunday.

If anybody is interested in a lift that way and can fit in, by all means let me know.

My experience with annulars and most eclipses is that somewhere towards the limits is where all the action is. In 1981 I was a few kilometres inside the southern limit and saw a baily bead a good 30 minutes after mid eclipse. They just kept coming and coming. Everything seems to happen in slow motion near the limits - diamond rings are longer and slower, there are lots of baily beads and the photosphere is visible for a long time too. In have a photo from 1981 where you can see the Corona. That was a 99% annular so I don't expect to see that this time.

[iceman]

If anyone needs any solar eclipse shades, I'm still selling them here:

http://shop.iceinspace.com.au/shop/iceinspace-eclipse-glasses/

[axle01]

Hey Cyclone have you got more details than 'turn left' ,,,,,,any directions and better viewing spots would be appreciated.

Alan

[BrettK]

and then drive another 80 kms

[mithrandir]

According to Xavier's KML it's more like 120km to the southern limit.

[cyclone]

i've never been to the tip.
u turn left after Lakeland, then the road i think is unsealed.

[Liz]

Good on you Alan!! At least 1 Townsvillian will make it, I would be tempted if our camp wasnt on. :question: We had a pretty good Solar Eclipse last year at Mt Carbine.

[axle01]

Liz it all depends on how busy i am at work if i go.

Might see you tonight down the strand.

Alan

[firstlight]

Is anyone heading to Churchills Head? We have been looking at the chat about what is the best view and we would like to see a perfect ring, so that is our aim. We are gearing up the trailer to be our bed on wheels and the kids are looking forward to sleeping in tents along the way.

Our plan is that when we get to the centre-line we can set up and wait overnight for the morning. Anyone else at the centre-line?

[BrettK]

I expect to observe from the Hann River Roadhouse. It is just inside the Southern Limit. The country here is very flat (just 80 metres ASL) but there is a country airstrip just up the road which should mean I can get a clear view over the runway.

The news is though that the road from Laura is more or less closed - certainly to two wheel drives. The wet does seem to be over - or ending - now so with a bit of luck the road will be fine.

Accommodation there is extremely limited so I will be taking my tent. I will also be hiring a 4X4. I last camped here in 1979 when there was no Roadhouse or campsite of store or fuel. But there was a really nice swimming hole with plenty of clear water dropping over a waterfall a couple of metres high.

If all goes well I expect to drop into Laura on the way back to have a look at the aboriginal rock art there which I missed all those years ago.

Then back to Cairns by Friday night and a dive trip on Saturday.

So if the weather is overcast the trip will not be a total waste.

[doppler]

My daughter and I have been planing to head to the centerline for our first annular eclipse. On google maps it looks like the highway has been realigned at some stage so it looks like there are some good camping spots on the old road around the Churchill's Head area. At this stage that is where we are heading.

http://xjubier.free.fr/en/site_pages/solar_eclipses/ASE_2013_GoogleMapFull.html

Cheers Rick

[firstlight]

Hi Rick, I've PM'ed you. We are looking forward to the trip. This will be our 5th expedition; Miles for the Leonids in 2001, Ceduna TSE 2002, Exmouth Venus Transit 2004, Cairns TSE 2012. It will also be the first road trip with all 3 boys for the full distance (we flew to Cairns).

[astroron]

I am heading up there for the eclipse,anyone from SEQ who would like to accompany me and share costs, I have a small caravan with two beds.
Date of leaving around the first of May but open to change,
PM me if interested ?
Cheers:thumbsup:

[H31l0]

Hi all, new here. I'll also be heading to this one. I'll be at Tennant Creek - I think it's the most easily accessable place. Who else will be at Tennant Creek?

P.s - I'll probably be heading up to Churchill's head also. Perfect ring would be good for my first annular eclipse

[RichardJ]

Hi Michael,

My wife and I are going up to Tennant Creek. Have not yet decided where we will observe the eclipse.

Anybody else going up to Tennant Creek from Alice Springs?

RichardJ :)

[firstlight]

Hi Richard,

We were talking to someone at the club meeting tonight who will be travelling from the Alice. We expect to meet up towards Churchill's Head.

Hey Ron did you say that you were heading to NT for the eclipse as well? Would be cool to meet up with you on the road somewhere.

Rick, the wife and I are keen to have another road trip... The kids don't know what they are in for :lol:

Cheers
Tony

[H31l0]

Looks like I'll just keep driving north until I see a bunch of people On the side of the road :) what time is first contact and annularity?

[mithrandir]

If the crowd assemble at Churchill's Head you might not see them from the Stuart Hwy. It looks like there's a paved road turnoff about 9km south at 19° 0'57"S 134° 8'14"E and a dirt turnoff at 18°56'44"S 134° 7'24"E but that goes past what looks like a phone tower so might not be open to the public.

Times in UTC at Churchill's Head

Start of partial eclipse (C1) : 2013/05/09 21:25:10.1
Start of annular eclipse (C2) : 2013/05/09 22:35:05.3
Maximum eclipse : 2013/05/09 22:37:18.9
End of annular eclipse (C3) : 2013/05/09 22:39:32.5
End of partial eclipse (C4) : 2013/05/10 00:02:51.5

[H31l0]

Excellent, thanks!

6:55am first contact and 8:05am start annularity? (Tennant creek time)?

[doppler]

Looks like the comunication tower might be a good meeting point. It looks like it is fenced off so access should be ok. We will be camping in that area for 1 or 2 nights before. Churchill's head is just a mock tourist spot ie a rock that someone put a pipe into so that it looks like a silhouette of Winston Churchill's head.

Cheers Rick

[mithrandir]

It might be a joke, but it is recorded in the geonames database (http://www.ga.gov.au/place-names/PlaceDetails.jsp?fctext=MONU&submit1=NT11761). I guess status "U" means unofficial.

[doppler]

Before I google searched it I guess I was expecting an impressive landformation.

[firstlight]

I believe that servicemen stationed in the area during the war stuck in the pipe with a tin at the end to mimic Winston's pipe. Could be I am just spreading an urban legend.

[firstlight]

We're heading from Brisbane on Saturday the 5th. We are attempting to get to Tennant Creek on the 8th. We intend then to drive on the 9th to Churchill's Head and set up overnight. As we are travelling in a 2WD with a trailer I am reluctant to travel on the old Stuart Highway from Attack Creek, as after the wet there might be some washouts or road damage. The Head is only about 4km from the other end of the road and there doesn't seem to be too many creeks and gullies that I can see from Google Earth.

Can't wait... picking up the bars for the tarp cover for the trailer this week.

[doppler]

I don't think the old highway would be in too bad a condition, the countryside in central australia is fairly flat so water moves slowly (not a lot of washouts). It looks like that section of the old highway followed the creek and would have been under water for days on end in many sections. We will probably try and cut through to the old road via the comunication tower access track.

We are travelling by 2 wheel drive as well, but no trailer so I have to pack well. It is a good idea to carry spare fuel as it can be a long way between petrol stations.... some newer cars don't have big tanks.

Rick

[Becstar]

Bugger, I won't see this so far south in Victoria. I'm seriously considering a move to either far north queensland or southern Tasmania. All the good solar stuff happens up north but the southern lights can sometimes be seen from Tassie. Victoria seems to miss out on all the really spectacular stuff.

[colinmlegg]

Rebecca, you should drive down to Wilsons Prom for the next Aurora (if clear). Not far from you (Moe) and a great spot for dark sky south viewing. I saw one from there in January :)

[Peter Ward]

Yes.. Managed to get some ad-hoc leave, we're flying to the Alice
and have a campervan booked to drive up to Darwin via Tennant Creek
on the way.

[cyclone]

or mid to south Australia in 15 years time
http://eclipse.gsfc.nasa.gov/SEatlas/SEatlas3/SEatlas2021.GIF

[Becstar]

I read this and googled it and came up with this. http://earthsky.org/earth/rare-photo-of-aurora-australis-southern-lights-and-bioluminescence I had no idea! The bioluminesence thing is awesome as well. I might charge the battery cameras up and head down there this weekend. Even if I don't see anything it's still a beautiful place, and I need to get away for a few days.

[cyclone]

Total years:
2023
2028
2030
2037
2038
!!

the 2023 might be a bit of issue....

[Landow]

Hi. I am in the USA doing a research on this coming up May 10th annular eclipse. Some freinds were going to get some pictures of it for me, but will not make it in time. Is there any one of you who will be taking pictures of the eclipse and posting it in this website? If possible. I would like to see pictures of the eclipse with people or any other objects in it.:)

Michael

[H31l0]

Hopefully I'll get some - because it's an annular eclipse we can't get a picture with anything else in it other than light cloud cover, because solar filters are absolutely necessary. They block out a great proportion of light. So yeh we can take some nice pictures, and if we're fortunate enough there might be a little light cloud to add to the atmosphere, but we won't be able to take a photo of the eclipse with other people or objects in it (unless we photoshop it?) :p

Will try to get the best pics I can though :)

[RichardJ]

Hi Peter,

Sounds great. PM sent

Richard.

[astroron]

I am now heading for Tennant Creek, as I think there will be a better chance of clear weather.
Anyone from SEQ who wants to go and share costs, can PM me.
Cheers:thumbsup:

[Stephen P]

Hello to all those going to Tennant Creek from Alice Springs for the Annular Solar Eclipse.

I will be in Alice Springs the week before the event, and heading up a few days before, so if anyone is interested in a meet and greet prior to departure please PM me.

I will be staying at a mates rural property in Alice, so if you want to get your equipment sorted etc before you leave for Tennant let me know. If there are a few people interested we can set a date.

Regards,
Stephen.

[cyclone]

oh dear.... we have a 'possible cyclone/low crossing up north and possible rain shower conditions for WA in a couple weeks !

[Liz]

yes, saw that on the news. Saying a high probability of a cyclone for Monday. :eek:

[cyclone]

Currently Cat 2 might go to Cat 3

http://www.bom.gov.au/fwo/IDQ65001.gif

[BrettK]

The cyclone will be long gone by this time next week.

The latest modelling shows humidity dropping rapidly for this time of the year.

So I'll be at the Hann River Roadhouse if anybody is looking for me.

[cyclone]

might try and do the same.....

[Aussiearcher]

Hi All

1st post. I live in Charters Towers NQ, and am not an astronomer by any stretch of the imagination, but do enjoy the celestial shows nature puts on - got some nice pics of the total lunar eclipse, Venus transit, viewed the absolutely awesome TSE in Cairns with some of my family, and planned to go to FNQ for this annular.

Have to say the richness of info shared here was of critical assistance.

However, I now need to drive my brother from Darwin to CT, and can't depart earlier than 1:00p Thursday 9 May, but this does present another opportunity to see the eclipse.

The concentricity of the centreline view appeals to me, but I can't see us making the distance that night.

Therefore, I took Joe's suggestion and had a look at Dan Fisher's talk about being at the fringe.

We plan on overnighting at Renner's Springs, which is approx 32 klm sth of the northern limit.

Questions:
will the difference in view/photography options be worth backtracking 25klm or so to get closer to the edge? (how close is best?)

what are suggested settings to also try and photograph Bailey's Beads? Should I expose as per BB during the TSE and hope the sun doesn't blow the whole shot, or will i need to occlude part of the lens (sun) with OD5 solar film? (fully aware of the eyesight preservation issues involved with this) Will probably use Eclipse Orchestra again.

Will be using 5D2 with 24-70 for enviro shots and 40D with 70-200 & 2x teleconverter for closer shots (or 100-400 if i can borrow it)

Regards
Greg

[Aussiearcher]

For BrettK and Cyclone heading north, Katrin from Cape York News has just sent the following advice, after talking with residents in the area who observe the conditions first hand:

"Ok people,

Jump in and off you go! The road is open all the way to the Tip however the Old Telegraph Track is boggy at this stage, and keep an eye on Archer River.

=================================== =============

In This Issue:

• Post Zane Road Report

• Feedback Always Welcome

=================================== =============

POST ZANE ROAD REPORT

The main road north - Peninsula Developmental Road - is open all the way north.

The southern parts are dry, some had no rain at all, some had a little.

Down in Cooktown (http://www.cape-york-australia.com/cooktown-australia.html) end, Bloomfield Road (http://www.cape-york-australia.com/bloomfield-road.html) is open but slippery, CREB Track (http://www.cape-york-australia.com/creb-track.html) is closed, and Battle Camp Road (http://www.cape-york-australia.com/battlecamp-road.html) is closed (more exactly - the part that goes through Lakefield National Park (http://www.cape-york-australia.com/lakefield-national-park.html) is - national parks are closed until June so no going to Lakefield this month yet).

Burke Developmental Road (http://www.cape-york-australia.com/burke-developmental-road.html) is open and in a good condition all the way to Normanton.

Back to the main road north..

Laura (http://www.cape-york-australia.com/laura-australia.html) River is usually the one to go up after heavy rains, the river waters are down so all good (it's sealed until Laura now).

Musgrave (http://www.cape-york-australia.com/musgrave-roadhouse.html) had no rain, all dry and good.

Archer River Roadhouse (http://www.cape-york-australia.com/archer-river-roadhouse.html) and Bramwell Junction (http://www.cape-york-australia.com/bramwell-junction.html) had some rain but the road is open.

It's around Archer River and Bramwell as the things are a little wet, and Archer River (http://www.cape-york-australia.com/archer-river.html) could stuff it if it went up.

So far though, the river is good and while it's a bit rainy, there are no predictions of major rains.

Two side roads: Weipa (http://www.cape-york-australia.com/weipa.html) is fine as it most often is, and Weipa end is sealed.

And so what did finally happen to Lockhart River? I did not get anybody on the phone but my guess is the road is fine.

Back to the main road north..

Bypass Roads (http://www.cape-york-australia.com/bypass-roads.html) are open.

The Old Telegraph Track (http://www.cape-york-australia.com/old-telegraph-track.html) is very boggy by the sounds of it (if you are there and know more I am keen to hear about it!).

Jardine River ferry (http://www.cape-york-australia.com/jardine-river-ferry.html) is working and people are getting across.

The road is open all the way to Punsand Bay (http://www.cape-york-australia.com/punsand-bay.html), which is near the Tip of Cape York (http://www.cape-york-australia.com/tip-of-australia.html), so it cannot get better, it's all open!

That said, there may be more rain coming, however likely nothing major so Cape York is open for you :-)

That's all this time, if you are sitting in Cairns and waiting, you are fine to go!


FEEDBACK ALWAYS WELCOME

I really appreciate any kind of feedback on the destination guide (http://www.cape-york-australia.com/visit-cape-york.html).

Please let me know (http://www.cape-york-australia.com/contact-me.html) if you enjoyed it while planning before the trip, and while using the information once on the trip.

If you get any questions about anything, please feel welcome to contact me (http://www.cape-york-australia.com/contact-me.html).

That's all for this time - happy planning, and, till the next newsletter if I don't hear from you.

Have a great day :-)

Katrin


P. S. If you cannot see the photo banner in the top of this page, and instead of links you see url adresses throughout the text, you are using email software that only reads text. Consider getting an email account with Yahoo or others that can read HTML (and remember to change your email address, which can be done in the end of every newsletter.

You are subscribed to Cape York News.

The back issues are at the following URL...
http://www.cape-york-australia.com/Cape_York_News-backissues.html "

................................

Greg

[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-

[Paul_Cox]

If you're imaging this eclipse, please see my post here (http://www.iceinspace.com.au/forum/showthread.php?t=106764)- I'm looking for people to provide live image feeds for our coverage of the eclipse!

Paul

[cyclone]

looks like i will be out of internet coverage, and the only for of communication is HF radio.

[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 !!!

[cyclone]

skippysky 120hr forecast 00z is out tomorrow, is it accurate ?

[OzEclipse]

Cyclone,

Andrew Cool of Skippy Skydoesn't do weather predictions, Skippy Sky is one of the best graphical representations of the GFS model going but as far as I know, Skippy Sky doesn't do the forecasting or interpret the model.

FNQ has lots of local weather that the GFS model will struggle with.

I am currently camping in a remote location out west of the Great Northern highway. Nearest towns are Newman 300km north and Meekatharra 200km sth yet (insanely) we have internet. There is a mine about 40km away.

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

[H31l0]

Getting close now!!!

Am not looking forward to the 600km drive from alice springs to tennant creek. I'm worried I'll get too tired. Is anyone here also doing this drive? If so, have you found/planned interesting stop offs? (Bar Devil's Marbles)?

[Willoughby]

We are instead now heading for Tennant Creek, departing early Wednesday morning and will aim to be at Devil's Marbles by sunset Wednesday. Thursday will be our 'scout out' day for the eclipse.

We would have loved to go to Newman, but this had proved WAY too expensive for us flying Air North to Port Hedland.

Accomodation now seems to be booked out in Tennant for the 9th.

[H31l0]

My friend and I booked at the Youth hostel, but it
Sounded quite dodgy because he didnt give me any reference number
Or take any details. I hope I'm not left without accommodation.

Do you think that it would take that long, Wednesday morning to sunset to get to devils marbles or are you planning big stop offs? And if so, what? I'll be driving up Thursday from alice starting around 9:30, hoping to get to tennant creek by sunset... Hope I'm not pushing it?

Edit: just realised my ignorance - Willougby, you're not driving from Alice Springs are you? Just because I am for some reason I assumed you were lol. Where you coming from?

[Willoughby]

Perhaps give them another call? There seems to be one private room left here: http://www.hostelbookers.com/property/prp/7341/arr/2013-05-09/ngt/1/ppl/1/

We plan to leave Darwin at 4am, 1088 km to Devil's Marbles. Should be doable with early morning tea and a swim at beautiful Bitter Springs, Mataranka then lunch at Daly Waters Pub. Two drivers. You should be okay, just get some good sleep!

[H31l0]

Ah yes Darwin is quite far away! Good luck with the drive within one day! I called up the guy afew days ago to confirm, it's quite hard to understand him because the line was bad and he had a very thick Irish accent, but he said the booking was there (despite the fact that he didnt look in the system).. I haven't even given any payment details... What's the bet we'll be left without accommodation? :p

[H31l0]

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]

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]

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]

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...:D

Or is this the time to break the bane ?

Cheers

Joerg

[Antares]

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]

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 (http://www.iceinspace.com.au/forum/showthread.php?t=106764)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 :thumbsup: 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 :cool:. 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 (http://www.wunderground.com/cgi-bin/findweather/getForecast?query=-19.645850,134.191246&hourly=1&yday=129&weekday=Friday&MR=1)
Weather 2 (http://www.accuweather.com/en/au/tennant-creek/13783/hourly-weather-forecast/13783?hour=57)
Weather 3 (http://ozforecast.com.au/cgi-bin/weather.cgi?location=Tennant+Creek. NT&pagetype=details&time=20130510)

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]

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/Northern_Territory/Tennant_Creek/hour_by_hour_detailed.html

[cyclone]

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

[BrettK]

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]

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]

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]

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]

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]

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]

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]

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

[Willoughby]

Good morning!

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

[Dennis]

Just caught the Channel 7 “Sunrise” bulletin where it was presented as an “Astrological Event” by Kochy and as written in the information banner at the foot of the screen….sigh….:rolleyes:

Cloudy in Brisbane right now.:(

Cheers

Dennis

[fungussface]

Real shame. The clouds in Brisbane are rising faster than the sun. Hope for a glimpse before it finishes.

I look forward to viewing the photos of those who are more fortunate with the weather.:shrug:

[asimov]

Sunrise - Bloody idiots :shrug:

No hope here...Got an offer to get PAID for some eclipse footage for a change & it's solidly clouded out in Bundy hah!

[gaa_ian]

Sitting here in Cairns and have seen the sun through a few sucker holes ! Hoping it clears a few more times during the eclipse.
Glad to hear someone is getting clearish skies.

[Kunama]

Clear skies here from horizon to horizon but being so far south the partial is only minimal, this is what I am seeing over Varney's Range at the moment.

[asimov]

Getting sucker holes here and at least have one image so far.

[swannies1983]

On my way to work on the bus and can see it through the tinted glass. It's about 30% obscured.

[Deeno]

Just been out having a sticky with my 'IIS Eclipse glasses'. At least a get to actually use them this time!

[alphamone]

Getting nice pics here in Canberra, will post them later when I copy them off my phone (pointing it down my filtered telescope.)

Also, those are some nice sunspots near the edge.

[Larryp]

Just had a look through my Thousand Oaks solar filter-no scope, though.

[axle01]

Got all the gear set up in the front yard to photograph it and at 7am no cloud, 7.30 totally clouded over here in Townsville, 8.50 still completely hidden, got a 20 second look but now it's gone.

Alan

[h0ughy]

pacman

[Barrykgerdes]

The sun is brightly shining in Sydney so at 8:50 I screamed out of bed to get my solar glasses. As expected they were not where I last had them.

I gave up after 10 mins and grabbed a bit of stiff card and a pin and sheet of white paper. A nice pin hole in the card, stood at the window and threw the image onto the paper at about 40cms and Eureka! there was the image of the partial eclipse. The first time I have bothered with an eclipse in 60 years.

Barry

[h0ughy]

well thats an excellent alternative to nothing Barry
:lol:

[Kunama]

that is also the only way I can convince my wife to watch an eclipse, I could stack 10 solar filters on top of each other but still she will only view it through the camera obscura.

[Mick]

cloudy here in NQ today, had a great view between clouds and some quick pix.

[Terry B]

100% fog here.:(

[Rob_K]

Weird morning here, smoke and fog, and it brought about some interesting photographic challenges! Earlier on the Sun was red and you could easily see the eclipse naked eye (quick glances). Still visible naked eye but am now using filters (camera) & eclipse glasses (eye). Attached is a quickie at maximum eclipse. Nearly over now.

Cheers -

[OzEclipse]

Hi all

Spectacular sunrise this morning. Perfectly clear with second contact occurring a few seconds before the sun cleared the horizon. We're absolutely stoked here 220km south of Newman and about 40km in from the south limit. We chose this spot because it was the only spot that gave us C2 on the horizon with relatively easy access.

Spoke to Geoff Sims on the phone. He is on the next slightly higher hill about a km away. Have packed up and driving over to see him now.

More to come.......

Joe

[Kazza]

Finally, a gorgeous day in Newcastle for a Solar event! Hadn't taken too much attention with this one in the build up. But this morning dawning so lovely,I grabbed the solar glasses and took a peek. Telescope is packed way to high to get out easily, but the kids (4 and 6) had a great time with the glasses. We took the glasses to school and my daughters 1/2 class had a fantastic time checking it out. Looking forward to seeing more photos.

[bojan]

From Melbourne..

[Becstar]

I somehow got the idea in my head that this would not be observable at all from this far south! If I'd have done my research I'd have applied for a day of leave from work for the day and got the camera out. Bugger! :sadeyes:

[alphamone]

These are a few of my nicer looking photos. Taken with a galaxy S3 pointing down the eyepiece (20mm for the wide shot, 10mm for the narrow shot) of my Celestron Astromaster 130 with a baader solar filter.

As I am in Canberra, we only got about 25% coverage maximum, but still quite obvious through eclipse goggles (and from shadows cast by what few of out trees still had leaves).

[h0ughy]

nice and crisp Bojan

[cyclone]

We parked 10 km south of Musgrave (FNQ) and got clear skies, saw the 'ring of fire', then the clouds rolled in at 9am, we did goto Musgrave but there was clouds at 730 am

[ZeroID]

OK, we got clouds but I still got an image.
Through the clouds, at 1/8000 sec, ISO 50, f36 at 105mm. Crop from a converted 24 meg ARW file to jpeg.
I just swung the SONY up and took fast pics. Clouds kept it all pretty cool, no solar film or anything.

[h0ughy]

you need to take a flat, and a few darks to process properly:lol:

[ZeroID]

If I stacked them all ( 28 frames ) I could have some moving clouds. Anyone for animation ?? :D

[fungussface]

Missed the start, but managed some shots in a break in the clouds.

[Suzy_A]

Hi Folks,

Here's one of my photos from Fremantle, WA.

Susan

[ThinBlueLine]

Oh Wow - that's a beauty Susan!! :D - love the plane zooming across !
Great capture. Loving all these photos here.

Amanda.

[asimov]

Nice work all & Susan, that's such a rare capture...Treasure that one!

[Rob_K]

Here's a "colourful" version of this morning's partial eclipse, thanks to varying degrees of smoke & fog! And Susan, what a shot, great work! And everyone else! :thumbsup:

Cheers -

[ThinBlueLine]

Woah, that's lovely Rob ! :D Like that very much, nice colours there.

Amanda.

[Willoughby]

From north of Tennant Creek:
http://www.flickr.com/photos/unripegreenbanana/8724285381/sizes/k/in/photostream/

[schoppy]

Nicole and I saw a beautifull rising annular eclipse 70km south of Newman, togehter with Terry and Jay

http://fotoalbum.web.de/ui/external/schoppy/albums/SolarEclipse20130510

Cheers

Joerg

[iceman]

Amazing shots!

[pluto]

That is such a cool shot!! :eyepop:

[icytailmark]

i saw it with my solar eclipse glasses was great. It was my first one!!!!

[skytry]

hi All,
great photo' Suzy, that's a keeper,

observed the eclipse from approx 15K's south of
Tennant Creek, slightly cloudy,
viewed through telescope with filter, enjoyed the view,
with the drifting clouds it was awsome,

no photo's, I'm working on that, one day,

I am enjoying your photo's though,

should have viewed the forum for prior eclipse entries,
could have done with company, shall know next time

regards,
Peter.

[CJ]

Solar specs on my mobile plus some tweaking.
It's rubbish and still the best one I've got so far! :)

[stardust steve]

great pics. Love the plane transit Susan, very special indeed!:thumbsup:

[BrettK]

All clear at the Hann River Roadhouse - not a cloud in the sky - and only a few of us there to see it.

Photos later.

[cyclone]

we stopped there twice, but could not see any pink telescope, so we then went to Musgrave, then back 10 km

[Suzy_A]

Hi Eclipsers,

thanks for the comments about my photo! But there's plenty of other great ones by other people too! I was just super-lucky to get that photo. I managed to get to somewhere with a clear view of the horizon about 2 minutes before sunrise and hadn't time to set up my proper telescope mount, so just I was using a 400 mm f5.6 lens with 2x teleconverter on a camera tripod with the camera on self-timer to try and minimise the wobbling when I pressed the button. It was just by chance I was in the right spot and the camera went off in the 1/4 or so second that the plane crossed the eclipse, although I did see it coming about 1/2 a second before through the viewfinder.

The photo was taken at 07:05, which means the sun was 1.4 degrees above the horizon - probably about 1 degree actually due to the Darling Scarp elevating the horizon.

As a result, the photo is a bit blurry through all that haze, cloud and atmosphere. I also just did a very quick conversion from RAW to JPG without doing much else to it. It might be a bit better after some adjustment.


So... next eclipse is 29 April 2014....

Susan

[Dennis]

Here’s my effort, grabbed quickly as we were leaving the house, just as the clouds cleared.:)

Cheers

Dennis

[Willoughby]

Great shots so far!!

Here are the rest of mine from right on the centreline next to the repeater tower, about 4km up the road from Attack Creek, Northern Territory.
http://www.flickr.com/photos/unripegreenbanana/

[h0ughy]

nice one Dennis

[Blue Skies]

Watched it from home this morning, the cloud clearing just in time. A much better view than last November's eclipse.

Face-palm moment tonight - visiting a Facebook page for storm chasing and one of the members reckoned what he saw was "weird" and hinted that he thought the photos appearing in the media today were made up because they all looked different. :rolleyes: Riiiight... I should hope so!

[Aussiearcher]

Nice shots everyone.
Well, after a late departure from Darwin, got into Renner Springs midnight Thurs, then back north to 18-06.964/ 133-43.427 by 6a just in time to watch a beautiful pre-dawn and a 1min 5 sec annularity, then off to Mt Isa.
Intermittent cloud, but mostly that added to the experience - got some OK (and some disasterous) pics and will post some when (a) i get home and (b) i learn how to do it.

got a lot of funny looks from passers by

Greg

[gaa_ian]

How lucky we we here in Cairns, 2 great eclipses in 6 months :eyepop:
I had to race into town from the south side of cairns driving through the pouring rain, after the tip off from a mate that it was clear in town.
While some folks watched this great event from atop soaring mountains, in painted deserts and from coral fringed beaches.
I saw my best view from the Macca's car park in suburban Cairns :lol: where I met my mate for a Coffee, armed with some eclipse glasses.
The views were between and through the clouds for the maximum, with the clouds clearing for the latter parts of the event.
The only photo I got was on the iPhone through eclipse glasses, but being there was the main thing and sharing it with a good mate was all the better :thumbsup:

[glenc]

There are some images of the ring here.
http://www.skyandtelescope.com/community/skyblog/observingblog/Australias-Ring-of-Fire-Eclipse-206913761.html

[firstlight]

Hi everyone,

Haven't had much Internet or contact on our travels but we have a few moments at Barkleys Homestead. This is a shot from Anne-Louise's rig. It will be a while until I am able to have a real look at what I managed to grab.

We are still a few days from Brisbane but we have one interesting ride. :eyepop:

Cheers
Tony

[stardust steve]

Hi all. Here are a few captures from south of Adelaide. After a cloudy start, it cleared up nicely.

Cheers,
Steve.

[h0ughy]

be great to catch up with you guys at Astrofest to hear the whole story ;) Nice O:thumbsup::P

[OzEclipse]

Hi all

My annular eclipse report & photo's and video processed so far are now on my web site.
One teaser attached. That's chromosphere you can see joining the cusps.

Link to report
http://joe-cali.com/eclipses/PAST/ASE2013/index.html

Some of my pictures are being syndicated to news feeds as well by a news service agency in the UK.

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2322332/Skygazers-flock-Outback-watch-ring-eclipse-crosses-Australia-Pacific.html?ito=feeds-newsxml

Fantastic views, clear weather we're very very :D:D:D:D:D. Geoff Sims returned this morning, still here in Newman with Colin Legg.

Cheers

Joe Cali

[h0ughy]

Marvelous simply amazing shots:thumbsup:

[ThinBlueLine]

Steve - I'm loving that first photo of yours, it's an absolute beauty !! :D
Very atmospheric and all.. very nice & well captured. :thumbsup:

Amanda.

[ThinBlueLine]

Ian, that is soooo funny!!! So beautifully and eloquently described re other folks watching it, then you saw it beautifully from the Macca's carpark! ROFL as we speak..:lol::lol:

...still laughing..

Amanda.

p.s - what a great website you have, just had a look now, have bookmarked as some really handy info there for little newbie me. Thanks! :thumbsup:

[Rob_K]

:confused2: What goes on?
http://apod.nasa.gov/apod/ap130513.html

It's Susan's photo, better processed, but image credit & copyright is given to a Phillip Calais. I overlaid them in PS and they capture exactly the same scene at exactly the same moment, in exactly the same orientation. :shrug:

Cheers -

[shahgazer]

Hi Guys,

Just arrived to Kuala Lumpur, after a really awesome trip to Newman, for the Annular Solar Eclipse.

We watched at the top of Radio Hill, Newman, along with another big group from Japan. Due to lack of mobile roaming and internet (which drove me crazy!) , I couldn't get in touch with Xavier (Solar Maestro) which from my understanding was also watching from Newman, I think..

Anyway, here the photo during Annularity, a few seconds before 3rd contact. Missed the rising sun, due to low clouds! :sadeyes:

Here is the Youtube LINK (http://youtu.be/YE4jrp4sneo) to my video taken during the eclipse

[Andrew C]

Through a bit of luck and judicious planning I was on a bush work trip via Tennant Creek on Friday morning, so I took some odds and ends with me. My attempts at capturing the old Battery Hill headframe with the eclipse in the background were not successful, as I had not researched the technique in advance, however the effect (and the whole experience) was quite atmospheric so I have included one here for good measure. We even heard the bush birds begin to sing their end of day calls as the twilight descended. Then reverted to plan B with solar film over spotting scope at 20X in time to get the maximum. Tennant was just inside the path, so we picked up the full annulus with a little offset.

Cheers,

Andrew

[iceman]

Amazing shots everyone - loving them!

[Liz]

Hmmm .. .I just presumed it was Susans's photo!! What the!
Did you post to APOD Susan?

[colinmlegg]

The credit puzzled me too. Best to inform APOD asap.

[bojan]

I also checked.. it appears we have the one and the same image, the one credited to Phillip is of the scale almost exactly 2x larger (or the other one is resampled as 50%).
Or, they both took the images from almost the same position, with the cameras of same resolution, with timing within couple of miliseconds.. not likely.

Most likely, somebody at APOD mixed up images and authors...

[Rob_K]

I agree Bojan, it's probably a mix-up, or a case of nom de plumes.




Even more unlikely (nigh on impossible) that they had exactly the same orientation as well.

Cheers -

[Kurt]

Hi all,

Wow! Super photos everyone!

Well, I eventually made it up to the centreline as planned and positioned myself just off Stuart Hwy near the repeater tower, about 4km up the road from Attack Creek, Northern Territory.

Coincidently I ended up parking next to Will (Willoughby) from Darwin. It was great to meet you Will and share stories of your Eclipse and Storm chasing escapades. Ben and I look forward to catching with you again some other time! Great Flickr site too mate!

Thank heavens the clouds burned off enough to allow a clean eclipse for 90% of its duration. Well worth the trip up from Sydney. First Eclipse and now hooked!

Here are some of my pictures. Enjoy :)

View Album Here (http://www.flickr.com/photos/smatruk/sets/72157633507650574/)


Cheers,
Kurt

[AdamsBob]

I flew down (under) from Minnesota, USA, starting early Tuesday morning, Australia time. Actually made all flight connections and ended up 1.5 km north of the centerline (highest spot I could find next to the Great Northern Highway) just before eclipsed sunrise.

And yes, the long trip is always worth the effort to see annularity at sunrise!

[RichardJ]

Hi Bob,

Fabulous photos. Glad it all went so well.

RichardJ

[RichardJ]

Hi,

Here is my contribution to the images in this thread. Taken with PST and Canon DSLR.

Thanks for looking.

RichardJ :)

[firstlight]

Just found a little time to do some rough editing of the eclipse timelapse. Also put together a sort of montage. Captured with the 110mm WO, Canon 450D, coloured in PS CS5.

Don't know how many frames in the animation, look at it another day :).
http://youtu.be/34AQ1CvyXZk

I'll have to update the montage one day too as I didn't include the mid eclipse... hmmm, bad planning here.

[h0ughy]

fantastic result tony and anne louise

[firstlight]

I should have been working on my article for the BAS Observer, but I found that I had a bit to do to get this up to speed. I guess that we are all are moving on from the eclipse (all except me I guess :D).

I have just finished putting together the video of our expedition to the Northern Territory for the annular eclipse last month.

We put a fair bit of work in the capture and for the most part we succeeded in executing the plan. I hope you like it. http://youtu.be/Wm3CbksdT44

Cheers
Tony