greetings from suzhou, china

[seeker372011]

greetings from suzhou china

the SASI eclipse tour has been in shanghai for last couple of days and in suzhou tonight; tomorrow we are headed for hangzhou where we hope to observe the eclipse; however, even though the forecast is not the greatest, the china experience is simply awesome

highlight of today..visited Synta's factory and got a tour; dozens of pictures;photo with the owner; and a sneak peek at the awesome new hand controller proposed to be launched in December

will post piccys when I get back this is just a hurried update

Narayan

[astroron]

Thanks for the post:)
I hope you have a great Eclipse:thumbsup:

[h0ughy]

Narayan i hope you have a great eclipse - i wish i was there.

[jjjnettie]

Thanks for thinking of us N.
Looking forward to more updates and postcards.

[Jen]

Thanks for the updates :thumbsup: hope you have a great time :D
Looking forward to the pics :) cheers from downunder ;)
:gday:

[ngcles]

Hi All,

I'll add my hi to Narayan's. Having a ball.

Very, very hot and humid 39-41 deg C every day + high humidity. We have been through Shanghai and Suzhou and Hangzhou tomorrow – then the eclipse hopefully on Wednesday.

What haven’t we seen ? You simply would not believe this place they are now very western (at least where we have been so far). It is almost like being in Hurstville (Sydney) most of the time. Maccas, KFC etc etc everywhere. Almost everyone in the city owns a car or two. The expressways have to be seen to be believed – they leave us for dead.

Maglev very fast train -- we took a short trip at 434 km/hr (not kidding) from the airport to the city.

Construction everywhere 24/7. Beautiful Gardens, interesting factories. The accommodation has been good to very good – excellent tonight in Suzhou. We went to the Synta (telescope) factory today. Very professional and big outfit given the market they cater to. We all met the president of Synta and I asked about whether they are looking to produce bigger mirrors down the track (ie 18-25") -- no not interested. So that rumour is dead -- sorry. You can't get any more "horses mouth" than that.

Food good to very good.

So far I’ve been offered genuine Rolex watches at least 200 times on the street. Green lasers pointers at least 500 times and pens and all sorts of other assorted goodies. Last night about 11pm, while I was outside the Hilton (yes -- I was looking at the sky, honest) a guy tried to entice me over the road to a strip-joint. 50 RMB (about 11 AUD) to "look for a long time" -- 100 RMB you can "touch the beautiful girl all over her skins" (I'll leave you to imagine the accent). He was very, very persistent for over 10 mins.

And no (to finish the story), I didn't go with him but doggedly persisted with my naked eye observing under a mag 2.5 sky (am I a tragic or what?).

I have at last located and seen Polaris!!!! Yay! -- at last !

Weather for Wed (eclipse day) looks as good as can be realistically hoped for -- 36 deg C hazy and chance of an afternoon thunderstorm. The pattern for the last 3 days has been clear in the morning with a gradual build-up of haze and high cloud over the rest of the day. Totality is 9.45am (ish) so if the pattern continues, we’re in with ½ a chance. There is reason for guarded optimism.

Have to go – almost 1.30am. Internet here tonight is free. A net connection was very expensive at the Hilton last 2 nights (so I gave it a miss).

Hope to report again soon.


Best,

Les D

[astroron]

Good Onya Les:) Have a great Eclipse and Thanks :thumbsup:

[Baddad]

Hi Narayan, :)

greetings from suzhou china

Sounds great, have a good time.:)

Cheers Marty

[jjjnettie]

I'm jealous, so very very jealous.
Good luck with the weather.

[iceman]

Thanks Les and Narayan for the updates!

Good luck for the eclipse, wish I was there too!

[ngcles]

Hi All,

Just a quick update. The weather prospects (formal forecast) for tomorrow are somewhat "dicey" at this stage.

There was a train of thought that we should think about going about 4 hrs west of here away from the coast where the prospects look possibly 10% better based on the current forecast but we have decided to stick with plan "A" and to observe about 2 hrs from here at a point about 1/2 way between Shanghai and Hangzhou about 60km from the coast.

For each of the last 4 days here MSN weather have been predicting thunderstorms and or showers and cloud but instead it has been reasonably clear in the mornings (light high cloud) and not a drop of precipitation at all.

After looking at the cloud picture my gut feeling is we will see an eclipse but I don't have much to back that up.

Here's hoping ... fingers crossed!


Best,

Les D

[Octane]

Narayan and Les,

I hope you guys get to experience the eclipse. Especially after having traveled all that way. :(

*fingers crossed*

Regards,
Humayun

[ngcles]

Hi Hunayan & All,




Thanks for the sentiment and I understand the spirit in which it is given, :thumbsup: but I have no desire to "experience" an eclipse -- I want to see it.

I've "experienced" one before in 1976 and it wasn't a lot of fun ...

Hope you get my meaning -- I understand yours ...


Best,

Les D

[wavelandscott]

It is amazing isn't it. I've been to China a few times and the change over the last decade is hard to describe and hard to imagine...A determined government (without opposition) can accomplish incredible things.

Hope you guys all get to see and enjoy the eclipse...I wish I was there too!

[h0ughy]

eagerly awaiting their results

[jjjnettie]

Can't be long now.

[ngcles]

Hi All,

Full details will follow in due time and probably from others.

The days started with very low dark cloud, showers and thunderstorms and ended in a similar fashion.

Virtually all of the time between was the same.

There was one 15-odd minute break when the Sun appearred and guess what ????


The 15 mins was exactly superimposed over the centre of totallity .

Utterly incredible. Saw all 5.56 mins through thin high cirrus/haze -- glorious.

20 mins before -- raining.

20 mins after -- raining.

Cannot believe our good luck -- you had to be there to appreciate it. 15mins we saw the Sun all day -- centred exactly over totallity. Wow

Emoticons fail me! (Sorry Jen)

Very tired. Excuse my bad typing (been up since 3am)


Best to all and thanks for hoping for us,


Les D

[AstroJunk]

Massively good news Les! I'm still waiting with fingers crossed for word from the Hangzhou team.

I had a similar experience at the 1999 eclipse over France - I think the tension only served to make the whole thing better :thumbsup:

[MrB]

Classic!
How good is that!?
Glad you got to see it Les.

[ngcles]

Hi All,

Rare that I'm first to post a pic -- but here is my poor effort with cave-man processing.

Remember it was through high cirrus -- and to be frank I was weeping at the time -- serious.

Going to sleep now ...


Best,

Les D

P.S There was one helluva story behind today. Miraculous is too soft a word to describe our circumstances.

[gary]

Good one Les! :thumbsup:

Great to hear you got to see it! You are one lucky foreign devil. :)

Enjoy the rest of your trip and we look forward to the full report when you get back.

Best Regards

Gary Kopff
Mt. Kuring-Gai

[ngcles]

Hi All,

I'm having a lot of trouble with email over here. Could someone please do me a favour and copy, paste and forward the below text to Gary Seronik (Contributing Editor S&T) at

gary@garyseronik.com

Hi Gary,



Just a note for you to forward on to anyone at S&T who might be interested – we saw it and it was nothing short of miraculous circumstances.



I just read the story by Robert and their experience and we went through a very similar process. The night before, we of the Sutherland Astronomical Society Eclipse Tour held a "war council" because the chances of seeing it were pretty small. We considered leaving the hotel at Hangzhou at 3am and driving 4 or more hours west in the two busses where some seemed to think there was a marginally better chance. Just about all of the 80-odd in the tour organised by our society voted and we decided about 85% to 15% to stay with the original plan – to observe at the ecological gardens near Jiaxing, about ½ way between Shanghai & Hangzhou. It seemed like a big investment with little to no potential return. We were very close to the centre-line about 50km from the coast.



We left the hotel at 5.30am and it was raining lightly and heavy cloud. It showered on and off for the 90 minute drive – no sign of the Sun at all.



About 15 mins after we arrived at the Gardens (where there were 100’s of others observing from all round the world) we walked in sometimes heavy rain to our spot. About ½ way on the 1km walk we were with some Japanese amateurs when the Sun peeked out for about 10 seconds and disappeared again. Over the next 90mins we had thunder, tropical downpours, drizzle and heavy clouds. First contact and about an hour of the partial phases slipped by and it looked absolutely hopeless. 30mins to go we had another heavy shower and I’d given up completely – as we all had. That rain stopped with only 20 mins to go …



About 15 mins to go we noticed a large slightly lighter patch in the clouds coming from the south that as it approached I saw it looked faintly blue – incredulous. With only 5 mins to go this patch finally arrived at the Sun and we saw the slim crescent – I looked back over our shoulder to the south and there it was – a huge patch of unmistakably hazy-blue sky. I couldn’t believe it. We were completely without hope and now …



I turned to my wife after another look south and said “ I don’t believe this, we ‘re going to scam this thing.” I started to cry as we approached the last minute. The light dimmed, turned slightly golden and as I relieve these moments while typing, my eyes are moist again with emotion because it seemed we were about to pluck the greatest pearl from beyond any hope. We had one tiny cloud scud across the eclipse from the NE in the final 15 seconds before totality hit and then …



We saw Bailey’s Beads and the diamond ring in clear sky.



We saw every last drop of 5.57 of totality in clear sky with a bit of high-haze.



We saw the beads and a magnificent diamond ring to finish.



We saw the whole of totality completely un-interrupted.



The crescent waxed and 3 minutes later the clouds took it all away. 10 mins later it rained again and we didn’t see the Sun again all day. Heavy showers and steamy all day.



Incredible.



Unbelievable.



It was quite simply miraculous.



We had about 15 mins of “sunshine” the whole day, and it was precisely centred over the 6 minutes of totality. As I sit here I am still shaking my head. I just can’t believe it.



I will never, never, never, ever complain about the weather for observing again. Period. I owe the weather big, big, big time.



We are having a ball over here – be home in about 10 days.



Best,



Les D

[h0ughy]

forwarded on:thumbsup:

[nightsky]

G'Day Les,
Sorry mate I also sent your email :( so now he's got 2
Cheers
Arthur

[AstralTraveller]

Sure you won't! :P I can just hear your voice ringing out at Bargo "Oh what wonderful cloud. How I love standing out in the dark at night under a starless sky. Please precipitate on my primary mirror."

Congratulations on the successful eclipse. You deserve the good luck.