Solar eclipse 2009

[Paul Haese]

As some of you may know I visited China to attend the longest solar eclipse for this century. Where we were positioned we witnessed 5 minutes and 54 seconds of totality despite dire weather conditions.

On the day of the eclipse a large band of cloud developed all the way along the center line for many hundreds of kilometers. Our group had discussed the possibility of driving 6 hours west along the center line but in the end we opted to try our luck at the original site.

On the way out to the site, clouds thickened and it began raining. While we walked out to the tea house from the buses we needed to take shelter under the covered walkways while it belted down with rain. There are many images of dispondent faces on that part of the morning. Indeed many thought we had lost our chance. Josephine (Louis wife) and I were confident we would see the event. I had a hunch in the back of my mind that our luck was with us. I stated many times that we were going to see totality and the show we had come all this way to see.

After first contact I decided that an anti rain dance was in ordered. Calling on the ancient spirits I begged them for a view. As luck would have it the clouds began to part and I quickly set up along with everyone else. At the appropriate time the clouds cleared enough to see the last minutes of partial phase and totality until just after the final diamond ring; at which point the clouds thickened again and the sun disappeared from view.

We were indeed fortunate and once again my hunch of seeing a total paid off. I was emotionally affected by the event again and had a tear in my eye as did Les Dalrymple. It was special and once again different from the last time in Ceduna.

Cate and I are now confirmed Umbraphiles and will trek once more in search of the moons shadow. Click below for the images of the solar eclipse of 2009
5 minutes from totality (http://paulhaese.net/China22july20095minutesfromsecondco ntact.html)

1 minute from totality (http://paulhaese.net/China22july20091minutesfromsecondco ntact.html)

Totality (http://paulhaese.net/China22july2009totality.html)

Diamond Ring (http://paulhaese.net/China22july2009diamondring3rdcontac t.html)

The images are not as good as I had hoped and planned on. The cloud made imaging hard with settings being tossed away and just trying to capture something. I am very happy with the images despite them being not as I wanted. I learnt lots of valuable lessons that I will apply to the next one. Many say it takes to your third eclipse to get great shots. I guess in my case this will be true.

[gregbradley]

That's quite a story Paul and I am pleased you got to see it after that much effort.

Greg.

[jjjnettie]

Thank you very much for sharing your story Paul.
AND for the images.

[jjjnettie]

Thank you very much for sharing your story Paul.
AND for the images.

[Quark]

Hi Paul,

Glad it all worked out for you in the end, it was a long way to go.

Ceduna was my one and only experience of totality and I can relate to it being quite an emotional experience, that was only 32 seconds and was very special, I can only imagine how you must have felt experiencing it for nearly 6 minutes.

Thanks for this report and the insight it conveys.

Regards
Trevor

[Troy]

Great pictures Paul the total eclipse fantastic

:thumbsup:

[Kevnool]

Great work Paul.
Bonza holiday over there as well.
Great pics they remind me of the eclipse in melbourne off hand 1975 i think.
Cheers Kev.

[seeker372011]

nice to see you got some images of the partial as well..

folks Paul was always confident that we would see the eclipse-that's what he kept saying anyway-and he must have some special deal with the weather gods, because it all come together at the right time

[liljpo]

Looks absolutly amazing

[OneOfOne]

Looks like you are one of the first to post on IIS :). I have been hanging out to see some shots. Come on guys, where are the rest of the shots?

I tried to watch it on the net, but the only feed I found showed people under umbrellas...must have been close to were you were.

We are planning to catch the one in Cairns/Port Douglas in a few years, I know it won't be as luxurious as staying in China ;) but someone has to do it :)

[Liz]

Great to hear a report from the eclipse - lucky you, sounded a wonderful experience, despite some scary clearing cloud and rain.
Thank you for the great pics - amazing!!
Bring on 2012!!!!!!!

[RB]

Glad it all came good in the end for everyone.
Nice photos Paul and thanks for sharing your story.

A total eclipse and an aurora are two things I'd love to experience.

[Paul Haese]

Thanks all for the kind words.

Narayan it was a real pleasure to meet you and your lovely wife. Cate and I were talking about all the lovely people we met on the trip in our group, I am so glad we met you.

Trevor (one of one), we will be there again and it might be our 4 eclipse by then. We are thinking of going to the Easter Island trip with Mel from the tour.

Trevor (Quark), actually I thought that Ceduna was more powerful in my experiences so far. The corona was superb and the view close to the horizon made it a special sight. This eclipse was special but many say the first clear one you see is the most special to you. I have to agree.

Just as an adjunct I have to say that the trip was value packed and very affordable. It was $3600 for each of us to travel and spend 12 days in China. This did not include our spending money, but it did also include meals, accommodation, airfares, coaches and tipping. The accommodation was 5 star and superb, there was heaps to see, but maybe a little too much at times and the guides did a fantastic job. Most of all the trip was made possible by Southerland Astronomical Society incorporated. Led extremely well by Louis. Fantastic host and really nice bloke. Keep an eye out folks for their trips they are really good value.

Thanks all once again.

[Screwdriverone]

Great shots Paul,

Where did you stay in Hangzhou? I was at the Hyatt Regency on West Lake and am still waiting for the boss to recharge his HD video camera so I can grab the AVI file off it and try and process some pics.

Thanks for posting, hoping to post some of my own soon.

Cheers

Chris

[Paul Haese]

I think we stayed at a Landison in Hangzhou. Landison was Radison before being taken over.

[h0ughy]

Great pictures given the conditions Paul. To see an eclipse would be great - one day (hopefully Cairns)

[TrevorW]

Thanks for sharing Paul

[Paul Haese]

Thanks guys.

Here is an image of the composite to tease out the corona. The cloud has pretty much killed any chance of getting it out nice and sharp, but at least you can see it here. I cannot seem to get rid of the blue ring though. I will try to do that over the next couple of reprocesses.

Click Here (http://paulhaese.net/China22july2009composite.html)

[starfinder]

Congratulations Paul. Nice results under difficult circumstances.

I was also in China north of Hangzhou on Qiantang River Tidal Bore observation site with approx 1000 others.

Sadly, clouds persisted through the entire event and actually thickened around totality. Did see a hint of exit diamond ring through a brief chink in the clouds. Magical event, though, and extremely memorable. The fade in light in the seconds to totality gave me goosebumps. Managed to catch some partials through cloud before and after totality. Stayed on to observe the world-famous tidal bore that raced past an hour and a half after 4th contact.

Cheers.

Russ.
www.russellsastronomy.com (http://www.russellsastronomy.com)

ps I'm an umbrafile like yourself!

[Paul Haese]

Sorry you missed out Russ. For me it has been 2 for 2 so far. Thinking of going to Easter Island but the cost is looking a bit much so far. the tidal bore would have been interesting.

[Mike21]

It's a BIG man who can use the word lucky in his story about lugging his gear all the way to China to watch an eclipse through the bloody clouds.

[Paul Haese]

Hey Russ,

just looked through your site, you have got some great images there. I see you have been to a lot of eclipses too. I love the images from Africa. Corona looks heaps different too.

Mike, well fortune favours the brave sometimes. Even though it was cloudy I did say several times during the lead up days that I would be happy if I could see the corona through high cloud. I guess the weather gods were listening and making sure I got what I asked for.:lol:

Bottom line is though that as I said on the morning, this is astronomy and sometimes things don't go according to plan. Anthony Wesley once said to me, this hobby is not for the impatient. He was referring to planetary imaging, but on a broader level astronomy long term is for the very patient. If we missed out we would have gone again to another one. Steven Lee (on the trip) has been to many which were clouded out and not seen a thing, yet he keeps turning up to see them. Big man or not, I reckon we just lucked it this time.:)

Thanks all for the comments.

[col]

DIV { MARGIN: 0px } Hi Paul, I'm glad to see you got something. I on the other hand suffered focuser slip on my WO 66SD which meant I was battling to achieve a properly focused image. This image is the best of the bunch and unfortunately being a longer exposure the cloud tended to wash out the outer corona.
Have you seen Steve Lee's results.
http://www.aao.gov.au/local/www/sl/eclipse2009.html
Now that's the way it should work out.
Regards, Col Shepherd

[Paul Haese]

Thanks Col. I got a couple of images like that myself. The cloud prevented well bracketed images. Not to mention it just meant imaging was a bit hit and miss.

Steve's images are pretty good. Good to see more people got good images. Mel got some nice images and well as Cath. I also happen to know that Ted probably got the best images of the group. Incredible detail and very very sharp.

[ngcles]

Hi Paul, Col Narayan & Al,

Yep I'd echo all comments -- the whole trip was a blast and I'm impressed with quite a few of the images given the conditions we had. I took 15 images and basically they're all rubbish save for one that might almost have got a pass from blind freddie on a galloping horse. My excuse? The focus was crappy because of the tears in my eyes.

On the up-side I did (due to my own naughtiness) get some images of the Pandas at Beijing Zoo that will make everyone else's look ordinary. Again just dumb luck -- in the right place at the right time.

I also saw Polaris for the first time!

I'm not trying to do advertising for my society but I'd agree with Paul's comments on value for money -- I find it hard to understand how that much was packed into the schedule for the price -- virtually all inclusive. There were a several competing trips and in terms of cost we weren't only cheaper but the competition wasn't even in the same ball-park -- several were so far distant they were in different cities!

It was also great fun seeing this eclipse with so many people that I've spent the best part of my life being friends with and looking up to (like Col & Steven Lee), while also with my wife & daughter. Plus I also had the chance to meet a whole lot of other amateurs from all around Australia and made so many new friends (well I hope I made some friends). If I had the chance to do it all again tomorrow I'd be off in a heartbeat and wouldn't change a thing (except perhaps for the food-poisoning episode).

I still can't believe we saw it. I'd have bet the house against it with 20 mins to go and save for a bit of scruff that at no time completely blocked the view and was soon gone and some high haze, we essentially saw the whole of totallity. I'm not sure, but I think we might have been the only Australian or US tour-group on mainland China that saw the lot -- many saw naught.

Mel is doing a brief write-up with images for AS&T -- so we can look forward to that and don't forget to submit your own images for the images section. Paul, I thought your diamond ring in particular was really nice. For me this diamond ring at second contact seemed to last a loooong time. It felt like 5-7 seconds.

I've now stood under the shadow of the Moon for a total of 9 mins 7 seconds (though for 2.45 of that, cloud technically got in the way in Bombala 1976 -- but I was actually under the umbra) and can't wait for 13th November 2012 when I'll hopefully join the +10 mins club! Hope to see a lot of you there. I also greatly enjoyed the experience of seeing so many people who were experiencing/enjoying their first totality.

Cheers to all!


Best,

Les D

*Edit* P.S I just saw Narayan's comment about Paul beng "positive" all the way along while the clouds rolled along and the rain came down. Well, I've got a photo of Paul with about 20 mins to go where he looks more "philosopical" or perhaps "pragmatic" than "positive" ... see attached

[seeker372011]

LOL

that was behind my back!

[Paul Haese]

Hehehe, that is funny Les (the photo I mean). Don't believe him Narayan I always knew we were gonna see it. I was just contemplating there how long I would need to use the shades in my hands. LOL

Great commentary mate, pretty much sums up my experience of this whole trip. Value for money, so many sights to see and the people we went with were great.

I thought you might be coming to Easter Island with us Les? Not 100% if I am still going but I am gonna try. Nearly 5 minutes of totality. Am contemplating whether I get a 300mm f2.8 or I go to Easter Island next year. I am leaning toward the Easter Island trip at this stage. would make it over 11 minutes then and it would be my 3rd total.

[ngcles]

Hi Paul & All,



I'd love to go but I'm afraid the ticket price it is a bit rich for me (nearly $12,000 pp). I get a small (and I mean small) discount as I work at Sydney Observatory but we're planning on doing a reno on the upstairs bathrooms next year and *virtually all* our projected savings as at July 2010 will go into the bathroom, toilet and en-suite. I'd love to say I'm spending "X" on a a piece of astronomy gear or a trip etc, but sadly it's likely to be a bit more mundane.

Three other things to note of interest for the future.

The eclipse of 13th November 2012 in north Queensland is two eclipses later within the same Saros that included my first eclipse (clouded out) on 23rd October 1976 -- so for me (then) I will hopefully be able to see (or at least experience) two eclipses within the one Saros (that'll be another one punched off the "to-do" card).

Perhaps more interestingly, the next eclipse within the Saros of the eclipse we saw on 22 July 2009 will be on 2 August 2027 (18 yrs, 11 days, 8 hrs in the Saros cycle) -- will also be a very long one 6 mins 22 sec at maximum) and in as much as China was fascinating, near maximum that eclipse the centreline passes 100-200km south of the Giza Pyramids in Egypt. That one is very much a "must see" assuming I'm still kicking at 64.

http://eclipse.gsfc.nasa.gov/SEanimate/SEanimate2001/SE2027Aug02T.GIF

Also, the eclipse we saw on 22 July 2009, to the day marks the official "19-years-to-go" for the total solar eclipse that passes directly through the geographical centre of Sydney on 22nd July 2028. I could do that one from the backyard (if I'm still living here) but will probably observe it from elsewhere.

I'd also like to see an annular eclipse sometime so that my "eclipses seen card" is fully ticked. Assuming I can do that then I will have seen at least one each of all type of solar and lunar eclipses (partial, annular and total solar) (penumbral, partial umbral and total umbral lunar) plus transits of Mercury (multiple) and transit of Venus (hopefully I'll see my 2nd in 2012) and hopefully (again) seen more than one eclipse within the one Saros (maybe 2 or three??).

Maybe I should also include somewhere along the line a "hybrid" solar eclipse, though it really is only (either) a total or annular eclipse depending on where you are observing on the path so it isn't really something different again.



Best,

Les D

[RB]

G'day Les,

Isn't the eclipse through Sydney to be on the 22nd July 2028 ?

Regards
Andrew

[fringe_dweller]

great pics thanks! hey Paul yeah ceduna/dec 2002 was great (i was at centreline Stuart highway) those short duration ones you get more prominence's with smaller apparent moon size, shadow cone ect. and it was solar max, bigger corona! everythings better at solar max eh! like 2012 i guess (if we get a solar max this time round?)
cheers

[ngcles]

Hi Andrew,



Yep, you are right. Silly me -- it was almost 1am (that's my excuse and I'm sticking to it).

I've edited the original to reflect that ... just in case.


Best,

Les D