Carolyn and Mark's German Eclipse Adventure
Eclipse II
Mark thought he saw Baily's beads just before diamond ring, but it was hard to tell; in this picture, the resolution of the video camera at 20x zoom may or may not corroborate the observation.
There were prominences visible throughout totality. Notice the beautiful one at the top. Another one (not visible in this view) appeared about the 4 o'clock position, and was completely disconnected from the Sun.
After third contact, we could still view the Sun without filters for another 30 seconds or so, because of the thin cloud layer. Normally it would be unsafe to do so.
Of course there are more effects during an eclipse than just the darkening of the skies and the black "hole in the sky" of the eclipsed Sun. Walking back to finish and replenish our beers, we saw the "smiley" shadows of the partially-eclipsed crescent sun filtering through the tree leaves on the sidewalk.
We did it! Totality from Garching was a great experience! Eclipse virgins Greg and Volker are now 1 for 1 in successful totality viewing. Carolyn and Mark (reflected with camcorder in window) are 3 for 5. The video Mark shot during the day was shown during the post-Eclipse party in the town Burgerhaus that evening; it was the hit of the show! Many attendees wanted copies of it. Incidentally, it turns out the President of Mallorca accompanied several astronomers to the ESO conference in Garching -- she wanted to see the eclipse too! Mark had a chance to meet her during the Eclipse party, and was honored with an invitation to visit the island during the opening of their new science center in two years' time.
We were just plain lucky, as we found out later. Mark looked down from our room to spot Carolyn and Volker commiserating with Mary and David Crawford (of the
International Dark Sky Association
). They were just a kilometer up the road, and saw only about two seconds of totality. Unfortunately, our friend Mark Kidger -- who opted to go on the bus to look for a better spot -- is now 0 for 3, although in recent email communications, he's decided that maybe he did see SOME of totality through the clouds; or perhaps it was just wishful thinking.
All in all, our trip to Germany was a great one! Thanks to Carolyn's employer (Sky Publishing Corporation) for sending her to Germany to attend the symposium and give her paper, and our penchant for planetarium visits wherever we go, we had a wonderful time, met some great people, and came home with some lasting memories!
You used to be able to read the daily reports Carolyn (and other observers) posted on the
Eclipse Expedition Journal
on the Sky & Telescope Web site.
And all eclipse enthusiasts should check out synthesist
Wendy Carlos' Total Solar Eclipse Page
.