Subject: Re: Solar Eclipse
From: Fred Ringwald
To: Matt Daniels
Date: Sun, 15 Aug 1999 23:26:01 -0400 (EDT)

On Thu, 12 Aug 1999, Matt Daniels wrote:

> Dr. Ringwald,
>     Did you end up being able to go to Europe to view the solar
> eclipse?  If so, how was it?  It would have been nice for it to be
> closer to home so we could all observe it.  But I guess that's the way 
> the Earth spins...

Dear Matt,

It was incredible---right up there with last year's Leonid shower and the
Grand Canyon!  We observed it in the countryside between Munich and
Augsburg, Germany.  The weather was not good for the stress level: we got
rained on between first and second contact, and stormed on immediately
after third contact.  Still, it cleared off in the right part of the sky
just before totality, which is all that counted.  I doubt an early morning
drag race down the Autobahn would have helped, as it was jammed. Where
would we have gone, anyway?  If we'd been 5 km in any direction from where
we were, we'd have missed it.

Before second contact, we could see the Moon's shadow coming.  It got   
eerily dark.  Now I see why, in the old days, the peasants got so upset:
with all those coronal streamers, it really did look like a Chinese dragon
was eating the Sun.  The electric blue and green of the inner corona, and
the white streamers, were like writhing tendrils.  There were at least
five regions of prominences, shining in ruby-red H alpha; it looked like
fire demons fighting.  Now I see why everyone says that photography does
not do this phenomenon justice: it just doesn't have the dynamic range.
  
Still, they did take some fine photos, which are now at:
http://www.autocode.com/secl99.htm
particularly this one:
http://www.autocode.com/pics/ecl99b.jpg
and this one:
http://www.autocode.com/pics/ecl99e.jpg
  
Still, I'm glad I didn't spend too much time photographing, but got a good
_look_ at it through a pair of binoculars.  I can't see how anyone can do
scientific observations: I'm now thinking of designs for robots, in which
one pushes a button before second contact, and letting it do all the work.

It was also the shortest 137 seconds of my life. I can see why eclipse
chasing is addictive.  Everyone's first question after we ran for cover
with our cameras (into a Bierstube) was, When's the next one?

My friends plan to observe the 2001 June 21 eclipse from on board ship,
off the coast of Angola, near where maximum eclipse will occur.  Over a
dozen cruise ships did this for the 1998 February 26 eclipse near Aruba,
and my friends got some fine pictures, even from the rolling deck of a
ship, see: http://www.autocode.com/seclps.htm

Observing from a ship has two obvious advantages: up-to-date weather
information and mobility, just in case.  There are too many land mines in
Angola: you'd need to watch where you set up your tripod...

The next eclipse visible from the contiguous U.S.A. will be in 2017 (see
http://sunearth.gsfc.nasa.gov/eclipse/SEmap/TSENorAm2001.gif), but we'll
be observing the Leonid meteor shower from the beach here in Florida this
November 16-17.  Please do come: all you'll need is a beach blanket. Last
year's was nearly a storm, at over 900 meteors/hour.  The day before,
November 15, there will be a transit of Mercury in the afternoon. Let's
plan for some active public outreach.