Canadians on Hikueru

A great picture of the group of smiling Canadians who participated in the Ring of Fire Expeditions eclipse trip to Hikueru, French Polynesia for the July 11, 2010 total solar eclipse.  We were smiling even though we were clouded out during totality.  Perhaps this picture speaks oceans of the mettle of Canadians.
Photo Credit: Alan Dyer, RASC Calgary

Eclipse Day - Climate is What You Expect, Weather is What You Get!

Following up on my previous blog entry... We were clouded out at our observing site on Hikueru and missed the totality portion -- the most important portion -- of the eclipse.  It was like going to a baseball game only to turn away and miss that winning home-run with the bases loaded!  Nevertheless i have a few pictures to share of the first partial phase of the eclipse.  In other words, the first partial phase is the period of the eclipse right up to totality when the disk of the Moon totally obscures the normally visible part of the Sun, and at which time the chromosphere, prominences and the corona of the Sun are visible.  Here are the pictures:

This picture shows the type of clouds we were dealing at our observing site with over the course of the eclipse.  The clouds moved over us at probably 30 kilometers per hour.  We would have alternating sunny and cloudy periods lasting anywhere up to maybe 15 minutes.


 

 

C1 or Contact One is where the Moon begins to cover the apparent disk of the Sun, or "take a bite out of the Sun" as some ancient myths would explain the phenomenon.  C1 was predicted for 8:37:11.1 a.m. local time.  I was able to detect it in my solar-filtered binoculars at 8:37:20 a.m.  This picture was taken shortly after that through light clouds.

Probably half of the time, if we saw the disk of the Sun at all then it was through obscuring clouds.


















Notice the sunspot towards the bottom of the disk of the Sun in this picture. "Sunspots are temporary phenomena on the surface of the Sun (the photosphere) that appear visibly as dark spots compared to surrounding regions. They are caused by intense magnetic activity, which inhibits convection, forming areas of reduced surface temperature. Although they are at temperatures of roughly 3,000–4,500 K, the contrast with the surrounding material at about 5,780 K leaves them clearly visible as dark spots... Wikipedia: Sunspot.

The eclipse proceeds inexorably...

streaming through light cloud...

The focus in this picture is a little sharper and the sunspot stands out better...

Totality approaches... (the phenomenon where the apparent disk of the Sun is totally blocked by the disk of the Moon)...












But here you can see here that the clouds are moving in...

Near the time of C2 or Contact Two, which is the start of totality, i removed my solar filter on my camera and started shooting HD video.  These two last pictures are frames grabbed from the video (which i may post later).
In this first frame we can see the thin crescent Sun has broken into little beads of light called Baily's Beads, so named after Francis Baily a British astronomer of the 19th century who explained the phenomena.  The beads are caused the the rough topography of the lunar limb blocking some of the last traces of sunlight.  Finally the last Baily's Bead in the second frame will form the C2 Diamond Ring (i.e. the very last of the Sun's brilliant photosphere to be seen before its emergent on the other side of the Moon in a few minutes.)  At this time the eclipse was totally obscured by the Sun

Being clouded out... i took a few pictures at our site...  This is totality on the ground!

Turning around... i shoot a picture towards the west where the sky is brightening as the shadow of the Moon passes over us.

Eclipse Day - Getting There and Setting Up

After a brief few hours of rest on the Saturday night, my alarm woke me up right at 1:00 a.m. July 11th.  I immediately flipped on the night-light, and telephoned Joanne and Murray Paulson in their room with a resounding "Time to get hot!" (we had agreed that the first one up would call the other as a back-up to our alarms).  We assembled in the lobby just after 2:00 a.m. for our flights to the atolls.  In our Ring of Fire Expeditions group there were 41 of us going to Hikueru; the Haorangi ("Hao") group consisted of 61 eclipse chasers.  Our 2-hour flight departed at approximately 4:00 a.m.
Before leaving the hotel i had quickly checked the satellite infrared loops and saw that the predicted low and middle clouds were moving in over our observation sites.  Hikueru is approximately 740 kms east of Faa'a, Tahiti airport.  The picture at the right shows the cloud conditions about 75 - 100 kms before landing in Hikueru.  Notice the relatively clear area behind the foreground clouds; that is the best we could hope for.  If we would be fortunate enough to have an "hole" over us during totality (beginning 8:37:11.1 local time and lasting 4 minutes 19.1 seconds) then we would count ourselves lucky.

We landed just after sunrise (6:02 a.m. local time) and proceeded to our observing site which was located near the spartan airport facilities on the west side and well away from the airstrip. Some of the local folks were out to greet us including the municipal police chief.

The forty-one of us quickly spread out parallel with the airstrip over perhaps 100meters.

Under some of the coconut trees we discovered colonies of hermit crabs which gathered at the base of the tree.  Maybe they knew something we didn't.

I took up my position at the southern end of the line of observers and into the sheltered area, watching out that i wasn't directly under the release trajectory of a coconut bomb.  The tress screened me from the full effects of the wind and lessened vibrations to the camera.

I spread a double bed-sheet on the ground, weighted-down with coconuts and marked out with 50 cm. squares.  In the event of shadow bands before or after totality i had hoped to capture them on video or stills.

So here i am with my simple set-up.  A Canon SX 20 on a Slik tripid and my 12 x 36 image stabilized binoculars, both with homemade filters using Baader solar film with a density rating of 5.0.  Unfortunately, the sky was not looking good.  In my next blog entry i will show the few pictures i did manage to capture of the eclipsed Sun in its partial phase.

Hikueru - Clouded Out

Unfortunately, in Hikueru which has such a good climate in July for eclipse chasing, was hit with bad weather.  About 100 kms west of Hikueru we started down into broken clouds.  We did have a few moments in the initial partial phrase to observe, but in a nutshell, almost exactly at totality a big asyastem of cloud moved in .

I got 3 hours sleep last night; up since 1 AM and it is now 10 PM... i am going to sleep now... i will post later tomorrow...

Eve of the Eclipse

The time is 9:40 PM, Saturday July 10th.  I am trying to get a few hours sleep before my 1:00 AM alarm goes off.  Our group will assemble in the hotel lobby at 2:05 AM, depart for the airport at 2:15 AM for a 4:10 AM departure for Hikueru.  Our ETA at the atoll is 5:55 AM.  Sunrise is at 6:02 AM.

First contact is at 17:22:14.4 UTC (7:22:14.1 local time)...

Totality begins at 18:37:11.1 UTC (8:37:11.1 local time) and lasts 4 minutes 19.1 seconds.

All calculated times are approximate... but you get the picture.

Now to bed...

Friday - Sort of a Day Off

Friday, July 9th... I took it easy, sort of... No tours around Tahiti, or to Mo'orea where many of our group went.  No, i basically stayed at the hotel most of the day to study and experiment with my new camera.  E-day looms on the horizon and i am still not ready -- actually, when is anyone every ready for an eclipse.

So even posting this note was a struggle (as it was, it was posted on Saturday evening on the eve of the Eclipse!)

But all fun was not lost.  On Friday evening Alan and i attended the Heiva i Tahiti festival in downtown Pape'ete.  I wish i could post pictures, but i cannot.  Photography was prohibited.  But my memory of 60+ dancers gyrating in a frenetic dance, the beautiful traditional costumes, and the hypnotic churchy Polynesia singing will stay with me.

Now back to studying...

Getting Serious about the Eclipse

The rest of Thursday was taken-up driving around this doubled island.  The northern part of Tahiti Iti looks much less developed and poorer.  The east coast of Tahiti Nui is very rugged and beautiful, and we passed a blowhole which was not active at the time. We stopped by Pointe Venus again to shoot some pictures, and Alan wanted to shoot a sequence to stitch together a 360 degree panorama.  I also discovered that the beach at Pointe Venus appears to be swim-tops optional.

 

In all we covered about 200 kms today and i got my bearings on this place.  Tonight is my free night... nothing planned.  Same for Friday, where i will spend major time checking out my observing gear, weighing in the gear for Sunday's charter, and learning about my new camera.

Time to get serious about the upcoming eclipse.

Teahupo'o - Paradise Found

On Thursday, July 8th, Alan and i decided to circumnavigate the island of Tahiti, which is actually made up of two volcanic remnants: Tahiti Nui (Big Tahiti) and Tahiti Iti (Little Tahiti) connected by an isthmus.  The road goes completely around Tahiti Nui and 2/3 of the way along both the south and north coast of Tahiti Iti. Of course, we drove to the ends of all the main roads!

At the end of the south coast road of Tahiti Iti, that Paradise Lost you've heard about was found!  Teahupo'o (pronounced te-ha-oo-po) is on every serious surfer's must-do list, and offers the world's heaviest waves, often 3 meters in height, and very glassy water. There were not many out surfing when we were there as we heard it may be the wrong season.  Nevertheless, the breaks looked very impressive. The townsite itself is very beautiful, and at the local outdoor restaurant we lunched on fish-and-homefries in a baguette.  Never had that before.

More pictures from Teahupo'o... my new little paradise...

First full day in Tahiti - Wednesday, July 7th

This is what i wake up to every morning at 6 a.m.  The quality of the light at that hour is just right.  Across the water lies Mo'orea, which Alan and i are planning to visit the day after the eclipse.  Tahiti, Mo'orea and a few other islands in French Polynesia are the remains of long-extinct volcanoes.  The vast majority of islands are actually not islands, but atolls built up over millions of years by coral atop the sunken remains of eroded volcanoes.  Whereas the islands can rise to a couple of thousand meters, the atolls are typically just 2 meters above the water.




Alan and i decided to split on a vehicle so we would have the freedom and the means to go when we wanted.  Our first visit was to Pointe Venus, a jut of land upon which lies an unidentified and inadequately maintained marker, to signify Captain Cook's visit to these islands in 1769 to observe the transit of Venus.  It's a pity it is not better looked after, especially given that the transits of Venus are relatively rare events.  This next transit of Venus occurs June 8, 2012, and no doubt there will be many people observing from Pointe Venus where the transit will again be visible.

In the evening many of the Ring of Fire Expeditions (ROFE) folks attended Le Belvedere restaurant high of the Tahitian mountains at 600 metres.  The food was so-so, and at least two of us had some gooey stuff--like bird shit--fall from the ceilings.  I was hit in the back of the neck, but my prognosis is good.  The one good thing Le Belvedere had going for it was its great vantage point.  Here is the view from the restaurant looking west at sunset towards Mo'orea.

On the Ground in Tahiti

After an 8-hour uneventful flight from LAX we arrived Tuesday at Faaa International Airport in Pape'ete, Tahiti. The Sun had already set when we landed at 6:10 PM, so we did not see much of Tahiti on the approach.  After a slow entry through customs and immigration, we checked-in at the Sofitel Maeva Beach Resort. After a late supper the astronomers in our group (i.e. most of our group) headed down to the beach where the night sky was a little more visible away from the glare from the hotel lights.  From there we could see the dark nebula known as the Coal Sack, portrayed in Aboriginal sky-lore as the head of the emu.  And looking straight-up we gazed at the central budge of our home galaxy--it was bright.  And then Murray Paulson pointed out Omega Centauri to me--OMG--it was amazing to see naked eye (even in the still bright lights from the hotel.

I went back down to the beach around 10:45 PM with my binoculars for a better look. After a few quick sweeps i yawned and decided to lay down on a beach chair with the surf rolling-in barely 10 meters from my feet.  I closed my eyes, dreamed and fell asleep until just past midnight.

Dinner in Marina del Rey

Last night Steve Barnes, Alan and myself escaped the noisy and congested environs of LAX and found a great restaurant down the road in Marina del Rey.  There in the warm yellow light on the balcony, elevated gas heaters radiating just enough heat to keep the chill away--it was something like 17 C--we chatted and dined and chatted.  The tide was low and the wind was light.  We talked of eclipses past, our present eclipse and who's doing what, future eclipse adventures, and eclipses of our active imaginations. We even discussed some non-eclipse astronomical topics... and maybe a few others.

Tomorrow we fly Air Tahiti Nui to Pape'ete and arrive after sunset.

Relax in LAX

Today, i and a few friends arrived in Los Angeles where we will wait for our flight to Tahiti tomorrow.  On the flight from Calgary, an Asian flight attendant writes down the words for eclipse: "ri shi" (日食) in Mandarin, "yut sick" in Cantonese, and "ni shokku" (日食)in Japanese. The excitement grows.

Steve Barnes, who was with me on the last two eclipse trips, and Alan Dyer who planned the 2008 eclipse trip with me out of Cambridge Bay, and i had lunch together in our 1960-era Travelodge near LAX.  The jets roar off from the nearby airfield.  I wonder where all those people are destined.  How many eclipse chasers are on those flights.  Murray and Joanne Paulson left this afternoon for Tahiti -- we connected briefly by cell just before their flight.  Others are coming in... a fellow from Whitehorse, a guy from Montreal, a couple passing through from Chile, and many unseen and unknown faces, all heading to the South Pacific to stand in the shadow of the Moon.  A friend from China texts me... i Skype with another... They know there is something in the air.  They feel my excitement.  They know many people are traveling great distances to see the eclipse.  They wish they could be there; i wish they could be there, too!...

I Am Off

That's it... I am packed and out of here this afternoon... Last minute packing, seeing my new grandson before heading out, anything else?

One week to go for E-Day (eclipse day).  Where we will observe the eclipse on Hikueru, totality starts next Sunday, July 11 at 12:37:11 PM Mountain Daylight Time (18:37:11 UT).

Note the Moon Phase gadget on this blog in the right sidebar.  Today the current Moon is at 3rd Quarter, 48% of Full Moon.  When that goes to New Moon, 0% of Full... it's Eclipse time!

Pre-Eclipse Anxiety

This will be my fourth total solar eclipse!  The first was deep in the Sarir in Libya on March 29, 2006.  The next was an aerial interception over Taylor Island, Nunavut (near Cambridge Bay) at 27,000 ft on August 1, 2008.  The last one was observed shipboard NE of Iwo Jima in the Pacific on July 22, 2009.

In the days leading up to these eclipses the tension rises, anxiety follows.  Is everything packed? Will my observing equipment work properly (and my equipment is pretty simple stuff compared to others)?  Will there be transportation glitches?  Will political problems disallow us from reaching our destination? Will there be health threats, like the H1N1 quarantine in China in 2009?  Will the weather cooperate with clear skies?  Will i be in the zone?  Moving towards a climactic finish, every 18 months on average for a few short minutes under the Shadow of the Moon!  As Quebec eclipse chaser Jean-Marc LaRiveria remarked: It is probably an addiction, or maybe an affliction, but it is a way of life!

Resources Added

I just published a short page of useful online links under "What exactly is a Total Solar Eclipse?"  See the tab at the top of the Blog.