TOTAL SOLAR ECLIPSE  

Our Seventh eclipse experience (fifth fully successful one)

The clouds were not looking good. Alex Filippenko, our expert astronomer, and the Captain spent hours the previous day and night downloading weather data and plotting charts. The Captain moved the ship west from our original planned position and thanks to their efforts we experienced a successful Eclipse Day. Dark clouds were in the sky in the build up to the eclipse and also after the eclipse but we had a very clear 3 minutes 3 seconds of total solar eclipse. Thanks to Alex and the Captain..

ECLIPSE

Wednesday, 9th March 2016 08.32        First contact, Eclipse start 09.44.33  Second contact Total Eclipse - 3mins 3secs (only a few degrees drop in temperature) 09.47.36   Third contact 11.13         Fourth contact, Eclipse end Co-ordinates (mid-totality): Latitude = 00 deg 29.034’ S Longitude = 123 deg 56.035’ E

The Eclipse experience

Once first contact of the moon with the sun has been made, people go into over- drive with their cameras. Taking photos of the stages of the partially eclipse sun through small holes (pinhole camera effect) is an interesting exercise. The beauty of the eclipse and the diamond ring is awesome. You experience drastic changes in the environment - the eerie light that colours the sea silver, the sunset on the horizon and the change in temperature. You will also notice the creeping darkness as the shadow passes over. Many people who experience a total eclipse describe it as one of the most moving, positive events of their lives. Many who have experienced one total eclipse are quick to return to the next eclipse. In our group there were people with up to 15 experiences.