8 minutes ago, Christopher Low said:

In fact, the cloud enabled me to look at the solar disc without having to wear any eye protection. It was a memorable sight

Whilst the visible light would have been greatly reduced by cloud the damaging ultra-violet ones aren’t diminished. Always be careful.

35 minutes ago, Christopher Low said:

Wow, that needs to be a precise experiment! If I remember correctly, the bending of light by the Sun's gravity is around 0.8 arc second.

Correct. We'll need a good camera and telescope for that, but in the worst case we will end up with nice photos of the corona 🙂. We are still working on the details, but we have some reasonably good telescopes.

I've seen the March 2015 partial eclipse as well in Germany. And the eclipse of August 2017, but only in my hometown in Nova Scotia, i.e., for away from the path of totality. We made a big party and invited people to watch the silhouette of the Moon, it was really nice. But it was only about 5-10% coverage, you couldn't notice any change in daylight. The one in 2015 was much more memorable. 

 

Back in 1973 I took all the eclipse photos on slides. I had two SLR 35mm cameras - one for the partial phase and another loaded with High-Speed Ektachrome for totality.

Each partial shot was taken in intervals of 5 minutes. Totality started at 1/1000th and each subsequent one doubled the exposure time up to 1 second. The lens was a fixed 200mm f4 with fogged film as a filter.

This is the whole sequence from first contact around 09:06 local to just after noon. Bear in mind at that time of year and the latitude of around 20 degrees North the sun was virtually overhead by the time it ended.

This was the eclipse that Concorde flew and stayed in the moon's shadow for around 74 minutes. On the Monte Umbe we experienced over 6 minutes.

13 minutes ago, Ray Proudfoot said:

Back in 1973 I took all the eclipse photos on slides. I had two SLR 35mm cameras - one for the partial phase and another loaded with High-Speed Ektachrome for totality.

This was the eclipse that Concorde flew and stayed in the moon's shadow for around 74 minutes. On the Monte Umbe we experienced over 6 minutes.

 

Amazing. Great job, Ray. And what a cool story, I didn't know about the Concorde chasing an eclipse. For everyone who is as word not allowed of it as I was, here is a web page on this flight: https://airwaysmag.com/concorde-chased-solar-eclipse/

 

That 2nd August 2027 eclipse will be total for 6m23s on the centreline just east of Luxor in Egypt, and is the second longest total solar eclipse of the 21st Century (after the eclipse of 22nd July 2009; 6m39s). I think it will be around 4.5 minutes over Gibraltar. Interestingly, the 2027 and 2009 eclipses are in the same Saros series as that 1973 eclipse, Ray

The Saros is a period of roughly 18 years and 11 days when the Sun, Earth and Moon return to almost exactly the same relative positions.

Edited March 31, 20242 yr by Christopher Low

@qqwertz, thanks. I was just 22. Where did all those years go? We docked in Las Palmas and I can remember the coach driving past the airport. That would have been a couple of days before the eclipse so it's possible Concorde would have been there but we never saw it. I've seen that French video. Brought back lots of memories.

@Christopher Low, that would explain the longevity of the eclipse. Are you up for the trip to Luxor? 6m 23s is just slightly longer than the 1973 one where we were. 7m 04s in the desert.

The eclipse in 1999 in the UK, was the only one I've witnessed. Not total from the Midlands, but I recall the light becoming exceedingly weird, unlike anything I've seen before. And yes, I saw the diamond ring.

I recall the only place in the UK it was total was in Cornwall.  

Edited March 31, 20242 yr by martin-w

You did not see the diamond ring if you were watching it in the Midlands. The diamond ring is only visible at the very start or end of totality (when the last bit of the Sun is shining through the deepest valley on the lunar limb).

It was also total in southern Devon (I was on the balcony outside my room in a hotel just north of Plymouth). Totality at that point was around 1m11s. I have camcorder footage of the event on video in some storage box somewhere in the loft....

Edited March 31, 20242 yr by Christopher Low

1 hour ago, martin-w said:

I recall the only place in the UK it was total was in Cornwall.  

1999? You had totality along most of the south west peninsula - in theory.

We went camping with friends near Start Point for this. It was 8/10ths cloud during the event. Most memorable was the effect it had on bird life and the sharp temperature drop…and the light house started operating.

@Ray; fantastic pictures!

Edited March 31, 20242 yr by DD_Arthur

I remember the strange silvery light as totality approached, which I think is due to the light fading more rapidly than your eyes can adjust.

1 hour ago, Christopher Low said:

You did not see the diamond ring if you were watching it in the Midlands.

 

My mind must be playing weird tricks on me then because I'm sure I did. Unless it was a "semblance" of a diamond ring. 🙁 Is that possible? 

It was 94% in my locality. 

Edited March 31, 20242 yr by martin-w

The diamond ring is an effect associated with totality, so your 94% partial does not count.

Edited March 31, 20242 yr by Christopher Low

Well it certainly looked like it.

I'm not your friend anymore. 😒

I am still waiting to see the diamond ring, so we are both in the same boat

2 hours ago, martin-w said:

Unless it was a "semblance" of a diamond ring. 🙁 Is that possible? 

Maybe it was a rare cubic zirconia ring.