WAITING FOR THE SHADOW

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The OzEclipse 
Private Observing Site @ Port Douglas

(updated 17th October,  2012)

Enquiries:  Joe Cali
email :   joe@joe-cali.com
phone:    within Australia     04-292-33-616
               international          +61-4-292-33-616

Early this year, I decided to organize my own private eclipse observing site.  I had an arrangement for access to a different property with another farmer. He found out that most private property owners with good viewing locations in the area were charging $180 per head for people just to sit on their land and look up into the sky. He became greedy and wanted to charge us the "going rate."  He also pre-sold access to another 700 other people outside my group on his small site.  On speaking with him, I realized he hadn't taken interferance from trees, powerlines etc into account. The site is 30 acres but there are problems with trees and power lines that render large areas of the property unsuitable for observing.  I was afraid that he was going to put us into a small cramped and poorly chosen viewing area.

There are plenty of road verges, beaches and other public land where a small group of observers can locate and I don't suggest that this paid access site is for everybody.  I dislike panic mongering that often occurs around eclipses.  I am not suggesting that every beach and every bit of public land will be crowded.

Why not find a spot on the beach?
Almost all beaches in the region have tall thick trees growing along the shore.  These are a few of the  problems I see with beach observing.
  1. Very poor view to the west will block your view of the approaching umbra and the 360o sunset effect visible when the Moon's shadow is covering the sky above you.
  2. Incursion of tides.  May not drown you but many beaches are reduced to a thin strip of sand high on the beach under the trees.  
  3. Lack of access.  Access to these long thin beach areas will involve walking along and in front of others and them walking in front of you.  It will be especially annoying if you want to stay and shoot the partial eclipse after totality and people are walking above the high water mark just in front of you.
  4. A very high tide (3 metres) is coming in peaking about 90 mins after 4th contact. This is one of the highest tide heights for the year (Moon is at perigee). We estimate the tide will be 2.3m at totality, the height of many normal "high tides."
  5. If you have gear that you don't want to move and you find a spot very early and high on the beach, people below you will back up onto you as the tide comes in.
  6. Telescope and tripod legs sink into sand.  You need to put large pads under the legs to stop them sinking.
All beaches won't necessarily be crowded but all have problems of potential crowding and crowds backing up the beach as the high tide comes in. The tide that morning is one of the highest of the year.  Read my article on tides and eclipse observing from the beach.  The problem I see, is that people who set up telescopes very early have no way of knowing if their chosen spot will be crowded out.

In addition, I had another small problem. I am hosting four groups totalling about 300 people and we can't just squeeze in anywhere.  

So I appealed to the cousin of some family friends who own this property we are using. They graciously turned down more lucrative enquiries they were getting from other tour organizers to help us out and now I am making the site available to other groups of serious observers.  I want people with serious equipment to have an environment where they can feel safe and confident, don't have to watch out for the security of their gear and don't have to worry they'll be surrounded or blocked by crowds that turn up at the last minute. Likewise, I believe there are many small and medium sized groups who might choose this option to save themselves rushing around scouting locations or who want access to the site and to the group specific meteorological advice I am contracting.

The farmers are receiving a fixed fee per adult, less per child. Added to this is another smaller fee still being costed that covers toilet hire, delivery and cleaning, public liability insurance and the hire of a dedicated contract meteorologist to advise the group on whether we need to abandon the site and relocate inland. (this info will be available to all the groups or individuals using the site).  

The site was chosen because:
We have two large areas set aside on the farm with plenty of space.  I estimate at least 30 acres on the hill and at least 7-8 acres on the flat area,



Car viewing area
One area is a flat field where people with cars and heavier gear will be encouraged to set up.  It has a 1 degree horizon in the direction of sunrise and a 4 degree horizon in the opposite direction of the approaching umbra.  At present we think that first contact might just be visible at the top of the solar disk while the bottom of the sun may still be obscured in trees or perched on the treeline.  It depends on how heavy the air is and the amount of refraction -  something we cannot predict. This will be surveyed the week before totality to check visibility.  Nonetheless, observers will see the sun during ot very soon after first contact. The rest of the eclipse is clear.  This area is ideal for people who want to be next to cars.  Owners of cars left on this site must demonstrate that the vehicle can be opened without external lights or bright internal lights operating during the eclipse. This can be easily achieved in most vehicles by simply not locking them and realistically you should not need to access your vehicle during those 2 minutes.  This area is also the local airpark (light plane airport and heliport)  At present, my advice is that one light plane might land at 6am.  This should not cause any disruption. Definitely no landings or takeoffs will occur anywhere near totality. It is an unlit field so they can't land in poor light.  The GBR-helitour helicopter might come in at about 9am and will be available for joyflights. Pre-booking is recommended. The landing areas are grass and pebble. Dust should not be a problem.  


Elevated walk in viewing area
The other area is on the lower slopes of a ridge that lies a 700 metres west of the highway.  Approx 30m above sea level this area, it is a cane field currently being harvested. It gives a superior view of the rising sun over the ocean albeit only over a sliver of water visible above the treeline.  Being on the lower slopes, the ridge behind makes for an 11 degree horizon in the direction of the approaching umbra -  much higher than the flat field.  This is a walk in area although we may, depending on track conditions, allow people to drive in the day before in the light and set up telescopes.  On eclipse morning, owners of those scopes will probably need to walk in or else leave their vehicles there overnight.  You don't need to walk all the way in.  You can stop anywhere along the way where the view takes your fancy.  

We can't guarantee security over equipment left on site. However, if it is any indication, I'd have more worries about the weather and condensation than theft leaving my gear set up overnight. If you leave your gear out, make sure you have waterproof covers. Some people will be camping on site overnight while others will just hang around at their scopes.  We will attempt to allocate one area where campers and set up equipment are concentrated to attempt to provide some security or at least oversight for unattended equipment.

The Eclipse Circumstances
                Event

1st contact

2nd contact

mid-totality

3rd contact

4th contact		 TIME(LOCAL)

5:44 AM    

6:38  AM

6:39 AM

6:40 AM 

7:39  AM		 Altitude.*

1.4

13.4

13.6

13.8

27.6

Duration of totality 2m 02s
Calculated Kaguya/ Herald Limb corrections applied.
* Refraction included for altitudes under 25 degrees.

Calculations courtesy Bill Kramer http://eclipse-chasers.com

Inclusions
The site will have portable toilets and the fee we are charging also includes the hire of a dedicated meteorologist advising on an inland relocation. We have two inland relocation sites surveyed by Terry Cuttle in 2009 and we will recheck these one week before eclipse day.  We have not paid for these sites and do not have guaranteed access to them.  Property owners are charging $100 per person for guaranteed access.  We will just gate crash at 4am and be gone by 8am.  

Advantages over free public land
One of my worries is that on public land, our group might set up very early in a good location, then be crowded out late in the peace by hoards of people who turn up just before the eclipse.  A telescope looking at a 15 degree altitude event can be blocked by people standing not far in front of it.
Groups on site
I have three large groups and several samller groups planning to come to the site comprising overseas eclipse chasers, a tour group run by Sydney observatory Australian astronomy clubs and individuals numbering about 300 in total.

 Access Controls
This is private property. Site access will be controlled by identification badges.  You must wear the badge we issue to you or else you may be asked to leave the site.  

Communications
We shall be posting weather advisories and our evolving strategies on a web page and posting email notifications. SMS notification, highly abrieviated of course, is also possible.  We recommend you purchase access to the telstra network either directly or as roaming access. If we move inland, even Telstra access is intermittent restricted to certain zones. I tried a non-Telstra roaming access in 2010 and found it didn't work.  A Telstra sim card costs just $2 and $10-$20 of credit shoud be plenty.  

The bottom lines -  Price and Location?

The site is organized and this is definitely going ahead.

Price is $54 per person. Small groups and individuals can make one payment.  We are asking large groups to make two payments, one to the farmers for their access fee $33 and one to us for the site services.  

With so much equipment likely to be on site, we are keeping the location under wraps for the protection of the people who set up on the site.  Likewise, the exact event contact times have been rounded to the nearest minute because it is very easy to reverse calculate a location based on those contact times.   Once you are a confirmed member of the group we will send you more specific information and mapping.


Photo's of the Port Douglas Site
(Courtesy Terry Cuttle)

We have our prime observing site reserved on the farm which is near the Captain Cook Hwy and not far from Port Douglas. We are deliberately not publicly releasing the location. Once you confirm interest in joining the group, we can disclose the location. 

The farm has a large flat field east of the road. This field has a 1 degree horizon to the east and a 4 degree horizon to the west.  We believe we will see first contact just after the sun pokes its nose above the trees but we can't be sure.  We will check this in the days before the eclipse and brief you. The property also extends to the west side of the road. 

On the west side you can walk up a hill to an elevation of 30m. From this position, you can see out to the ocean. (picture below)

However the northwest horizon (direction of the shadow approach) is compromised compared to the flat field at 11 degrees altitude.  







The trees to the right of this photo are blocking the direction of sunrise on eclipse day. The cane field will be harvested mid-year. Next November, with the cane out of the way, you can observe from the other side of the trees. You can also locate yourself anywhere down the hill from those trees to improve your view to the west as you trade off the east horizon.  



A zoomed view shows the same trees to the right of the frame.  The cane will be gone and the viewing area will be anywhere down the hill from these trees


(Above) This is the flat field where you can camp over Tuesday night in tent, car, camper or caravan. Or you can just hang out with others and not sleep or take a nap in your car.  You can  set up heavier telescope equipment and or work from your cars anytime from Tuesday onwards (or earlier by arrangement with the property owners.)
 

Magnetic Declination Cairns Coast & hinterland

Cairns             D=6.909 deg
Oak Beach          D=6.79  deg
Port Douglas       D=6.774 deg
Mareeba            D=6.843 deg



Your compass needle points 6.8o ±0.1o east of true north




This web site has a lot of information about eclipses,  and in particular this eclipse and potential (free) public observing areas.

The home page of this site is:

Eclipse site survey info :

Page about the effect of tides on the beaches


For anyone new to solar eclipses or observing :

Explanation of observable phenomena & effects


How to mount a thin film on a telescope or camera. A filter mount for a solar eclipse must be
sceure but also be able to be easily and quickly released just before totality.

OTHER INFO ABOUT THE ECLIPSE