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WAITING FOR THE
SHADOW
SOLAR AND LUNAR ECLIPSE OBSERVINGREPORTS AND OBSERVATIONS - ZAMBIA 2001 |
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Totality I moved to the telescope. All visual observations were made though the 80mm refractor with a 16mm University Optics Konig eyepiece yielding 25 power and a 2.5 degree field. Despite the relatively cheap optical system, the view was incredible. The instrument is a cheap short focus 80mm f5 acromat. I picked it out of several in the shop as the best optic. It brand says Starspanner but comes from the same manufacturer that makes these telescopes for Celestron. I tested it and other instruments in the shop on the bright edge of a white sunlit building - a reasonable test for a solar eclipse telescope. At low powers the image is more than acceptable though at higher powers image quality obviously degrades. The instrument is very portable. The OTA is only 300mm long.
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I noted four prominent beads on the reappearing side centres around PA270. As the diamond ring appeared marking the end of totality, I took my eye from the eyepiece, called for the horn to be honked signalling the end of totality. I thought I noticed movement in the prominences during totality but eventually passed this off as an optical illusion of the movement of the lunar disk. Nonetheless it is a very dynamic vision. During totality I observed Jupiter, Rigel, Betelguese, Sirius and Canopus naked eye. The sky during totality was a stunning crimson red all around the horizon and yellow brown and orange at progressively higher altitudes. This was a side effect of smoke. My partial eclipse shots are taken using a KODAK ND4 filter. The images are yellow . The solar image through this filter is usually white. The 3rd contact diamond ring seemed to last a very long time, an observation that I heard made by many observers over a wide geographical area. Totality was a very special event for my fellow observers and I. We were overcome by the village women, ululating loudly at the site of totality. Before totality, one man said he couldn't understand why I had travelled all that way to see an eclipse. I asked him to come and speak to me after he had seen the eclipse. After totality he came up to me, teary eyed and said,"Now I understand." For the more adventurous readers of this report, I thoroughly recommend this type of philanthropic project to other eclipse observers at future eclipses in third world countries. It takes so little effort for such great rewards. All of us have been on a high for the past months remembering the day. After the eclipse we returned to ZASTI for three days of eclipse post-mortems and discussions with other observers staying there. I returned to Kapini as a guest science teacher for three more days. I reluctantly left Kapini and returned to Lusaka. I stored my telescope, packed a backpack and went travelling for the next four weeks to South Luangwa NP, Jungle Junction, Victoria Falls and Kruger NP. Now I have 1000 slides to sort. Check the travel pages and from the Zambia intro page for other image galleries and photoessays.
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