Total Eclipse of the Sun: 2006 March 29

Global Circumstances and Animation

The global visibility of this solar eclipse is shown in the diagram to the left. A higher quality version of this global plot can be downloaded in pdf format by clicking on this image.

An explanation of this diagram can be found here.

 

The animation shown in the diagram to the right illustrates the motion of the shadow of the Moon at five minute intervals. This animation runs in a continuous loop.

This graphic, provided by Dr. Andrew Sinclair, shows the grey penumbral shadow where the eclipse will be seen as a partial one and the much smaller black umbral shadow where the eclipse will be seen as a total one. The UT time is shown in the upper right-hand corner of the diagram and the central line duration of the eclipse can be seen in the lower right-hand corner.

Local Circumstances and Animations

Diagrams showing the configuration of the eclipse including the local circumstances are available for the 766 locations given in the following table. All timing information is given in Universal time (UT). Animations showing the progress of the eclipse are also available for the locations specified. These animations can be as large as 275kb in size. It may be necessary to download these files for optimum performance. Eclipses for the locations listed in the following table in the period 1501 CE to 2100 CE can be found by following the location link. A location which lies within the path of totality is highlighted.

Please use the browser's back button after viewing a local circumstances diagram or an animated gif file.

Eclipse Trivia

It has been nearly five years since my last glimpse of totality so a two-day break to the south-western coast of Turkey represented the most practical opportunity to see another 3 minutes and 40 seconds of totality. A package tour organized by Omega Holidays would put me and my fellow travellers 17km south-east of Mangavat at the Ardisia De Luxe Hotel.

Weather predictions varied from cloud and drizzle to sunny and clear for the visit. However, on our arrival at Antalya, the weather was pleasantly warm and sunny with small amounts of cirrus. The airport was full of expectant eclipse watchers having just received six planes within 20 minutes of each other! Consequently, the queues for paying our £10 to enter Turkey snaked almost endlessly around the empty fountain in the immigration hall.

After a 90 minute coach trip, we arrived at the hotel which was on the D400 coastal road set against the backdrop of the snow-capped Taurus Mountains. Following the evening meal we listened to a talk given by Chris Lintott and Pete Lawrence; "The Sky at Night" team were staying in the hotel and were filming the eclipse for a programme to be broadcast the following Sunday.

The morning of the eclipse was clear with some haze over the Lycian Coast to the south west across the Gulf of Antalya. Many observers had set up their equipment well before the start of the eclipse on the top level of the theatre in the hotel grounds and "The Sky at Night" team were filming on the nearby beach. The photograph to the left, taken by Don Pollacco, shows some of the observers setting up their cameras and telescopes on the beach.

Above us, small amounts of cirrus were moving in from the west which posed a potential threat to a perfect view of the eclipse. Nevertheless, my observing companions, Don, Judith and Joe Pollacco and I set up our camera and video equipment on the beach in anticipation of the forthcoming spectacle.

As you can see from the photograph on the right taken by Don Pollacco, having the right hat for the occasion was a must! In truth, I had forgotten to bring my sun hat and could not find a suitable replacement in the hotel shops. It did strike me as odd to see how unprepared the shops in the hotel were for the eclipse, bearing in mind Turkey's place on the path of totality in 1999. The fortunate residents of places like Sivas were seeing totality for the second time in less than seven years. The opportunity to collect yet another souvenir eclipse t-shirt had passed and so had a real marketing opportunity for the locals!

Just after 12:38 EEST, the Moon took its first bite out of lower right portion of the Sun's disk. The picture to the left was taken just under four minutes after first contact. Over the next hour and a quarter or so the Moon inexorably obscured the Sun. About ten minutes or so before totality, Venus (magnitude -4.3) was spotted about 45° away from the Sun in the south-western sky approximately 16° above the horizon.

The light had taken on that flat steely grey character that is so difficult to describe unless you have actually seen it for yourself. The shadows were getting sharper as the illuminated fraction of the Sun got smaller and smaller. The umbral shadow itself was still somewhere out over the Mediterranean Sea approaching us at nearly 0.9 km/s. Don saw the shadow bands for a fleeting few seconds rippling across a hotel towel, his so-called "secret weapon". Unfortunately, the approach of the shadow was not observed but the display of Baily's Beads just before totality was clearly visible. The beads were then snuffed out one by one only to be replaced by a beautiful diamond ring.

I had brought out a Canon EOS 350D digital SLR camera and a 70-300mm zoom lens which I hoped would make photographing the eclipse easier than attempting to video the Zambian eclipse of 2001. However, maintaining a sharp focus was still going to be a tricky exercise without the aid of a focus lock as well as having to point the camera so high in the sky - the Sun was about 54° above the horizon during totality. I started taking photographs using a range of exposure times in the hope of capturing a good image of totality.

Through the viewfinder I could see two prominences at about 11 o'clock and 12 o'clock on the Sun's disk, the former replacing the display of Baily's Beads visible only a few seconds earlier. They can just be seen in the photograph to the right (1/100s exposure at f/5.6 at 200 ASA) taken at 13:56:09 EEST.

As my eyes adapted to the reduced light levels, the corona looked even more striking, displaying considerable structure and several streamers. The photograph to the left (1/50s exposure at f/5.6 at 200 ASA) taken at 13:55:37 EEST gives some idea of the appearance of the corona. The detail was fine enough to trace out the magnetic field lines around the Sun, particularly in the polar regions. However, the bulk of the features lay in the direction of the Sun's equator with less activity around the poles of the Sun, a situation typical for the Sun at the minimum of its activity cycle.

Don spotted Mercury (magnitude +0.7) approximately 35° above the horizon about halfway between Venus and the Sun just before some cirrus obscured it for the remainder of totality. No other planets or bright stars were visible to the naked eye.

All around the horizon were the yellows, oranges and reds of the average twilight sky. The photograph to the right by Don Pollacco shows the view towards the south-western horizon. On the original image, you can identify Venus. Overhead, the sky was not totally dark but resembled the dark blue of a twilight sky, becoming a lighter blue moving down towards the multi-coloured horizon. Embedded in this twilight sky was the eclipsed Sun surrounded by the corona stretching diagonally away from the Sun.

The eclipse had also affected local meteorological conditions as well. The breeze, present before the eclipse, had dropped away completely and the temperature had fallen by nearly 10°C. Wildlife near our location was a little scarce but close to our observing site was a small river where a number of frogs had been croaking before totality. They had now fallen silent.

Around us, everyone was looking up at the magnificent corona. The photograph to the left (1/10s exposure at f/5.6 at 200 ASA), taken at 13:56:01 EEST, gives a better idea of the length of the streamers within the corona. Some of the coronal structure closer to the Sun has been deliberately over-exposed to bring out the extent of the corona. Sadly, no photograph nor any words can really do justice to this awe-inspiring sight.

As the eclipse drew to an end, another beautiful diamond ring formed at around the 5 o'clock position on the lunar limb to more gasps from those watching around us. The first sign of the diamond ring appeared at 13:58:51 EEST, probably due to a deep valley in the Mare Australe region. Just to its right on the solar limb was another small prominence. The photograph below was taken at 13:58:58 EEST (1/400s exposure at f/5.6 at 200 ASA).

There was no evidence of the shadow moving off towards the north-eastern horizon and the Taurus Mountains. As daylight returned, the frogs started croaking again and I noticed the plastic covering on the cushions on the sun loungers around us had condensation on them. They had been completely dry before totality! The partial phases of the eclipse after totality were something of an anti-climax and were observed by only the most dedicated observers. The eclipse ended at just before 15:14 EEST.

Once again, totality had flown past. However, the feeling this time was that totality had sneaked up on us much more quickly than previous eclipses. As usual, the three and a half minutes of totality had flown by. I was left with the thought that all we can do now is look forward two and a half years to the next total eclipse of the Sun on August 1st 2008 which crosses the Northern Canada, Greenland, the Arctic Ocean, Siberia, Mongolia and China.

For the record our observing location was 36° 41′ 36″ North, 31° 35′ 40″ East at sea level. The prediction, without corrections for lunar limb effects, was for 3 minutes and 40.7 seconds of totality. My estimate was that we had lost about 7 seconds of totality due to the two diamond rings. The predictions for our observing site were first contact at 12:38:34.4 EEST, second contact at 13:55:15.1 EEST, mid-eclipse at 13:57:05.5 EEST, third contact at 13:58:55.9 EEST and fourth contact at 15:13:47.4 EEST using a ΔT value of 64.9 seconds. All photographs © Steve Bell except where noted.

Steve Bell

Eclipses in 2006

2006 March 14-15 [ Lunar: Penumbral ]	2006 March 29 [ Solar: Total ]	2006 September 07 [ Lunar: Partial ]	2006 September 22 [ Solar: Annular ]
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© HM Nautical Almanac Office,
UK Hydrographic Office, 2005
E-mail: hmnao@ukho.gov.uk

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