a panoramic vision of the world and skies : Total solar eclipse, 29 March 2006

Total solar eclipse, 29 March 2006

Surfing from Africa to Siberia, this eclipse was at its best in southern Libya with a 4 min 10 sec totality. Most people were however gathered near the Libyan city of Jalu some 450km south of Benghazi. That day, maybe one of the most international star party happened in the Sahara.

Ph : Jason Poinot

The question for this eclipse, close to solar minimum epoch, was if there would be any prominence at all. In the morning of the big day, H-alpha observations showed some nice ones. In fact, they were not of solar maximum class, but that was better than nothing.

See also : Other astronomy work
See also : Tech review on solar eclipse image processing
Link : The eclipse by Poisaya
Link : The eclipse by fellow members of the Astro-Gard travel (French)
Link : The eclipse by Miloslav Druckmüller
Link : The eclipse by Christian Buil
Link : The eclipse by Valérie Desnoux (French)
Link : The eclipse by Alain Klotz
Link : The eclipse by Olivier Garde
Link : The eclipse by Cyril Cavadore
Link : The eclipse by Christian Viladrich

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The setup

Jalu, Libya, 29 March 2006

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This is the equipment used to make all eclipse photographs on that day. The mount is a 15-year-old Vixen Super-Polaris (RA motorized). The OTA is a Takahashi Sky90 with its Extender-Q 1.6x focal mulitplier and corrector. The filter is Baader Astrosolar (visual grade). The camera body is a brand new Nikon D200 (which was very happy to see its first light here in Jalu ; it gratefully performed as a dream, allowing such nice pictures to be taken ; eternal thanks, my D200). OK, many thanks also to the nice and smooth Sky90, and my old SP.

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The show has begun

Jalu, Libya, 29 March 2006

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Still full

Jalu, Libya, 29 March 2006

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1/500sec, 100iso.

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One third...

Jalu, Libya, 29 March 2006

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1/500sec, 100iso.

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Two third...

Jalu, Libya, 29 March 2006

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1/500sec, 100iso.

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Crescent (soon, very soon)

Jalu, Libya, 29 March 2006

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1/500sec, 100iso.

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And slowly...

Jalu, Libya, 29 March 2006

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All filtered shots, 1/500sec 100iso. All non filtered shots, 1/30sec 100iso. The rendered visual is what happens when the filter is removed 1min before totality.

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Inner corona

Jalu, Libya, 29 March 2006

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Composite of 8 images. From 1/500sec to 1/4sec, at 100iso. This image favours the inner corona structure, while neglecting the outer streams : this choice was induced by the narrow field of view generated by the setup (800mm focal length on a 24x16 camera detector).

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First sight after second contact

Jalu, Libya, 29 March 2006

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Extract from the inner corona image.

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North pole

Jalu, Libya, 29 March 2006

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Extract from the inner corona image.

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Prominence

Jalu, Libya, 29 March 2006

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This prominence is quite nice at this period of time close to solar minimum. Extract from the inner corona image.

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Prominence (a closer look)

Jalu, Libya, 29 March 2006

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This is a crop of the image at full resolution. Extract from the inner corona image.

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West side

Jalu, Libya, 29 March 2006

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Extract from the inner corona image.

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South pole

Jalu, Libya, 29 March 2006

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Extract from the inner corona image.

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South east side

Jalu, Libya, 29 March 2006

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Extract from the inner corona image.

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About eclipse magnitude

Jalu, Libya, 29 March 2006

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This animation, based on actual photographs of the eclipse, shows the size of the moon relative to the sun during the last minutes of the entering partial phase, beginning and end of totality, and the first minutes of the exiting partial phase. The sun is pictured here behind the black lunar disk (notice its fixed position all along the animation), as if the moon was transparent.

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This is the end

Jalu, Libya, 29 March 2006

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All shots : 1/250sec, 100iso.

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Crescent (now it's over, it was good)

Jalu, Libya, 29 March 2006

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1/500sec, 100iso.

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Two third...

Jalu, Libya, 29 March 2006

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1/500sec, 100iso.

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One third...

Jalu, Libya, 29 March 2006

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1/500sec, 100iso.

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And full again (until next time)

Jalu, Libya, 29 March 2006

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1/500sec, 100iso.