The China 2009 Total Solar Eclipse
Omega Holidays, Wuzhen China.
Omega Holidays, Wuzhen China.
Webmaster © Paul L Money/Astrospace 2009
Eclipse!
What a morning to wake up to! After a reasonable breakfast we gradually made our way down the flagstoned slim street towards the water theatre as the heavens decided to open up. Luckily Jayne had persuaded me to take an umbrella! She’s very organised it has to be said. If we had arrived as originally planned I would have probably organised a ferry boat ride to the site. As it was I packed my Equinox 80 refractor, tripod, Merlin GOTO alt az mount and eclipse gear into my case and pulled it behind me. Several times the local Chinese suddenly appeared from nowhere and helped me up the various stone bridges - I bet I looked a right wimp to them. Especially when a couple of times a very slim and seemingly lightweight Chinese lady insisted on helping! At the site we were gradually joined by the other Omega Eclipse chasers including Graham from Lincoln AS and a couple from Boston in Lincolnshire who knew me from my previous work at M&S!
We set up in light drizzle which at times decided to pour down and gradually everyone arrived at the viewing site. A large German group was also using the site and we were lucky enough to have a section of the amphitheatre cordoned off just for us. It didn’t stop some coming over into our section, especially the Chinese TV crew who proceeded to interview the German reps.
I had made a prediction that there was a slim chance that the weather front would either move through quicker or give a break in the cloud and rain so we waited patiently. Just before the initial start of first contact we briefly saw the sun, getting everyone’s hopes up. It then proceeded to rain more heavily! Our Omega rep was Rob England who did a sterling job and was in contact with Peter Truman at the other site where Pete Lawrence was based at a major reservoir. They kept reporting breaks in the cloud and a gradual thinning of the cloud cover allowing them to start to see the eclipse as it progressed. The hope was that this thinning would head in our direction.
About 20 minutes before Totality we got glimpses of the ‘crescent sun’ and hopes began to rise. Suddenly fireworks rocketed into the sky over towards the Tong An Hotel as the Chinese tried to frighten off the Moon from covering the Sun. Incredibly just as totality began, the cloud thinned enough for us to see it happen and for me to get busy taking pictures as quick as I could. We managed about 2 ½ to 3 minutes of Totality before the cloud cover thickened again.
We also noticed that before it got too dark there were lots of dragonflies flying around - I do mean LOTS. During Totality they settled down and we also noted all the bird life and cicada (grasshoppers?) also roosted and went quiet. What really impressed us though was how dark this eclipse seemed. Darker than Jayne or I could remember from Turkey back in 2006, probably due to the cloud cover. I managed to photograph Bailys beads and part of the Chromosphere and some of the Corona but even with the thick clouds again covering the eclipsed sun it was quite a moment when totality finished and everyone cheered!
The rain gently returned so instead of waiting for the actual end of the eclipse we packed up and headed back to our hotel. We had to be booked out ready to return to Shanghai early in the afternoon. Despite the rain we had managed to see the main event and it seemed everyone was happy. The small group that had come out with Jayne and I were also travelling back with us so it was back on the mini bus for the long drive to the Shanghai, Pullman Skyway Hotel .
Click on the Eclipse day images on the menu bar at top for the images to go with this page.
