Total Eclipse of the Sun - August 11 1999

The Plan

Monday 9th

John and Pat Bolton, who travelled through France in their car the previous weekend, had arrived at the gite earlier in the day. They reported that the weather had been hot and humid until about the time that our coach had touched French soil, when the sky had started to cloud over and rain threatened. Not a good start!

After a late dinner most of the group retired to bed, as heavy cloud made observation of the night sky impossible, and there was a lot of lost sleep to catch up on!

Tuesday 10th

Wednesday 11th - Eclipse Day

John Bolton quoted the old saying: "Rain before seven, fine by eleven", but few of the party were convinced of its efficacy.

At 9.30am the coach was loaded with an array of astrophotographic equipment, ranging from simple cameras and tripods to heavyweight driven mounts and even the odd small telescope or two, together with nineteen passengers and we departed on our journey north. A large sign displaying the MAS logo and the motto " Poursuivants extraordinaire de l'éclipse " ( Eclipse chasers extraordinary ) was placed in the rear window of the coach. This subsequently attracted a following of British cars. Perhaps their drivers assumed that the MAS must know something that they did not!

During the journey, eager eyes scanned the heavens for the hoped for break in the clouds. Nerves were taught.

Someone suggested praying for the clouds to disperse, and Colin Henshaw offered to chant the Muslim call to prayer. We were so desperate for clear skies that we took him up on the offer! Whether our prayers were answered will never be known, but the cloud began breaking up into large blocks, lying at different heights, separated by tantalisingly brief glimpses of blue sky.

The chosen site, surveyed the previous year by Messrs Bolton and Parkinson was adjacent to the Monument de Navarin, about twenty miles east of Reims. Although not directly on the centre line of totality, it had been felt that this site was close enough to give about two minutes duration of totality, but away from the expected crowds on the centre line, and with adequate space to park the coach.

On arrival at about 11.00am, it became clear that many others had found this site to be satisfactory also, as more than fifty cars of various nationalities were in evidence. All parking spaces were occupied, together with a stretch of grass verge on the opposite side of the road! Luckily there was just enough space left on this verge to park our coach and it was decided to offload here rather than travelling further.

The nineteen members of our party set about arranging themselves on the grassland to the eastern side of the monument, erecting tripods, binoculars, telescopes, and cameras and lenses of varying sizes. By about 11.30am the flurry of activity had ceased and an air of nervous anticipation crept over us. Some could be seen to be visibly trembling. The sky continued its game of giving fleeting glimpses of the sun whenever the banks of cloud aligned with each other. Through one of these brief gaps it could be observed that a small portion of the sun was now darkened. First contact had occurred already! Anxious eyes peered to the North-east, from where the clouds were coming, hoping to see clearer weather, but to no avail. As the partial phase continued its path across the sun, a number of photographs were taken at various degrees of obscuration, but everyone was by now holding their breath as a large cloud began to pass in front of the sun shortly before the point of second contact was due and another large cloud was inexorably making its way across the sky some distance behind the first. The question in everyone's mind was ' Are we going to be able to see the eclipse?'

Shortly before second contact, a tunnel appeared in the clouds and the final phase could now be seen. The sky was beginning to darken as more and more of the sun was being obscured. Someone began a countdown... "10,9,8,7,6,5,4,3,2,1......no not yet, ...not yet......NOW!"

Totality had occurred. Amid a whirl, cameras clicked, videos whirred, binoculars were cast skyward and welding glass held aloft. "Oh Wow!" someone was heard to say. Loud cheers and clapping could be perceived from the others gathered beyond our party. A champagne cork popped close by.

Professionalism went out of the door in our excitement. One member forgot to remove the mylar filter from his camera lens, and upon discovering this a few wasted shots later remarked, "Oh well! I'll just watch it then" (At least, I think that's what he said!) Another member of our party had their lens out of focus, but this wasn't discovered until after the film was processed some days later. A number of us were so excited and anxious to get a photograph, that we spoiled our shots with camera shake, again a fact not discovered until after processing. Colin Henshaw was busy scribbling temperature and humidity readings in his notebook, as he had been since first contact. Paul Harrison was video-taping the event, using manual exposure control, a method that was to prove very successful.

Part way through the eclipse, cloud cover once more blocked the view. Hearts sank. Fortunately, after about ten or fifteen seconds (it felt more like thirty), the tunnel reappeared, and observation continued.

After what must surely be the fastest two minutes of our lives, the diamond ring suddenly appeared. Then just as suddenly it was gone and a thin crescent began to creep around the edge of the moon. It was all over! The relief of tension was unbelievable. Members smiled, laughed, hugged each other, thankful that the clouds had held off long enough for them to get their long awaited view of the final total eclipse of the millennium. Colin Henshaw continued to make temperature and humidity readings until fourth contact, while the rest of us returned to the coach much elated, to enjoy a coffee and discuss our respective feelings about the eclipse...Did you see all those prominences? ...There wasn't such a large corona as Hawaii... That diamond ring was stunning... It didn't go as dark as I thought it would... I wonder if the other members in Cornwall saw it?

We departed from our observing site about 2.00pm and returned to the gite. Upon arrival, the members of our party who had opted to remain there, informed us that they too had been able to observe the eclipse, with an unrestricted view lasting about 75 seconds. We were very pleased for them, as although they were not amateur astronomers, we felt that a total eclipse of the sun was a natural phenomena that should be enjoyed by everyone.

That evening everybody was in a party mood, and a fair quantity of alcohol was consumed in celebration of the successful culmination of an excursion that had taken nearly five years planning and preparation. Sadly, the night sky returned to it's current practice of totally clouding over after sunset and very little observing could take place. A few members did stay awake till the early hours in the hope of the sky clearing and were rewarded with clearer views towards dawn when some Perseid meteors were observed.

Thursday 12th

We then continued into the centre of Epernay for about three hours of free time for shopping and sightseeing, before returning to the gite about 6.00pm.

Later that evening, whilst socialising at the smaller building, Colin Harrison remarked that there was an Iridium Satellite due over our location, and promptly disappeared back to the large building. We assumed he had gone to collect his chart showing time and location of transit, so that we might all view the passing of the satellite. But when he failed to return, we resigned ourselves to occasionally glancing up at what had become our first clear night sky of the trip so far. Luck was with us, as Bob Parkinson remarked about a dim light moving across the sky "I think that might be an Iridium" and it was! A brief flash of about magnitude -1 and it continued on it's path southwards. Various other satellites were observed crossing the sky during a pleasant evening spent sat outside, complemented by a glass or two of good French wine and some interesting conversation.

This was also the night of the Perseid meteor maximum, and a number of these were observed during the evening, as well as the occasional sporadic. Some cloud began to appear about midnight, and a good number retired for the night as a result. Other members of our party, notably Tony Deveraux and Mark Adamson, were more seriously observing the Perseid meteors at the rear of the large building; a more detailed account of which may be found elsewhere in Current Notes.

Friday 13th

The day began in the usual manner of broken cloud with clear blue sky, but the cloud thinned during the journey to Paris, and the sky was wonderfully clear with brilliant sunshine by journeys end.

Arriving in Paris about 11.00am, we had a scenic coach tour of the city, before Barry parked the coach near to the Eiffel Tower. He had suggested a boat trip along the Seine, to which we gladly concurred, and for a cost of 50 Francs each, spent a very pleasant hour cruising up and down the river.

After returning to the Eiffel Tower, we had an hour to explore on foot. Some of us took the opportunity to ascend the Tower, although only to the second level, given the time restriction.

Afterwards, we drove to Place de la Concorde, parked up again, and spent a further couple of hours exploring this area, shopping on the Champs Elyseé, or spending a restful time in the park. Returning to the gite about 7.00pm, everyone agreed that this had been an excellent day out, and a vote of thanks was offered to Barry for his wonderful idea.

Unfortunately, the evening sky adopted its now common pattern of heavy banks of cloud interspersed with very brief glimpses of only the brightest stars, and occasional rain showers.

Saturday 14th

That evening after dinner, a presentation took place when Pat Bolton and Irene Roughley were presented with silk scarves and boxes of chocolates, and Jo Parkinson with chocolates and "wine", in appreciation of the hard work they had put in over the past year or so, organising this eclipse excursion. Irene was also presented with a brooch, as a token of thanks from those staying in the larger gite for cooking their breakfast and dinner each day.

Most members of the party packed up their equipment and luggage, ready for the return journey the following day, and then spent a pleasant evening socialising.

About 11.00pm. the weather changed, and the sky cleared. Brilliant views of the night sky could be seen at last. Ray Brierley, using his large (15 x 80) binoculars, was picking out Messier objects for fun! Over 20 were observed in under half an hour. Many meteors were also clearly visible, again some Perseid and some sporadic, appearing at about one minute intervals.

On one occasion, a Perseid's path was crossed immediately afterwards by a sporadic, the path of which was then crossed by yet another Perseid. Three meteors in the same patch of sky in as many seconds! Graham Hodson, who unpacked his camera again after seeing such a wonderful display, managed to capture two separate shots of meteors using a 50mm lens and thirty second exposures on Fuji 1600 film, but at about midnight, the meteors appeared to stop, as if someone had turned the lights off. However, we were reliably informed by those that remained observing, that the meteors returned later and continued to be seen until dawn. To the rear of the large gite, Colin Henshaw was observing variable stars, and Tony Deveraux and Mark Adamson carried out their second all night watch of the Perseids. At dawn, the greatest western elongation of Mercury was observed and photographed. Further details of these observations may be found elsewhere in Current Notes.

Sunday 15th

Conclusion

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