2006 march 29th total
solar eclipse in Sallum.
We
have been thinking about this project for a long time through Uranoscope, our
astronomy club : witness the 2006 march 29th solar eclipse. The project riped
and a group of 20 members is waiting to board to Cairo from Charles de Gaulle
airport on march 26th. We just met another small group from La Ferme aux
Etoiles and our guide.
A
travel agency arranged us a nice one week trip in Egypt to Alexandria, Marsa
Matrouh and Sallum where we’ll observe the eclipse, and then a quick desert
trek in Siwa oasis.
We
won’t be alone in Sallum city located on the totality path and few kilometers
far from the libyan border. A beduin like eclipse camp containing a least 5000
persons has been build on the top of the mountain overlooking Sallum Town. Most
of the eclipses chasers came from the whole world. Everyone gets a pass and our
busses are carefully checked before entering the camp. Egyptian autorities fear
a bom attack.
Confort
is quite rough and the night quite cold under the tent in this early spring.
When
we wake up, on the eclipse day, a thick fog covers the place. Hard to find the
observing area we delimited yesterday evening close to the japanese delegation.
At
last, the sun warms and the fog vanishes. We set our telescopes and cameras. So
does the japanese group.
The
sky is bright, not a slicest cloud. President Moubarak, Prince Charles and
Camilla Parker Bowles arrive by helicopter. They will observe the eclipse from
a special tent hundreds yards away.
While
waiting for the first contact expected at 11.21 AM we have a walk among the
crowd and we meet some « old » eclipse chasers friends.
The
celestial machine is working well. The show begins exactly on time. This
eclipse is supposed to reward us with a 4m07s totality and we are not deceived.
I can tell that I saw the most beautiful corona ever observed. Absolutely fabulous coronal jets and flares. Well, an
unforgettable eclipse and of course the unavoidable wish to see the next one.
Pictures were done with a canon "rebel" 350D used with
"Bracketing" mode with 2x magnifier at focus behind a 60mm
"Pronto" scope (F/D 12).
Images were captured in
“Raw” mode to allow digital retreatment (As a matter of precaution concerning
dust contamination, we made “flat field” to avoid hazard).
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Background (red) is from
SOHO C2 view of inner corona. Corona digitally enhanced
image has been added. |
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Image processing is based
on compositing the 3 exposures (from bracketing) and enhancing contrast with
rotational gradient (3° centrered on Sun). |
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Digitally enhanced view
of inner corona just after 2nd contact. |
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Mask for contrast
enhancement (3rd contact). |
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Digitally enhanced view
of inner corona just before 3rd contact. |
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2nd contact
image of eclipsed solar disk. Existing protuberances are not clearly visible
on the left side of solar disk. |
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Mid eclipse image. |
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3rd contact
image of eclipsed solar disk. Note the red protuberances. |
