Jump to content

Banner.jpg.b89429c566825f6ab32bcafbada449c9.jpg

where was you on Wed. 11th Aug. ‘99 ?


RT65CB-SWL

Recommended Posts

On 12/08/2019 at 08:31, lukebl said:

I was in a field near Dieppe, with my wife and baby son. The skies were clear during totality and Quails started calling as the sky darkened. It was awesome. Took the same 18-year old son to see totality in Wyoming in 2017. Even more awesome!

The 2017 eclipse was in the same Saros Cycle as 'our' 1999 eclipse - the 2017 starting point was 120 degrees west of the earlier one, because the Saros Cycle is 18 years, 11 days, 8 hours long, and the 8 hours means the earth has turned by that much extra.

  • Like 1
Link to comment
Share on other sites

Bulgaria for me. Little remote village on Black Sea coast with an international group from the IMO who were doing a joint eclipse/Perseids trip. Lovely clear skies. Took my ETX90 with me and an Olympus OM1 camera loaded with Fujichrome 200 film.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

In the back garden with some black dinner plates!! We weren't into astronomy at that time, so it was only a casual look....

I think that might have been the start of the slippery slope :D:D:D

Link to comment
Share on other sites

I had started a new job. The production manager at the time tried to enforce a blanket ban on anyone going outside to view it 🙂

we had a rather cloudy view, so those that obeyed didn't miss much. It went very dark, but it was spoilt by the conditions.

i am still there and have viewed the Sun from work 100's of times since, from the ford focus boot observatory!

Link to comment
Share on other sites

On 16/08/2019 at 09:03, Gfamily said:

We were on the campsite above Sennen Cove in Cornwall. Totally cloudy above, but the effect of seeing twilight around 360 degrees of the horizon was memorable.

The day before was glorious though, spent on the beach at the cove, with various family members.

The Perseids gave a good display one night, but I can't recall whether it was before or after the eclipse

Just round the corner from there right now. Beautiful part of the world. 👍

Link to comment
Share on other sites

I was with the British Astronomical Association at their official meet at Truro School. Had just finished first year of very disappointing astronomy degree. 

Like the rest of Cornwall we were clouded out for totality but still had a great time, with Perseids in the days running up to it and some good observing. Would still love to see an uncloudy eclipse one day!!

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Quote

 The production manager at the time tried to enforce a blanket ban on anyone going outside to view it 🙂

What a miserable so and so!!  It's not as if solar eclipses happen on a regular basis, you could have called it your lunch hour.

Carole 

  • Like 1
  • Haha 1
Link to comment
Share on other sites

You know I do recall a solar eclipse happening when I was a very small child, I remember it went VERY dark and hiding behind the settee as I was scared.  Just looked it up, it was 26/6/1955.  Longest total eclipse of 20th Century apparently. 

Then when I was at school I recall maybe a partial eclipse happening while we were in the school playground all getting arranged for a school photo and being told not to look at it (for safety reasons).  I had bought a folded up length of photo negative with me to look through it.  Well such was my ignorance about safety then, but I do recall having a few sneaky views of it.

Carole 

Edited by carastro
  • Like 1
Link to comment
Share on other sites

3 minutes ago, carastro said:

You know I do recall a solar eclipse happening when I was a very small child, I remember it went VERY dark and hiding behind the settee as I was scared.  Just looked it up, it was 26/6/1955.  Longest total eclipse of 20th Century apparently. 

 

Carole 

Which country were you in at the time

John

  • Like 1
Link to comment
Share on other sites

23 hours ago, Pete Presland said:

I had started a new job. The production manager at the time tried to enforce a blanket ban on anyone going outside to view it 🙂

I was fortunate to be in my car driving along a 'B' road. Easy to pull over and watch. I called my wife on the phone as she was at work and went outside to view with others from her office.

Having been told of the eclipse by a retiring teacher when I was in infant school in the 60's. Spent the next 30 odd years looking forward to it happening, I think I would have walked out on any place to see it, even if it was my new job lol. As Carole says, what a miserable so and so!!

  • Haha 1
Link to comment
Share on other sites

Reims. Handy for the Veuve Cliquot afterwards.

We hired a Ford XRi in Madrid and drove non stop. The cloud cleared with about 1/2 hour to go. I took a Nikon FM2 with Fuji Velvia on one of those 500mm preset f8 lenses with a teleconverter. Still got a Cibachrome...

q.jpg.0521b1bed531e340679e9478fdb5fb2f.jpg

 

Edited by alacant
  • Like 3
Link to comment
Share on other sites

5 hours ago, carastro said:

Then when I was at school I recall maybe a partial eclipse happening while we were in the school playground all getting arranged for a school photo and being told not to look at it (for safety reasons).  I had bought a folded up length of photo negative with me to look through it.  Well such was my ignorance about safety then, but I do recall having a few sneaky views of it.

We used silver coated sweet wrappers.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Quote

Which country were you in at the time

UK

Hmm, must have been this one then, even younger.  I do recall it got very dark, all the adults were looking out of the window while I hid. 

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Solar_eclipse_of_June_30,_1954

Great animation on this link.

Carole 

Edited by carastro
Link to comment
Share on other sites

That was my first year out of school and I had just signed a professional contract with my local football club. I remember being fixated by it while the others continued to train after a quick glance. 

 

I think my head has been stuck in the clouds since then. It’s no wonder I never really made it as a footballer 😂

  • Haha 1
Link to comment
Share on other sites

We drove to Austria for that event. The sky was partially cloudy but it became clear right during the total eclipse.

Great time. We observed it with a celestron C8 and full aperture mylar filter. I still remember the wind blowing stronger and the birds singing confused by the light change.

The corona was outstanding. A truly great event.

I heard about that eclipse in the early nineties. Just a child at that time but the date was already on my calendar.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Create an account or sign in to comment

You need to be a member in order to leave a comment

Create an account

Sign up for a new account in our community. It's easy!

Register a new account

Sign in

Already have an account? Sign in here.

Sign In Now
  • Recently Browsing   0 members

    • No registered users viewing this page.
×
×
  • Create New...

Important Information

We have placed cookies on your device to help make this website better. You can adjust your cookie settings, otherwise we'll assume you're okay to continue. By using this site, you agree to our Terms of Use.