RING OF FIRE OVER EUROPE The images of October 3, 2005 Annular Solar Eclipse, by Lorenzo Comolli

This are some of the images of the October 3, 2005 Annular Solar Eclipse, from the skys of Spain.

All the images of the entrance phase, click on the image at left. Number of images: 12 Kodak Elite Film 100 ISO, Pentax 75 telescope, 75mm f/6.7 with two focal multipliers, so an equivalent focal of 2000mm at f/27, time exposures of 1/500 and 1/250 s, Astrosolar photographic filter D=3 and yellow filter.

All the images of the Annular phase, click on the image at left. Number of images: 12 Kodak Elite Film 100 ISO, Pentax 75 telescope, 75mm f/6.7 with two focal multipliers, so an equivalent focal of 2000mm at f/27, time exposures of 1/250 and 1/125 s, Astrosolar photographic filter D=3 and yellow filter.

The exit of the Moon

All the images of the exit phase, click on the image at left. Number of images: 15 Kodak Elite Film 100 ISO, Pentax 75 telescope, 75mm f/6.7 with two focal multipliers, so an equivalent focal of 2000mm at f/27, time exposures of 1/500 and 1/250 s, Astrosolar photographic filter D=3 and yellow filter.

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All in one picture

I've collected all the images of the ecipse in a picture that show the evolution of the complete eclipse. For the hires image, click on the image at left.

	The animation of the complete eclipse, click on the image at left (GIF animation 2Mb) Number of images in the animation: 39
II contact III contact	Movies of the eclipse obtained with a MiniDV digital videocamera Panasonic NV-DS15, with an optical multiplier, obtaining an optical zoom of 60x. Solar filter in Astrosolar D=5 (and so the Sun is white). In the two movies at left (click for the AVI movies of 300kb, DivX 5.2 compression) are recorded the initial and final phases of the annularity.

Only an image for describing all the eclipse. This is the sequence that show the Sun and the Moon at 5 minutes intervals, from 8.02 UT to 10.02 UT. Here the sequence is composited with a landscape image, imaged pointing toward the Sun a few minutes after the annularity, making a photo realistic composite. The original slide with the sequence indeed have a black sky. Kodak Elite Film 100 ISO, 55mm objective.

For other landscape images, click on the image at left. Number of images: 11

Both Alessandro and I recorded the temperature and relative humidity with digital thermoigrometers. During this eclipse the drop of the temperature whas very small, about half a degree Celsius, nothing if compared to the -7°C whe have recorded in the 1999 totale eclipse. Click on the left image for the plots of: temperature relative humidity illuminance

Please feel free to write me for every comment: comolli@libero.it.

Actors: Lorenzo Comolli, Alessandro Gambaro, Alberto Gianni, Marco Scardia, Emmanuele Sordini and many other amatour astronomers from all over the Europe. All the hours are in central Europe summer time (TU+2).

h 23.00 of the day before: we go to sleep after a dinner based on typical "paella valenciana", we have a look at the sky and it's clear, we see the Milky Way!!! Good!
h 6.00: we wake up and open the window, and... NOOOO, completely cloudy!!! But we don't discourage and we prepare quickly.
h 7.00: after a short trip, we are on the observing location, named Cumbre del Sol, a hill that overlook the Mediterranean Sea. There is a wonderful view of the Cabo de la Nao. Unfortunately the sky is covered, but some holes in the clouds give us some hope. We start to assemble our instruments, and I need a lot of time because I've divided my instruments in a lot of very small parts for putting inside the suitcase...
h 8.00: the Sun rise in the clouds, but a hole show us some light rays. We continue to assemble the instrumend and hope.
h 9.00: the Sun is still covered by the clouds that have a strange behaviour: the arrive from North, pass on the Sun and then disapper completely. A couple of kilometers at South the sky is clear and the landscape is illuminated by the Sun. This is a crucial moment: we consult to decide to stay or go away, to search a better place with the Sun. After a difficult discussion, we decide to stay here, because the trend is an opening.
h 9.30: finally we see the Sun and start to take the first photos, with the Sun out of the eclipse.
h 9.42: first contact, but unfortunately a cloud cover the Sun and we miss the moment.
h 9.54: the clouds finally go away amd we can experimentally verify that the eclipse is really started!
h 10.00: the last clouds pass over the Sun. From this moment, no other clouds will bother us! Wow!
h 10.30: Alessandro show us his map of Spain, all the amatour astronomers in the field come to see. Why? Maybe we are in a wrong place? NO!!! The map is full of holes and project on the wall behind the map a lot of small Sun images. All the holes make the phrase "Spain 3-10-05". We shot tens of images, so we will surely remember where and when we was...
h11.00: second contact, this is the topical moment: all the photo cameras shot a lot of images and it's wonderful to observe the lunar mountains that gradually cover the Sun and show us many Baily beads. Finally we are happy because the clouds don't interfered in the success of the expedition! Well done!
h 11.02: we are at the maximum eclipse, the show is superb, with a perfect ring drawn in the sky. Marco read the temperature, 13.6°C, less than half a degree Celsius under the temperature out of the eclipse, 14.0°C. A very small decrease that we'll try to explain later. Alessandro raise the hand to the sky, but not for thanks for the show! He noticed that the shadow of his hands is very strange, and the annular Sun project double images of the hands!
h 11.04: third contact, the time run in the wink of an eye, but the show has still to come. The exit of the Moon is even more interesting because a hige Lunar valley leave a small part of Sun between the black sky. The Baily beads produced by the Lunar mountains are visible for another minute, expecially with a binocular.
h11.30: the eclipse go on but the time seems to be stopped. The principal phase gone awau and we relax chatting with the other amatours on the hill, they come from all Europe: France, Belgium, Germany, Austria...
h 12.30: fourth contact, the eclipse is finished! We discuss of the eclipse and all are extremely happy for the morting, even more considering the thich clouds when the Sun rose! Some of us have observer a total solar eclipse and we agree that the "taste" of an anular is something deeply different from a total, something for "connoisseurs", surely less exciting but that cannot lack in a curriculum of an amatour astronomer.

Link to the pages of the other friends:

• Emmanuele Sordini

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