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The images of the Total
Solar Eclipse of 29 March 2006, |
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 Click for high res |
| Canon
EOS 350D Hutech digital camera, set at 100 ISO, RAW
format, Pentax 75
apochromatic refractor, 75mm f/6.7 average of 10 images from 1/500s to 1s,
without filters. Elaboration
in Photoshop and Iris to enhance the coronal details.
Addition of the prominences from T2 and T3 images and
the Moon ashen light. |
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For the images of Totality, click
on the image at left. Number of images: 14 Canon EOS 350D Hutech digital camera, set at 100 ISO, Pentax 75 apochromatic refractor, 75mm f/6.7 used at direct focus, exposure times from 1/4000s to 4s, without filters. |
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| The sequence is an image
that show in a quick glance all the evolution of the
phenomena. This image is achieved on Fuji Provia 100F
film, using a 50mm objective. 29 exposures from 9.30 to
11.50 UT at regular intervals of 5 min, astrosolar filter
plus yellow filter for partial phases, 1/60s exposure at
f/5.6, no filters in totality and exposure of 2s at f/5.6.
The result is achieved automatically with an artigianal
intervallometer made by our friend Giorgio Bussini that
we'd like to thank! So we where free to focus on other
topics, the only obligation was to remove the filters and
change the exposure time immediately before the totality,
and to revert immediately after. |
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| A 360° panorama of the
horizon give an idea of the impressing all-direction
sunset. Venus is visible at SW, while our instruments are
between NE and E. Composed using 8 frames with a Vivitar
19mm objective, closed at f/5.6 and Fuji Sensia 100 ISO
film, 1/2s exposure time. Approximative hour of the
mosaic: from 10.38 to 10.39 UT, so in the first minute of
totality. |
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| Thanks to Eclipse software
of Fred Bruenjes, our totality was free from the
obligation of taking the main instrument photos, and we
have a lot of time to reserve for ambient images,
binocular observations and panorama observation. In this
image one of the authors (Lorenzo) is near the telescope,
between the binoculars. Unfortunately after this image the
mechanical camera jammed, without any reason, never
happened! So we were not able to take more images with
Alessandro near the telescopes. Please note the PC in the
lower-left corner with Eclipse software that is taking all
the images. At the top the totality. Imaged with a Vivitar
19mm f/5.6 objective, Fuji Sensia 100 ISO film, 1/2s
exposure time. Exact time of the image is -47s from MAX,
as can be read from a hires version of thisimage from the
monitor of the PC. |
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| This special elaboration
show 23 stars in the sky around the Sun, but to see them
we strongly suggest to view the high
resolution version. The background image with the
stars is a 1s exposure, while the corona was added above
the saturated part of the exposure. Canon EOS 350D digital reflex, Hutech modified, set at 100 ISO, RAW format, Pentax 75 apo refractor (dia 75mm f/6.7). |
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| Here are all the phases of
the second contact, thanks to our camera that was shooting
continuosly. The same images was also used to make the
animation presented below. Elaboration made by our friend
Emmanuele Sordini, thanks! Pentax75 apo refractor and Canon 350D, 1/1000s exp, shooting about one frame every second in JPG large format, 100 ISO (T2 at 10.38.06 UT). |
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This video show the central minutes of the eclipse, with the T2 and T3 contacts and the corona. The audio track reveal the atmophere that we were living... After the totality the joy exploded because we were able to observe the eclipse and to take the main photos. Unfortunately the secondary camera, a Canon 300D with a 200mm objective don't taka any frame, even if during all pre-eclipse the tests all worked perfectly. Click on the image at left to download the
video of 7 minutes, DivX
5.21 format, with mp3 audio track. Dimension: 12MB. Also in Flash
SWF format. If you cannot download such a big files,
listen to the audio
track
in mp3 format (1MB). |
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Animation of the second contact,
using the images of Pentax75 and Canon 350D, 1/1000s
exposure time, obtained at about 1fps in JPG large
format, 100 ISO, from T2-25s to T2+15s, (T2 at 10.38.06
UT). The animation is avaiable at accelerated speed of
5fps without audio or at 1fps with audio. Click on the image at left to download the animation, in DivX 5.21 format. Also in Flash SWF format. |
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Animation
of the third contact,
using the images of Pentax75 and Canon 350D, 1/1000s
exposure time, obtained at about 1fps in JPG large
format, 100 ISO, from T3-15s to T3+25s, (T3 at 10.42.02
UT). The animation is avaiable at accelerated speed of
5fps without audio or at 1fps with audio. Click on the image at left to download the animation, in DivX 5.21 format. Also in Flash SWF format. |
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Animation of the complete eclipse,
using the
images of Pentax75 and Canon 350D, 1/125s exposure time
in partial phases with a glass solar filter D5, and from
1/2000s to 1s in totality. Click on the image at left to download the animation, in DivX 6 format. Also in Flash SWF format. |
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A
solar eclipse greatly influences the Earth atmospere. The
temperature, relative humidity, luminance and pressure
data show typical trends, peculiar to each eclipse and
location. With a digital thermo-hygrometer we measured a 3°C fall of the temperature (4°C respect to the trend), definitely less than the 7°C of the total solar eclipse of 1999 in Hungary, but more than the last anular eclipse of 2005 in Spain where the fall was only of 0.5°C. A digital luxmeter measured the horizontal luminance: this is a really interesting measurement, that show the tremendous fall of the light, between full Sun (more than 113000 lux) and totality (only 4.1 lux). The luminance was reduced only to 0.0036%, or 1/28000. Click on the image at left to open the plots of:
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...of the desert camp |
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...of
the travel |
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We'd
like
to thank a lot Fred for his wonderful software "Eclipse"
that automatically took 327 images during totality, with
exposure times from 1/4000 to 4s, in JPG large and RAW
format. We used the 0.3.2 beta version (of March 17, 2006)
and we developed a custom script. For more informations visit Fred's software page and Fred's eclipse images. |
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