May 19-21, 2012 ALP Xiamen
Annular Solar Eclipse Report - Day 3
by James
Kevin Ty
Images by James Kevin Ty, Mark Vornhusen & Jett Aguilar
Day 3 (May
21) - E-Day , Gulangyu Short Tour & Return to
Manila
ALPers all
wake up early at around 2:30am and started to make final
inspection of their eclipse equipment before they go
down to the lobby at around 3:30am to meet with their
driver. They left the hotel at around 3:45am en
route to their observing site. After a 20
minute ride, they arrived at their observing site
and started to setup their equipment. James
brought along a very portable setup with a Canon EOS
500D DSLR with Canon EF 100-400mm f/4.5-5.6 IS L lens
with Canon EF 1.4x converter set at 560mm (35mm
equivalent of 900mm) mounted on his portable Kenko Sky
Memo-R tracker. He also brought along a small Canon
Powershot 650 IS digicam for him to document activity
shots as well as a Sony old model TRV-120 camcorder for
him to video the eclipse ; Jett brought along his Canon
EOS 7D DSLR on Borg 77ED II refractor as well as video
camera and Canon EOS 50D DSLR on Canon EF 100-400mm
f/4.5-5.6 IS L lens set on sturdy tripod. Mark, on the
other hand, brought along his Nikon D5000 DSLR on
Russian 1000mm f/10 Maksutov mirror lens as well
as Coronado PST-Ha and a National Geographic 60mm
refractor. BTW, China standard time is same as
Philippine Standard Time so need to deduct 8 hours to
get GMT time just in case.
The team's
observing site is situated near the coastal beach
facing the small Kinmen island which is facing east
horizon. It was a clear sky as predicted by the local
weather news and indeed it was a clear day for all
eclipse viewers in Xiamen! At around 5:23am local time ,
They got to see the first small horn of the eclipsed Sun
and started to click away. Although the sky is
clear, James could sense that there is slight thin haze
hovering near the Sun as his exposures were not
consistent and he had to constantly change exposure
almost every shot thus he had to bracket his exposures
to lessen the burden. With that on hand, I had to quit
doing the video because I might jeopardize my still
imaging session :( With that in hand, James opted to let
go of his video camera to concentrate on the still
images which is his priority.
But nearing
2nd contact, a small patch of black cloud started to
cover the Sun unexpectedly and all viewers there at the
site were going crazy and all are yelling and hauling
for it to go away :) But from the looks of the
small clouds which covers the Sun 10 minutes before 2nd
contact, James estimated and tell his fellow
members that this small pesky cloud will exit the Sun
before 2nd contact arrives and true to the prediction,
the Sun came out of the small cloud like a "second
contact" diamond ring and everyone was celebrating as
the Sun continuous to come out part by part. What
surprises James was the visibility of of inner
corona , chromosphere , prominence and Bailey's
Beads just before 2nd contact! The faint glow of
the inner corona illuminated the Moon's dark limb
a bit! It was AWESOME, BEAUTIFUL and DRAMATIC!!! As like
what fellow member Mark Vornhusen , also an avid eclipse
chaser, said " It's an annular solar eclipse that
we came here to observe but we were treated with a "semi
total solar eclipse" effect :) LOL
A few more
seconds passed and they got to see the "Ring of
Fire" for about 4 minutes or so before all things comes
to an end 3rd contact started. They also got to
see some Bailey's Beads during the 3rd contact. As the
time moves forth, the Sun started to undergo partial
phases till it exits the Sun more or less around 7:21am.
It was a very good, dramatic annular solar eclipse and
it was worth the trip going to see this eclipse!!! After
getting their customary ALP group shot, they packed up
their stuffs and head back to the hotel to have a quick
breakfast before going back to the hotel room to process
the eclipse images.
Sky was clear at sunrise for a
horizon shot of the eclipsed Sun. |
Inner Corona was visible as
well as Chromosphere seconds before 2nd contact! |
Chromosphere is clearly
visible as well as Prominences and some Bailey's
Beads seconds before 2nd contact! |
Bailey's Beads clearly visible
seconds before 2nd contact! |
Maximum Annularity - 87.24%
|
3rd Contact - End of
Annularity - with Bailey's Beads |
Composite Image of Various
Stage of Annular Solar Eclipse |
Composite Image of Various
Stage of Annular Solar Eclipse |
ALPer Mark Vornhusen with his
Nikon D5000 DSLR with 1000mm f/10 Russian Maksutov ,
Coronado PST and National Geographic 60mm refractor
both on sturdy tripods. |
ALPer Jett Aguilar with his
Canon EOS 7D DSLR on Borg 77ED II refractor with 2x
converter on Takahashi Space Boy Mount , Canon EOS
50D DSLR with Canon EF 100-400mm f/4.5-5.6 IS L lens
and Video camera. |
ALPer James Kevin Ty with his
Canon EOS 500D DSLR with Canon EF100-400mm f/4.5-5.6
IS L lens with Canon EF 1.4x converter on Kenko Sky
Memo-R tracker and Sony TRV-120 video camera on
sturdy tripod. |
Partial eclipse visible
through a glass solar filter. |
ALPer Jett holding an
ALP Xiamen Eclipse Pinhole Cardboard. |
ALPer James holding a solar
viewer to check on the partial solar eclipse phases. |
Xiao Yeh using a solar viewer
to observe the eclipsed Sun. |
ALPers James and Jett manning
their cameras and videos. |
Chinese believes that a
dog can scare away the eclipse shadow for the Sun to
get back its original shape :) It always works of
course :) |
Xiamen University Astronomical
Group members were there as well to witness the
annular solar eclipse ! |
ALPer James is busy imaging
the various stages of the annular solar eclipse. |
A Chinese girl is aided by his
mom on how to view the eclipse Sun safely. |
Xiamen University Astronomical
Group members here helping ALPer Mark do a solar
projection view of the eclipsed Sun. |
ALPer Jett flashed the thumbs
up to let ALPers James and Mark know that he had a great
time viewing the annular eclipse successfully ! |
XIao Yeh looks great
with the solar shades! |
ALPer James posed together
with a Siberian Husky who is there as well to
observe the annular solar eclipse! |
ALPers James and Jett are all
smiles after the conclusion of the annular solar
eclipse ! |
ALPers James and Jett
congratulates each other after another successful
ALP eclipse expedition! |
ALP Xiamen Annular Solar Eclipse
Expedition Team
Success ! See you all again in
2016 in Borneo!
At around
11:30pm, Xiao Yeah meet them at the lobby to take them
to get a 10 minute ferry boat ride to the island of
Gulangyu where they had a short tour of the old houses
there and lastly check out the Underwater World in
Gulangyu. They check out the various aquatic
fishes both plain and salt water fishes of the facility.
They also got to see a short sea lion show before they
head back via ferry boat back to Xiamen City and get
their luggages at the hotel en route to the airport.
One of the many ferry boats
ferrying people in and out of Gulangyu. |
Some of the old houses that
are once owned by foreigners lin Gulangyu ike
American, British, Japanese, Portugese, etc. |
ALPers Jett, Mark and James
posed in front of the port entry to Gulangyu. |
 |
A short Sea Lion show at the
Underwater World in Gulangyu. |
Nice Seahorses are on display
at the Underwater World. |
Giant Sea Spider |
Shark vs Moray Eel :) |
At the
airport, their original flight time of 8:20pm was
delayed by more than 50 minutes before they got to
depart Xiamen to Manila at around 9:10pm.and arrived in
Manila at around 11:00pm.
Overall, they went back home in
the evening with a happy heart and looking forward to
observing the total solar eclipse in Borneo in 2016!!!
More time to prepare again :)
May 21,
2012 ALP Annular
Solar Eclipse Expedition to Xiamen, China Main
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