Countdown to Eclipse
daysArchive for the 'Eclipse chasers' Category
What drive eclipse’s chasers?
Author: VaianaAn exceptional and magnificent event
A total solar eclipse is such an unusual phenomenon that some may travel thousands of miles to attend it. They can be Scientists or just astronomic amateurs flying from a continent to another. They are sometimes called eclipse’s chasers and tell us what encourages them to make such trips.
According to Philippe from the Astronomical Society of Tahiti (SAT), it is primarily the uniqueness of a total Solar eclipse that arouses such passion. In the region of Tahiti and her islands the next partial solar eclipse is scheduled for the year 2146 (see the ephemeris of the Observatory of Paris) when the next total Solar eclipse, it will only take place in about 4 centuries!
Explore remote areas…
“Majestic, magnificent, touching!” says Patrick from the association’s Adagio, “it is also a good opportunity to explore remote regions.”
Fabien has often escorted animated stays on the theme of the “Total Solar Eclipse” in Chile, Ecuador and Turkey. For him, “travellers who participate in such events seek the show during the eclipse with a complete stay and a guide with a top level”.
“We had an expert on astronomy for each group, he says, customers were passionates or had relationship with groups of amateur astronomers and some educated travellers.”
… and share wonderful emotions
Nadine is one of those passionate. She retains unforgettable memories of her first meeting with a total eclipse of the sun. “Tears streamed down my cheeks. The purple shadow had covered the lake and the mountains, the silence was total, like tangible, the atmosphere was poignant.”
She adds as well: “I have seen many eclipses since then, and the incredible perceptions I felt at these times have never been altered. That is why pictures, testimonials do not matter; each one must live these moments with its own soul and eyes.” (Read full text)
Here’s what Madeleine has reported from her stay in Benares, India, this famous July 22, 2009:
«Alongside the terrace are Indian photographers claiming with excitement: six minutes left… two minutes… and then there it is! Everything is plunged into dark, the moon completely covers the sun, and it’s fantastic! Everyone has goose-flesh… I take full advantage of this miracle of nature and it is really exciting! We are now waiting for the diamond effect: when the moon begins its descent, a flash of extraordinary light escapes, big like a diamond. This year it is particularly sparkling! We made it!” (Read full text)
First trip in another dimension
Author: VaianaThat was so long ago, decades maybe, in a country of mountains and water. One evening my brother told me:
- Tomorrow morning I’ll take you to the lake, something is going to happen…
I was still a child and life was full of surprises. I didn’t ask any question. Read the rest of this entry »
July 2009, miracle occurs alongside the Ganges’s banks
Author: VaianaBenares, July 22, 2009. Sunrise is at 5.09.
It’s Morning mist. Nothing dangerous, no big cumulus clouds accumulating in the atmosphere, after the heavy rains of last night, that was feared…
We swift of hotel and terrace to have a better view on the east bank of the Ganges. At 5:45 am everybody is there with the television’s reporter with whom we have been since yesterday afternoon, waiting for the sun getting out the clouds. We just missed the first contact of the moon with the sun, but it does not matter … we can see the beginning now and the moon comes over and is slowly eating the sun for nearly an hour.
At 5:30 am the streets are already crowded. All newspapers, television, had advertised the event. As medias made their duty to educate, people didn’t hide in their homes for fearing for disaster of a mishap, they are more curious instead of superstitious. No ritual bath on this part of the Ganges, no prayers, no flowers or hands close together. There are only the glance and the expectation. Hardly distinguish the circle of light on the other side of the Ganges that climbs gently into the blue sky, marbled with small light clouds. Murmurs softly rise from the river banks.
As clouds hide the beginning of the moon biting the sun, they finally vanish and the festival begins. With our eyes secured beneath our solar eclipses sunglasses, we observe the almost vertically descent of the moon on the solar disk. The physical sensation is very different from the one we felt in China, where the moon came from the right and slid softly to the left as a gentle kiss.
Here, it becomes more interior and glutton, almost cannibalistic. Alongside the terrace are Indian photographers claiming with excitement: six minutes left… two minutes… and then there it is! Everything is plunged into dark, the moon completely covers the sun, and it’s fantastic! Everyone has goose-flesh… I take full advantage of this miracle of nature and it is really exciting! We are now waiting for the diamond effect: when the moon begins its descent, a flash of extraordinary light escapes, big like a diamond. This year it is particularly sparkling! We made it!
The crowd deeply hums. People take a bath in the Ganges to purify themselves. On the main ghats on the farther north, the crowd is huge and an old woman will fall overboard and lose her life, wrapped in her sari. During an hour cohort of beggars will receive handfuls of rice, the customary gift for the poor population in this special occasion. They will leave with their bags full of second-hand clothes donated by richer women. A few hours later, the soil will be strewn with grains of rice licked by the cows and goats, and filthy rags left behind.
The filmmaker is carried away, he has to activate to send the report for the 01:00 pm news… and we celebrate that with a glass of mineral water, no alcohol allowed in a holy city… but we feel like drinking champagne!
Copyright: Madeleine Lacour
Photos : Joël Robic.