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Total Solar Eclipse at Ceduna, South Australia
moooooooo writes "The total Solar Eclipse on December 4 is fast approaching with Ceduna in South Australia being one of the better places to observe this rare event.
Accomodation was thought to have been booked out but a new site has been set up where you can find more information on the event. Information can be found here and accomodation info is at the bottom of the page. I heard on the radio that they will be setting up a "tent city" for those of us who want to camp out." There's a very impressive eclipse page describing the orbital conditions necessary for an eclipse and listing solar and lunar eclipses coming up.
staring directly at a solar eclipse is not a good idea..
Now all I need it the airfare to get there, and I'm all set! Oh...I almost forgot...better get permission from the wife...
Damn. She said no. :-(
Be excellent to each other. And... PARTY ON, DUDES!
I know everyone here probably knows what an eclipse is, and you all probably appreciate the grandeur exhibited by shadows created with celestial entities.
But I myself wasn't quite sure why Ceduna in southern Australia was a good place to view it. However, after some research, I found the following information:
To witness all that this total solar eclipse has to offer, viewing must be within the narrow path of the moon's umbral shadow, which passes directly over Ceduna.
Although the sun will be partly eclipsed throughout South Australia, and 88% eclipsed from Adelaide, the spectacular effects of this eclipse will not be visible outside the shadow's path due to the intensity of remaining light from the sun.
Even 99% eclipsed gives you much less than 99% of the 'total eclipse experience'!
The bottom line: if you are in your parents' basement at the time, you will miss the total eclipse.
Department of Physics and Atmospheric Science, Dalhousie University, Halifax, N.S., Canada, B3H 3J5
To the owner of a Blue Mitsubishi Eclipse licence plate ERQ-1343, you left your lights on.
-- If at first you don't succeed, lie!
Are you suggesting that the eclipse will cause *more* harmful radiation to reach Earth? Why?
I understand that the moon may not block much, if any, but surely it can't amplify the radiation.
Don't those crazy foreigners know that it's almost WINTER?
The total Solar Eclipse on December 4 is fast approaching...
December 4th is approaching at the same rate it always does. One day per day.
<g> (Moderators, in case your physics isn't too fresh, this is "funny", not "informative".)
Didn't you forget all those dangerous, sneaky neutrinos?
The other option is to head to the Outback Eclipse Festival at Lyndhurst, in the even more stunning Flinders Ranges. This point is further east than Ceduna, so the eclipse should happen even closer to sunset, and the even comprises a chill-out music festival over several days. I live in Adelaide, and I would be heading here rather than Ceduna (although unfortunately I'm saving for a DIFFERENT holiday so I can't afford to make an appearance!)
-"I still believe in revolution; I just don't capitalize it anymore." - srini!
I was in school at Cornell several years ago (1995?) when there was a total-but-not eclipse -- and annular solar eclipse. The one I saw was not quite like that of the link, but it was a very strange event. For several minutes, it was like daylight but not quite; the light was gray and there were bizarre shadows and diffraction effectcs.
So not all solar eclipses are alike. It interests me that the Moon and Sun are so similar is apparent (angular) size. The Moon is unique in the solar system for its enormous one-quarter size relative to its planet.
The link has a 1992 photo and numerous tips and links re eclipses generally.
One of my favorites shows the 1970 eclipse near total, with a diamond-ring effect". I actually saw that one--it was amazing. When the sky gets dark, the birds figure it's night and go roost in the trees. Beautiful.
Mr. Eclipse also links to Ceduna info, including an animation of the shadow's path across earth.
Making trouble today for a better tomorrow...
Comment removed based on user account deletion
If you're going to see this, there's a couple of things to remember.
That area is largely arid - it can rightfilly be called desert.
AND
It's summer here.
Temperatures in that area can reach 45C to 50C and water is hard to find outside habitation. Even if you do nothing but lay in your tent you WILL need 4 litres of water per day. You have to drink enough so that you piss clear. (Guide: The darker your urine, the more dehydrated you are)
No, coffee, Coke and Pepsi aren't a substitute for water, even though they have water in them.
No, neither is beer, even if it is Cooper's Sparkling Ale.
More fruitbats in Literature!
Comment removed based on user account deletion
Comment removed based on user account deletion
Not even sunglasses can block the longitudinal waves of harmful gamma radiation, which penetrates the skin and malforms cells into cancerous, replicating destroyers.
Obviously, this has nothing to go with looking at it. And it's even worse without the moon blocking some of the radiation. That's why I've been hiding in a lead-lined room in the basement for the last ten years...
I"m surprised no-one has said this yet:
"Wouldn't it be great, if in the future you had a time machine. Then you could go back in time and show up in front of a bunch of neanderthals right before a solar eclipse. Then you could tell them that you were going to put the sun out. When the eclipse occurs, they'd probably try to kill you or something. But then you'd explain about the rotation of the moon and earth and everyone would have a good laugh."
--Jack Handy
Just paraphrasing from what I remember.
Why does it seem that all astronomical events can always be viewed better from Australia and surroundings?
[alk]
too bad it doesn't look like we'll be seeing one of these any time soon :(
[alk]
Cool a total eclipse on my 21st birthday, the only problem I cannot leave work to see it in Australia.
If you're in with the ravers, the Outback Eclipse Festival 2002 at Lyndhurst is a 4-day music festival celebrating the eclipse.
From inthemix.com, "Day will turn into night as the moon passes directly in front of the sun. This will be the best viewing point in the world to see this 100% solar eclipse."
"Over 50 international and local live acts and DJs, performing artists, crazy installations, mega shade, free drinking water, chillout village featuring geodesic domes." See you there.
"I study meterology at MIT [mit.edu], so I feel that . . . "
."
"I own a chain of stores here in London, and after several meetings with lower management, . . . "
"Seriously. I've noticed this too, lately, as I work for a small Verizon Wireless store . .
Oh how the mighty have fallen. If you're going to make up stories at least make sure your past stories agree. Or at least are not so accessible.
Stoptional
This time, from where I work, yet another 2002 eclipse website
They plan on having a live braodcast, but somehow I don't think that will work.
Why go all that way to in the place where the "sun don't shine :-)" for a few seconds?
If you have ever seen / experienced a true
100% total eclipse you might understand.
I have NEVER seem a photograph
do justice to the experience.
Not only do photographs fail to present the
full dynamic range of the visual, they lack
the wind, the temperature drop, the effect
on plants, birds, insects, people ...
You really have to see and experience a total
solar eclipse directly.
Each eclipse is unique. The shape and size of the solar corona. The colors. Solar prominence positions, shapes, rates of change. Sky brightness. Duration of the diamond rings. Shadow edge sharpness. Shadow band size and change rate. etc. etc. No two eclipses look the same.
The eclipse near/at Ceduna will have some special features. The short duration is a result of the moon and sun being very near the same size. Long eclipses (such as up 7+ minutes) allow for observation of the inner corona (near the solar disk edge) only near the beginning and end of the Eclipse. Short eclipses offer excellent inner corona views throughout the eclipse. There is a trade-off between inner detail and duration.
The eclipse will be near sunset. The same optical illusion that makes a full moon near the horizon seem large makes the solar corona (sometimes 2x to 4x the apparent size of the sun/moon disk) seem huge.
The Sun will set after totality ends but while the moon is partially covering the solar disk. We will watch a crescent sun set. Instead of watching a single point wink out, we will watch two points wink out one after the other. Some are hoping to see a double green flash.
The Sun should be entering quieter phase of its sunspot cycle. But for the last few months we have seen an unusual degree of activity this late in cycle. A more active sun frequently results in a non-uniform shaped corona. A more active sun frequently results more and unusual numbers of solar prominences.
chongo (was here)