The day started well at the ZCAS hostel in Lusaka with a clear blue sky albeit a bit chilly, well we are, after all, at an elevation of about 4300ft.
After loading all the gear onto the coaches we left at about 10.00 am heading north towards the eclipse observation site at Chisamba with strict instructions to wear our eclipse T-shirts as supplied by Voyages Jules Verne/UTC. Giving everyone a T-shirt and sun hat (baseball cap) was a nice touch and quite unexpected.
I hasten to add that we are not the sun worshippers referred to in today's Zambia Times (21st June 2001)
There hasn't been much evidence of "the eclipse is coming", though there was a big sheet advert at the Kariba Dam and a poster at the hotel.
The observation site was located several kilometres outside Chisamba on farmland and within earshot of some pop festival. There were toilet facilities, a bar and the food was laid on.
Arriving as we did about 11.15 or so we had ample time to find a spot, set up camp, unpack equipment, and get ready for the next 3 or 4 hours. Guest lecturer/solar photographer Douglas Arnold was on hand to provide assistance is required.
The buffet lunch for all 200 observers started at 12.30 local time and the queue was enormous, almost 200 people long, in fact. This meant that by the time the tail enders got served (us) it was getting pretty close to first contact - 13.40 local time. I only just made it back in time - perhaps a packed lunch would have been easier.
First contact and observations begin in earnest:
This continues for the next hour and a half, during which we get several scares when we note that there is smoke rising to the south resulting from the veldt burning which is common at this time of year and, as the sun becomes more eclipsed, thin cloud begins to form overhead. Fortunately the cloud doesn't become thick and the smoke appears not to interfere with observations.
Consistent with the veldt burning are the fragments of ash which flutter down upon us.
Everything runs smoothly including the removal of all filters from cameras prior to totality (unlike Venezuela in 1998) then the main event (second contact at about 15.09) happens right on cue - over to Val for her impressions of totality:
The last glimpse of the Sun through a lunar valley gave a long bright diamond ring (about 1 o'clock position) lasting a number of seconds, so bright that I couldn't see any Baily's beads. The corona came into view and I started to take some photos, quite slowly as I didn't want to take my eyes away from the Sun. The corona was fairly even in extent round the Sun, extending at least a solar diameter all round, with no long streamers (as expected at solar maximum). However, there was a lot of fine structure in the corona, with delicate markings and shadings, like a pencil drawing of a large pearly sunflower with a black centre. I took photos from 1/1000th sec to about 4 seconds and then looked with the binoculars. At the right hand side (3 o'clock position) was a huge pinky red prominence, and at the top left were a number of smaller prominences. The structure in the corona was magnificent through the binoculars. I took a few more photos, and then the film re-wound - I had run out of film just before the end of totality. I could see the Moon was moving off, as the bottom left started brightening, glowing red due to the chromosphere and revealing another set of prominences. Then the diamond ring appeared (at the 7 o'clock position) and lasted again for a number of seconds. This was one of the longest totalities of the six eclipses I have seen (ok, five, as Cornwall was a cloudout!), but even 3½ minutes was not long enough!
(Images of totality available: Into Totality; Corona; Out of Totality)
With third contact at around 15.13 totality is over amid shouts, cheers and applause, the inquest begins and with such a good eclipse everyone is excited and talking about the experience. Phew!
Unlike previous eclipses where there has been some degree of urgency to pack up and move on after third contact, here we could relax and continue to take the partial phases through to fourth contact at 16.27 when, for the first time as I can remember in six eclipses, there was a final round of applause - which was nice.
Within minutes of fourth contact the entertainment began as the "cabaret" - music and dancing - began. This continued until it was time for the barbeque. It was all over by about 8.45 pm as we set off back to Lusaka to end what must have been the best solar eclipse event/experience we have been to.
What made it the best:
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