Observation of the total Solar eclipse

Here we are ! The D day is there ! August the 1st, around 2 pm, after a lunch with various meal, we quit Jiuquan in direction to the observation camp for a 2 hours long bus ride through the desert. Driving by bus on the desert tracks feels like being in a roller-coaster. We were even holding us tightly to the seats while using the same tracks for the return by night as the driver was rushing at 70 km/h not taking care about any holes or humps.
Pay attention to the clouds in the far background, they could spoil the event. The closer we got to them, the more anxious we became.

Eclipse-City camp

For this special event, in order to enjoy the best view near the shadow center-line, Eclipse-City built a camp on a 10 square-kilometer reserved area near Jinta, in the desert of Gobi. On this large place, the totality phase of the eclipse will last up to 1 minute and 50 seconds.

On place we can see that the organization is well thought: Tents, shelters and toilets are set up and we have enough water or juicy fruits not to be thirsty. The camp is very large so that everybody can find its place for the observation. We decide to install ourselves at the top of a sand dune to be able to see the hills in the background.

The ground is composed of sand and rocks in which our shoes sink by more than 5 cm. The unexpected heavy rain 2 days before our arrival, certainly as a consequence to the typhoon in Taiwan, caused the sand to drain under the rocks making them instable. The sparse clouds were moving fast but were still a source of stress for all the eclipse chasers who moved so much equipment to capture the magical moment.

Partial phase of the eclipse

Sitting on folding chairs, protected from the sun by caps, all offered by the organizers, we enjoy the first phase of the eclipse when the moon starts to hide the sun. I mainly used an old Minolta reflex camera equiped with a 200mm lens and a welding glass (index 13) as filter to take pictures of the partial phase.

Unfortunately the filter is so dark that the exposure measuring index is not to be seen in the view finder.

As I am neither a eclipse specialist nor a skilled photographer (even if, younger, I did practice photo theory on reflex cameras, but soon get caught up by the compact digital camera era), I totally relied on this exposure indicator to set my camera up. Although this technique gave good results in 1999, the unusable measure here lead to bad pictures. That's why I will only show you 2 of the 36 shoots.

We also spend time to prepare for THE picture of me. Installing the tripod, looking for the person's place at the good distance from the camera, tests full sun, test of the torch, everything is ready.

Meanwhile, our video camera was on another tripod automatically capturing "one second each 30 seconds". Because I failed writing a check-list as do specialists, I missed the first and second contact with the video camera. However, I had rather film the shadow moving on the large desert plane than catching these moments.
The following pictures have been extracted from the video, re-centered manually using TheGimp and combined as an GIF-Animation.

As my filters are in glass, they are easy to handle by hand and holding them accordingly can result in funny pictures. In this view the glass shows the moon hiding part of the sun and also reflects my cap and the Eclipse-City logo

Total eclipse

While we are still admirating the view as long as possible, somebody shouts suddenly : "One minute left before second contact !"
Time speeds up and we start the little choreography we repeated a few minutes before : I remove the Minolta from its tripod to install another camera. My father gets the camera back in hand, I change capture mode to manual and he begins filming the shadow on the floor. I switch the Pentax camera on, set it to manual mode, infinity focus as we did in the probes.
Then we can feel the temperature changing, the wind blows stronger, other people shout out. Everybody is awaiting the second contact and more precisely the famous Baily's beads but we are more interested in the shadow since the field of view in the desert is so wide that it must be possible to see its arrival. I am turning my back on the sun, watch behind to see the second contact shortly and than the light is getting weaker. Suddenly "Yeaaaah" (for english), "Jaaaaaa" (for german) "Ouaiiiiss" (for french) : TOTAL DARKNESS !

We stay there for a moment, being so fascinated by the incredible and magic view, much more impressive than the eclipse from our balcony. We have just time to take a picture with the Minolta Dimage and shoot a sequence at the maximum zoom on the video camera before running to our set up for THE picture

THE UNIQUE picture

I quickly catch the torch, light my way to find the cross where I should stand, stay still, light my face and smile widely

No CLICK ?

My father responsible for taking the picture discovers the camera shut down although I powered it up a few seconds ago. It is not responding. I run to the tripod, looking for the On/Off switch. Nothing is to see in such a darkness. With my lamp I understand the screen is just in standby mode and manage to get it ready again. I jump back to my cross, light my head, and smile...

CLICK !
- So ?
- Nothing, it's just ... black, I see nothing !
- Try changing the capture speed !
- I can't, it's too dark !

Back to the device, I could find the little (+) button to increase exposure time thanks to the lamp. Let's set 1/60e. Back on my cross, less smily then time is going by...

CLICK !
- All right now ?
- I don't know, it is still black !

No more time loosing, I set exposure time directly to 1 second always using the lamp. Posing over my cross, gritting my teeth because with my back facing the sun, I can see the far end of the desert getting brighter and I just shout:

Faaaaaaster !
CLICK !
- My, Oh my, it is almost over !

I turn back to watch the last seconds of this amazing view of the Sun and Moon rendez-vous, whatever the result of THE picture might be. This event is just tremendous !

In the end, the Pentax took 3 pictures: The first one with speed 1/150e

The seconde one with speed 1/60e

The third and last one at 1 second speed : This is the right one by a narrow margin ! I suppose the picture was taken right at the third contact as we can imagine the Baily's Beads at the bottom left of the eclipse. Venus and Mercury are also viewable

So, I got my UNIQUE picture for my birthday ! What a wonderful present. It is not all over, the moon is not waiting but still moving in front of the sun. Last occasion to shoot me with the apple cake that traveled 9000 km !

Back to city and Gala dinner

At the end of the event, everybody wanted to stay for the sun set behind the mountains or just to pack everything up for those heavily equiped. The painting is wonderful.

After the ride in roller-coaster by night, a last but beautiful surprise arrived at the end of the gala dinner just for me. Thank you Eclipse-City !

The next day, after the second Great Wall visit (see wall), we leave for Shanghai, without any stop at the hotel this time since we arrive at 2 am to fly back to Europe at 9 am.

Conclusion

As announced previously, the trip was short but being there, in the desert, on my birthday, with my father, attending to a total solar eclipse was so incredible that I cannot forget it.
Long after, I really checked and realized : There won't be any more total solar eclipse on a first of August up to the year 3000 since this one was the 11th and last one calculated over a 5000 years period (-2000 to +3000)

and I was there

Back to Top