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The August 11, 1999 Total Solar Eclipse
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With our picnic lunch and cameras in tow, we settled on a grassy spot along the banks of the Salzac river not far from the beautiful Mirabell Gardens and two pedestrian bridges.
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We weren't alone in our quest to experience nature's most spectacular celestial event, and, before long we were hearing the joy and excitement of the moment expressed in many languages. The sun remained hidden from view during the earliest phases of the eclipse, but a large clear area of blue sky to the north-west was heading our way ! |
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From my past experience in Oaxaca, Mexico in 1991, I reassured everyone that a partially eclipsed sun usually dissipates thin clouds, and sure enough at 11:40 AM, a good hour before totality, the warm sun was in the clear and now I could project its image with my small telescope |
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while my wife, Tina, and friend, Marilyn started viewing through welder's glass and aluminized mylar glasses. The mood around us seemed like one gigantic multi-cultural party as I strolled along the river-side walkway observing the shadows on the tree-lined path, |
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which were all crescent shaped and sharper than usual. While munching on a bag of "studentenfutter" (the German word for trail-mix), we all noticed that the air was growing perceptibly cooler. As the impending darkness approached, Venus popped into view below and to the east of the sun, |
( All images and text Copyright © 1999, Christopher Galfo )
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but the excitement was just beginning ! While the last glimmer of sunlight faded from view, the roar of thousands was heard; whistles, cheers, and the cries of ecstasy in many languages all ran together in a wall of sound. Skyward was a beautiful celestial diamond ring which lingered for just a few fleeting moments, giving way to a dazzling display of |
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pink tongues of flame (solar prominences) stretching outward into the silvery white corona. WOW! We were awestruck ! The roar of the crowd continued, with a single word heard clearly above the others: "BRAVISSIMO !", shouted by a near-by Italian. The tenuous solar corona seemed larger and brighter |
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than either Tina or I had remembered from previous eclipse experiences. Down river a small fireworks display lit up the sky, which was a real crowd pleaser. Two minutes later the Sun's photosphere began bringing the show to a close and |
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I had to cast my gaze back to Earth where I noticed the lights in the shop windows across the river and the huge crowd on the near by pedestrian bridge. Just moments later I could see the that sky around us was not evenly lit, |
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an effect of the Moon's shadow racing off to the east at several thousand MPH. The world grew quieter as the light rapidly returned and we started to breath a littler easier, although still light-headed from the whole experience. Now it was finally time to settle down and eat that picnic lunch we had packed. What a day ! |
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The Technical StuffFor those of you interested in the technical stuff, all photos above were taken with a Nikon Coolpix 900 digital camera. The close-ups of the eclipse were imaged by holding the camera up to the eyepiece of a small 8x home-made telescope, as shown in this photo. Photos were prepared for web publication on the world's greatest personal computer, an Apple Power Macintosh G3, using Adobe Photoshop 5.0 software. |
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This site is owned by Christopher Galfo |
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This page is best viewed on a 24-bit color display. If the images appear grainy or have artificial looking bands in then, you're displaying in 8-bit color (256 color) mode. A settings of "256 grays" improves the eclipse photos considerably if your computer is limited to 8-bits.
( ) All images and text Copyright © 1999, Christopher Galfo - eMail@nightpath.org
