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(meteorobs) UK Eclipse Report - delete if not interested!
Hi gang,
I know this is off topic, but I thought a few people who didn't travel over
here to Europe might be interested in hearing how today's eclipse went from
here in the north of England... feel free to delete if you're not one of
them...!
I run an astronomical society here in the UK, and today we held a big public
Eclipse Watch to show members of the public the eclipse. From here, 87% of
the Sun was covered by the Moon... and <<<<<<yawn>>>>>>>> after months of
preparation that's it, game over, end of story, mission accomplished. I'm
done. :-) And I'm shattered, absolutely shattered. And tanned too, a little,
after standing out in the Sun all morning. Yes, I said 'in the Sun' - we saw
it! Yaaaaaaaaaaay!!! Well, we saw it until just after the maximum, then big
"Close Encounters" like clouds broiled in, blocking the view, but it didn't
matter, we SAW IT! :-))) And we were joined by local TV and radio crews, and
newspaper reporters too.
But back to the beginning... The day started off very 50/50, when I went
down to the river-side gardens selected as our viewing site to set up early
for a newspaper photo; high wispy cloud was turning the sky a milky, creamy
white colour, with some thicker pillows of cloud scattered around the
horizon like the painted scenery in a planetarium, but as I started to
assemble the telescope and boards and screens 'n stuff a most glorious,
subtle-hued ice halo surrounded the Sun, and the high mist started to clear
away, until, at 10.00, it had just about gone altogether - and we saw the
Moon taking its first "bite" out of the Sun, projected onto a screen by my
trusty, humble 3" reflector. Amazing really... I've seen a few partials, but
that first sight of the Sun looking "wrong" never fails to make me gasp...
and after that it just got better and better, like I said, a party. Some
families had even brought picnics would you believe!
And the Government's fearsome Regional Senior Health Officer was VERY
pleased with us for being so responsible; in fact, he had nothing but praise
for us, which was nice, cos to be honest I was more than ready for a bit of
a "debate" with him when I heard he was coming, seeing as he was one of the
people suggesting it should be watched "on TV"... ;-) But no, he praised us
to the skies, and in the first radio piece at 9.30 gave us his full,
official backing, which I think helped bring a lot *more* people down, you
know, having heard we were, officially, a "safe" event...
And amazingly, everything went according to plan, too. The local TV crew
came and the glamourous presenter who came to see it with us had a great
time, an absolute ball, she never stopped laughing or smiling... As for the
crowd itself, well, the media teams - who are used to guestimating crowd
numbers at these sort of things for their reports - reckoned we got between
800 and 1000 people. Young and old, veterans and first timers, a real cross
section, with quite a few out of towners and even overseas tourists as well,
including a nice couple from Spain who stuck to the telescope like glue,
watching every moment of it, and afterwards asked for my address so they
could send me copies of all the pictures they took... which was nice...
And really, it was like a big party, from start to finish; we had three
telescopes set up showing the projected image of the Sun, plus (once we
tracked down a problem with the power extension leads from the nearby vet's)
images on a PC screen connected to a filtered camera, and a TV showing the
BBC's doom-and-gloom coverage from Cornwall, which was experiencing
totality... and as soon as the eclipse started (EARLY by my watch!) the
crowds just gathered around the telescopes and hugged in closer and
closer...
Clouds came and went for a while, but it didn't matter; everyone who wanted
to see it saw it, and as the TV and radio reports described how Cornwall was
totally clouded out - they saw NOTHING!!! - we were all standing there,
under a glorious, cloud-spattered sky, watching the Sun gradually eaten
away... and that view survived just to the "peak" at 11.15 and then it
vanished behind a huge wedge of grey cloud, and didn't reappear for ten
minutes, but by then everyone was very pleased and thrilled... and by then
I'd done three pieces to the TV camera, and around a half dozen radio
interviews, inbetween holding up a piece of card to show people the progress
of the eclipse... so all in all I reckon I saw about twenty minutes of the
thing! I took down 2 rolls of film... and took 6 photos. **6** photos. Huh.
Typical. :-/
And at the peak, at 11.10 or so, it did go pretty dark (not sure if that was
actually due to the cloud or the lack of Sun to be honest, but I'll claim
the former!) and the temperature dropped considerably, it became quite
chilly actually... didn't hear any birds singing (cos we scared them all off
I think!) and I felt no wind (<<sigh>>, come on, stop sniggering at the back
there, you know what I meant!) either... the biggest impact came from the
people: everyone got very excited and was pointing at the screen and
clapping and smiling... then the cloud came over, and it calmed down a
little... Meanwhile the TV showed the crowds in Cornwall shaking out
umbrellas and staring forlornly at a battleship-grey sky... hehehehehehe :-)
So, it's all over now. But some nice moments to look back on... there were
lots of kids there, enjoying seeing their First, while we also had some OAPs
there who saw the *last* one back in 1927, and it was very touching and
moving to be personally thanked by them for helping them see it (like the
time way back in 86, when an old woman thanked me for showing her Halley's
Comet, because I'd proved her "miserable git of a father wrong" as he'd told
her as a little girl she'd never see it again..! :-) ), I felt pretty good
about that... :-) ... and there was a little boy seriously disabled from
thalidomide, who I met at a school a few weeks ago; being a bit scared of
the big crowd (understandably) he wasn't really participating much, just
sitting around looking a little lost with his parents, so I managed to get
thru the crowd to kneel down on the grass next to him and show him the Sun's
image projected thru my binocs, and his face *lit* up, very gratifying... :-)
Then there was a classic moment when one of the newspaper photographers
clambered on top of the Gardens' toilets to take a "view from above" photo,
and everyone turned to look at him... I told them all to say "Land's End"
and that got a big laugh, so I'm looking forward to seeing that photo
tomorrow (cos I'll just be a tiny face in a BIG crowd! :-) ) Nice too when,
during one of the earliest radio interviews, the presenter, in front of a
crowd of around a hundred I reckon, asked me how I felt about the just-in
news that the eclipse was totally clouded out in Cornwall. "Oh..? Well,
obviously I feel very sorry and disappointed for them," I said, keeping my
voice convincingly sympathetic and sincere... while flashing a huge, smug
"HA HA HA!!!" grin at the people around us, making a lot of them, and the
interviewer himself, crack up laughing... :-))) And I did feel pretty smug
actually; all those people who'd flocked down there were seeing nothing, and
we were seeing it all...
So, all in all, everyone had a good time I think. The only blackspot on the
day was when I realised that some little ****** of a kid had made off with a
carrier bag full of eclipse viewing glasses, so I had to shout out to
everyone that if they were offered glasses, for purchase or loan, then they
were "out there " without my authorisation or approval, and we would not be
held responsible for any injuries caused by their improper use. Was a bit
mad about that, well, more than a "bit", but luckily another interview came
along before I had a chance to get *too* wound up...
Then it was over, and everyone seemed to drift away very quickly, leaving
the previously-packed Gardens almost deserted. Which was fine by me, I'd
more than done my share. Now I'm sat here trying to relax a little, after all
the chaos of the last month or so. But I don't mind being tired. I think we
did a Good Thing here today, and made sure people saw it safely, so that's
all I could ask for... and all those kids wandered home again having seen
something amazing... so, a success I think.
Regards to all from the recently-eclipsed UK!
Stu
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