1998 - Total Solar Eclipse

Total Solar Eclipse
Caribbean, February 26, 1998

Observed at sea, aboard the NCL cruise ship MV Norwegian Sea.

Seen here tied up at St. Thomas.

Geographical location of our observation point was near the centre-line, north of Curaçao and east of Aruba. - Approximately:
12° 20' N Lat.
69° 35' W Long.

Adapted from: http://umbra.nascom.nasa.gov/eclipse/980226/figures/figure_3.gif
from the Total Solar Eclipse of 1998 February 26 bulletin by Fred Espenak

Estimated eclipse values for this location:
1st contact at 12:39:20 (12:37 to 12:43) Az. 172° Alt. 69°
2nd contact at 14:10:00 (14:08 to 14:13) Az. 224° Alt. 61°
Totality mid-point at 14:12 (duration for 3 min. 40+ sec.)
3rd contact at 14:13:51 (14:12 to 14:16) Az. 225° Alt. 61°
4th contact at 15:36:18 (15:35 to 15:38) Az. 245° Alt. 44°

Eclipse/Ship Coordinator: Steve Edberg, JPL
Meteorologist: Jay Anderson, Winnipeg

Photographer: Bill Ronald
Seen here setting up for the big event!

- Test Pictures

- Partial Phase Pictures

- Totality Pictures

Test Film:
Photographic setups, consisting of a camera back, a 350mm lens, a cable release, a mylar solar filter, and 2x and/or 3x tele-converters, were each mounted on a tripod with anti-vibration pads and tested for image quality and resolution. The testing took place in Vancouver, on a wooden deck, under slightly hazy skies, on Feb. 15, 1998, with Kodak Gold 100 print film. The best result for each configuration can be seen in the test results page.

Eclipse Pictures:
The final configuration chosen for the eclipse was as follows:

Asahi Pentax SPII camera back
Soligar 350mm f5.6 manual lens with lens hood
Lumax 2x tele-converter
Cable release
Homemade mylar solar filter
Manfrotto #190 tripod with #200 liquid head
Celestron anti-vibration pads

Following discusions aboard ship, with Alistair Ling (from Alberta), regarding the problems with ship vibration, sway and wind, I decided to switch to Kodak Gold 400 print film. The loss of some detail due to the graininess of the faster film was considered an acceptable compromise under the circumstances. The main loss observed, due to the lower resolution, was the sunspots of which there were at least two small groups. These however would have been lost anyway with ISO 100 film due to the previously mentioned motions and additional artifacts would probably have appeared.

Where possible, assumed optimum settings were bracketed with speeds above and below. The maximum aperture of the above configuration was f11 and the maximum speed was 1/1000 sec. The minimum speed for the circumstances was thought to be 1/60 sec but slower speeds were achieved by careful timing of the shutter release with the ships sway; the anti-vibration pads seemed to do a good job with any vibrations and the pool deck was out of the wind. To help with alignment of the camera and for additional eye protection, I taped a cardboard mounted mylar filter to the front face of the camera above the lens so that it stuck above the viewer. This proved to be very useful when the tripod got accidentally bumped by other photographers and people just generally milling around and it allowed me to check the sun to better guage when the lens' mylar filter should be removed.

The location chosen was to optimize for photography not for eclipse effects observing. Deck 9, the pool deck, was considered more stable due to the two swimming pools and the two hot tubs. It was also out of the wind, to some extent. Two experienced eclipse chasers reported seeing shadow bands; one saw them on the white base of the funnel, the other on the white canvas cover over the hot tub. The shadow change at totality did not seem very sharp, perhaps because of the high humidity? People on the upper deck (Deck 10) reported that dolphins came up around the front of the ship during totality.

The partial phase pictures were all taken through a mylar solar filter, which gives a blue shade to the image. I started to recolour them with Adobe Photoshop but decided against it as this was what I observed through the lens and with the unaided eye and it gives me a more realistic feeling of the experience. (Note: times are rounded to the nearest minute.)

The totality pictures were all taken with the mylar filter removed and speeds and apertures were varied to record specific events.

Finally and possibly of greatest importance to me, about two minutes during totality was taken just to look around and experience the eclipse; this felt like the shortest two minutes in my life! I had missed recording the diamond ring at 2nd contact when my tripod got bumped, and I almost missed it at the 3rd contact because I was so awe-struck.

Sky map during totality (prepared with SkyMap Pro v 4.0.17).

Shadow over the Caribbean Sea area as seen from the moon.
Prepared with Starry Night Deluxe v.2.1.

Hanging above our heads in the deep, slightly chilly twilight was a black hole with an angry yellow-white corona around it. On its left was the small sphere of Mercury, and beyond it Mars, (I could not find Saturn to the far left) on its right was Jupiter's sphere, and much farther right was the bright sphere of Venus . For the first time in my life I actually felt that I was standing on a world in a planetary system. Fortunately, Professor Paul P. Sipera of Illinois was on the microphone and his timely warning brought me back to reality, so that I remembered to click the cable release in my hand at the start of 3rd contact. I took a series of shots at 5 second intervals at that point, to make up for the lost second contact photo.
The reactions of both myself and those around me were unexpected, even though I had been warned many times. I was filled with a feeling of great elation which lasted, at least in part, to long after 4th contact. Others around me were grinning, cheering and I suspect some were crying. Some of the passengers aboard were experienced eclipse chasers who had previously seen only cloudy skies; this was their first real eclipse. Many other passengers and most of the crew did not even know that we were on an eclipse cruise until they came aboard, and they had no idea what they were about to experience.

Other photographers setting up amid passengers who are determined that
nothing will interfere with getting a good tan.
The people in green T-shirts and caps are part of the The Planetary Studies Foundation group which included
Paul Sipera from Illinois and Loren Acton (former Challenger astronaut) from Bozeman, Montana.

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