Total Solar Eclipse
Black Sea, August 11, 1999

Observed at sea, aboard the Cunard cruise ship Vistafjord (now the Caronia).


Seen here at sea.





Geographical location of our observation point was on the centre-line, in the southern Black Sea :
42° 18' N Lat.
31° 45' E Long.



Adapted from: http://sunearth.gsfc.nasa.gov/eclipse/SEmono/TSE1999/TSE1999Map/TSE1999MidEast.jpg
from the Total Solar Eclipse of 1999 August 11 bulletin by Fred Espenak


Estimated eclipse values for this location:
1st contact at 9:53:45 UT (12:53:45 Local Time); Az. 178° Alt. 63°
2nd contact at 11:18:24 UT (14:18:24 Local Time); Az. 219° Alt. 58°
Totality mid-point at 11:19:34 UT (14:19:34 Local Time); Az. 219° Alt. 58°
(Duration of Totality: 2 min. 19 sec.)
(Magnitude of Eclipse at Maximum: 1.014)
(Ratio of size of moon/sun: 1.028)
3rd contact at 11:20:43 UT (14:20:43 Local Time); Az. 220° Alt. 58°
4th contact at 12:39:35 UT (15:39:35 Local Time); Az. 244° Alt. 46°


Astronomers on board:
Eclipse/Ship Coordinator and Lecturer: Derrick Pitts, Chief Astronomer at the Franklin Institute Science Museum, Philadelphia, PA
Lecturer: Jon Lomberg noted Astronomer/Artist and Creative Director, Mauna Kea Center for Astronomy Education of Hawaii
Lecturer: Margaret Jacoby former Professor of Astronomy and founder of the Physics Department, Community College of Rhode Island
Lecturer (German): Dirk Soltau Astronomer at the Kiepenheuer-Institut, Freiburg


Ship's Captain: Bjarne Olsen Smorawski








Always hopeful eclipse photographer: Bill Ronald

- Test Pictures
- Partial Phase Pictures
- Totality Pictures



Sky map over Black Sea area at time of totality, showing area around sun/moon. Stars and deep sky objects are down to mag. 2.
Prepared with SkyMap Pro v 5.0.19.




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


Photographic Observations
Test Pictures:
Photographic setups, consisting of a camera back, a Vista 508 telescope, a cable release, an Orion (JMB Class "A") 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 clear skies, on several occasions in 1999, with Fuji Superia 200 and 400 print films. The results of one set of tests can be seen in the attached figure.

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

Nikon FM2n manual camera back
Vista 508 telescope (a wide field 80mm f/5 which acted as a fixed focal length 400mm f5 lens)
Vivitar 2x tele-converter
Cable release
Orion solar filter (actually a J.M.B. Inc. Class "A" filter)
Manfrotto #190SH tripod with #410 geared head
Celestron anti-vibration pads
Fujica 2x eyepiece magnifier
Celestron Star Pointer (with a mylar filter and a black sun shield)

Because I had previously experienced ship vibration, sway and wind, on board the Norwegian Sea, I decided to stay with ISO 400 film; in this case Fuji NPH 400, the profesional version of Fuji Superia 400 print film. In tests before eclipse day, this film gave relatively low grain and recorded sunspots. On eclipse day, it registered the group of three and the solitary sunspot observed visually.

This time I decided to take partial phase shots at just two exposure times rather than bracketing since I had found a lot of leeway with the print film and I wanted to save shots for totality. The aperture of this system was fixed at f10 (ie. f5 lens with 2x tele-converter) and the maximum speed was 1/4000 sec. The longest exposure to avoid star trailing was estimated to be less than 1 sec. from the tables. However, I decided to try 1 and 2 sec. exposures anyway. The 1 sec. was sharp but the 2 sec. did show some image movement. Finally, to aid in finding the sun, I mounted a Celestron Star Pointer, fitted with a homemade mylar filter and a 3" circular, heavy black cardboard sun shield. After alignment, this allowed the sun to be quickly centred in the camera's field.

I chose the Lido Deck aft because it was excellent for both photography and for observing eclipse effects. It allowed a good view in three directions, was partly sheltered from the wind, and being the pool deck, was very stable. What really helped this time, was the fact that we steamed up the centre-line until about 15 min. before totality. At that point the ship was allowed to drift throughout totality and for about 15 minutes after. This, combined with the lack of wind and the limited sea movement, provided an extremely stable platform for photography. In fact, once I started shooting, I began to wish that I had loaded a much slower, finer-grained film, because it appeared to have the stability of a land site! My great thanks to Captain Bjarne Smorawski and to Derrick Pitts for making this arrangement. I was particularly impressed when, before the eclipse, the Captain actually came down onto the Lido Deck to assure some of us photographers that he would provide a stable platform for our efforts.

The partial phase pictures were all taken through a solar filter, which gave a nice orange colour to the image.
The totality pictures were all taken with the solar filter removed and the shutter speed was varied to record specific events.


Visual Observations:
Finally and again of great importance to me, over one minute during totality was taken just to look around and experience the eclipse!.

In addition to photographing and video recording, we also set up a 4' x 4' tablecloth on the deck to try to observe shadow bands. None of our observers reported any bands but the tablecloth got a lot of use as a screen to project little partial suns through pinholes. Nobody noted any unusual biological activity such as the dolphins, in the Caribbean, which had come to the surface during totality.

About 10 min. before 2nd contact, just as the sky began to noticeably darken, we felt a cool, welcome breeze. The cooler temperature lasted until about 10 min. after 3rd contact. At 2nd contact, the diamond ring was broad and quite short in duration. Then overhead was the black hole with a yellow-white corona around it. The sky was not as dark as in the Caribbean in 1998 perhaps because of the smaller shadow and also the slight haze which may have caused some light scattering. The corona was much rounder compared to the elongated one in 1998, and the rays appeared twisted or entangled. On the left was the bright crescent of Venus. I could not find Mercury to the right although some people sitting in front of me said that they saw it. Again fortunately, I received a warning over the loudspeaker to get ready for third contact; this time from Derrick Pitts who gave us warnings at just the right times.

The thrill, that I can never quite explain to those who have never stood in the shadow, again swept through me. The grins, cheers and shouts continued throughout totality and it was very evident that many who had not seen it before were captured by it. The excitement, which for me continued well after 4th contact, became tinged with a touch of regret as we heard that so many people in Europe had been clouded out. Equally sad were the passengers sitting inside during the event. Many British passengers refused to look at the eclipse because their government medical people had warned them of the "dangers" of viewing an eclipse.

The Persieds
The night following the eclipse was also memorable, as a small group of us met again on the Lido deck. This time it was to observe the Persied meteor shower. We stretched out comfortably on deck chairs on the darkened deck at about 11pm and counted meteors until about 3:30am. The time passed fairly quickly amid interesting and sometimes vigorous discussions of matters astronomical and philosophical. The counts, recorded by our resident astronomer/artist Jon Lomberg came out to almost exactly one per minute, which is about average for a Persied shower. I also tried a series of 5 minute exposures on Fuji Superia 400 to capture some meteors, but the results were not too exciting. I recorded a few faint ones but none of the really bright ones that lit up the sky. It was fun to see the twisted star trails obtained by time exposing from the deck of a moving ship and I did get an interesting weaving trail from a satellite which passed through one field.

Faint Persied -----> <----- Satellite trail

The Green Flash
A few days after the eclipse, as we were sailing up the Aegean Sea, it was pointed out during dinner that we could see the horizon and that there might be a chance of seeing the green flash. Slipping away from the table and quickly proceeding to the Lido deck, my wife and I found another meeting of our small astronomical group. Again led by Jon Lomberg, who was our most experienced observer of this event, we all stood with our backs to the sunset while Jon glanced over his shoulder to keep track. The moment arrived and he told us to turn around, look and don't blink! It was over almost before I realized what I was seeing. It was smaller than I had expected and not as deep green as I had seen in photographs; more of a yellowish green rather than an emerald green, but it was green!

This made a perfect ending to this cruise. My wife and I had experienced a cloud-free eclipse, the Persied meteor shower, and our first green flash.




Back to Bill's Touring to Totality Page


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