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Dr. Neal Sumerlin in Belk Observatory

Astronomy News

Dr. Neal Sumerlin keeps us abreast of happenings in the night sky and the progress of the new Belk Astronomical Observatory.

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Describing the Indescribable

Posted on 07/22/2009

How can you describe the indescribable? Regardless, I'm going to try.

We missed first contact (when the moon first begins to block out a portion of the sun's disk) because the sun was hidden by clouds at the exact moment. It would come out long enough for us to see it, then disappear behind another cloud, but we could definitely see the progress of the moon's shadow, starting at about the 4:00 o'clock position and moving across the face of the sun. I had my "eclipse glasses" that let me safely look directly at the sun, and Jane was using those and taking pictures through our camera with a sheet of aluminized Mylar held to the lens with a couple of rubber bands.

The captain and the consulting astronomers maneuvered the ship beautifully to put us in a "hole" that was relatively free of clouds. He even had the engineer fire up some idle engines to put on a burst of speed and get us to the hole. It meant that the planned orientation of the ship, with the sun off the starboard side, shifted to put it just off the port bow. Our position on the top deck at the bow of the ship worked out perfectly. There were some folks who had staked out positions at the side of the ship who had to move or miss it.

A few minutes before totality, the temperature and the light level had both dropped noticeably, and the sun was in the clear. Owen Gingerich called out from the bridge that we were two minutes from totality, and I think that's when the enormity of this really hit me. I have seen partial eclipses before, and while they are undeniably cool, I knew a total eclipse would be an entirely different experience. I took off my eclipse glasses and looked in the general direction of the sun without looking directly at it. The light level continued to drop. I looked at the horizon directly beneath it, looking for the shadow of the moon as it approached. I could see (faintly, not that obvious) a column of darkness getting wider as it moved toward us. The shadow of the moon was coming toward us at more than 1000 miles an hour.

Just before totality, as the last sliver of the sun's bright photosphere disappears, there is the "diamond ring" effect-one bright spot (the diamond) flaring out at the 10:00 o'clock position, then disappearing. The sun disappears behind-there is no better way to put it-a black hole in the sky. Surrounding it was the sun's corona, a white, ghostly outer atmosphere. All around the horizon that we could see (about 270 degrees), it was twilight. It was brighter than I expected, seeming brighter to me than the full moon. Mercury was easily visible above and slightly to the right of the sun, and Saturn (less bright) above that.

I just stared at this incredible sight. There is no way to convey the sights (and sounds, when there are hundreds of people surrounding you) in any sort of image or video. Euphoria, awe, wonder-it's even better than I had imagined. It isn't like night time-it isn't simply the absence of the sun. It is a presence-a presence of an absolutely black disk in the sky, surrounded by a white fringe.

Totality for us was 3 ½ minutes. Toward the end, I could see the corona brightening near the point where the sun would emerge from behind the shadow. Suddenly there was a bright pink rim at that point, and even before someone shouted out "Chromosphere!" I knew what I was seeing. Just above the bright "surface" of the sun is a layer whose light is dominated by emission lines from hydrogen. The moon had moved just enough to expose that for a few seconds. Immediately after was the second diamond ring as totality ended. Shouts, whoops, clapping, emotional outpouring, champagne toasts, congratulations to the captain, because no more than two minutes after totality, the sun pretty much disappeared behind a cloud.

Jane was diligently taking pictures, for which I am grateful, because they can convey at least a little of what we saw. But there is no camera equal to the human mind. This is a memory I will carry with me for as long as I live.

Total solar eclipse

Neal and Jane

 

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