Fall 1999 MIRA Quarterly Newsletter: Eclipse Tour

Fall 1999

MIRA Solar Eclipse Tour Finds Clear Sky in Turkey
by Rod Norden and Kris Houser

group.jpg (24004 bytes)
MIRA’s intrepid eclipse tour group, taken on eclipse day at Kastamonu.

MIRA’s 1999 Millennium Eclipse Tour was simply excellent in every way, as all participants agreed. Our group of 12 had tremendous luck – from finding the only clear skies in northwestern Turkey on eclipse day, to leaving Istanbul just 15 hours before the great earthquake that devastated the industrial area 30 miles from the city. The tour itself, although exhaustingly busy, was always fascinating and eye opening, and we all agreed that we had never traveled with such a compatible and convivial group.

Directly upon our arrival in Turkey, we were bussed a few miles north on the Bosphorus where we enjoyed a welcoming feast of luscious Turkish seafood while we watched the ship traffic passing. Then we were treated to our own private cruise on the Bosphorus – a very relaxing way to start a bustling tour of Istanbul, northern Turkey, and the antiquities of the Aegean.

Going, going, gone! The three images above, from the left, show partial phases of the eclipse
leading up to the "diamond ring," the last flash before totality. (Digital images by Achut Reddy)

Eclipse day provided the big thrill of the trip. After we spent several cloud-free days in Istanbul and northern Turkey, dawn broke to a cloudy sky on August 11. When we reached the turnoff to Osmancik at 10:30, we chose to continue driving northwest rather than take the road to the pre-arranged viewing site. We drove over the mountains toward Kastamonu, and the sky cleared beautifully. At 12:30, we drove into our impromptu viewing site at the University of Ankara soccer field in Kastamonu. We were completely set up with time to spare (over 60 seconds until first contact –whew!).

Beautiful detail of solar prominences and outer corona streamers,taken through the
binocular eyepiece of Rod Norden's telescope. (Photos by Achut Reddy)

Totality was just fantastic, viewed with the naked eye (the disk of the sun was surrounded by dazzling prominences that made it appear to be aflame), with binoculars (the ruby-colored prominences could be clearly discerned), or with Rod’s AstroPhysics refractor (92.5mm f/5 fluorite) and Zeiss binocular viewer with 19mm Panoptic eyepieces. We saw coronal streamers and brushes, many prominences of all types, the chromosphere, Baily’s Beads, and the Diamond Ring. Venus was easily visible to the naked eye, just below the sun in the sky. What’s more, the streetlights were observed to come on during totality!

Bob Webb captured totality at Kastamonu. 1/4 sec. exp. 200mm lens f/5.8.

Indeed the MIRA group was very fortunate in many ways – in deciding to leave our hotel early on eclipse day, allowing for problems, and in selecting the correct fork in the road. The rest of our tour through Ankara, Pergamum, Ephesus, and Istanbul was cloud-free. There is so much more we can say about the places we visited in Turkey and on the add-on cruise to the Greek Islands. If you want to hear about the trip, just ask one of the participants – the group is having a reunion just before the Bonestell Memorial Lecture, so most of us will attend the lecture. The trip was totally excellent! Many thanks to Marge Bennett of Valley Oaks Travel, Laura Cohan, and the Friends of MIRA for coordinating this wonderful tour!