h2g2 The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy: Earth Edition

Have you seen Create this month? A87824802
It's all about the weather. I've been thinking, what can I write about the weather? If I'm struggling to come up with ideas, then why not try a topic in which lots of people can contribute, and we'll see if we have enough contributions to put something into Peer Review about it at the end of the month? (As I don't know if we will have enough contributions, I'll suggest 2 topics and hopefully somebody will discuss one of 'em).

So, if sunny counts as weather, then surely the opposite, complete lack of sun, counts too. why not see if anyone remembers experiencing a Solar Eclipse, such as in August 1999. Where were you, what did you do and what do you remember?

<BB<

I saw the partial in 2006, virtually the whole building I was working in the time came out to catch it, although they left a skeleton staff in on the emergency numbers.

I know what I want to write about: the huge snowstorm that came on April 1 a few years ago.

I remember the Eclipse in 1999 - I made a projector out of a piece of cardboard with a pinhole in it, and focused the crescent sun on to another piece of cardboard. Then my family and I all went outside and saw the eerie lighting effect when the sun was mostly hidden (we were in the penumbra, so didn't see the total eclipse).

I watched the 1999 eclipse from Rosslare, which is only about 90 miles from the area of totality. We had a 97% eclipse. It felt strangely dim, but not at all dark. All the birds stopped singing, and all traffic noises stopped too, as everyone in Ireland stopped what they were doing to watch the eclipse. I remember using a telescope to project the image of the crescent sun onto a sheet of white paper, then someone added a pair of eclipse glasses to make a smiley face, which we christened 'eclipsoman'!

I was in Devon for Totality in 1999. It went *completely* dark, and it did so faster than my eyes could adjust to keep up with it.

I like lunar eclipses better and I've seen a few of those.

Mol

Yes, I saw the annular eclipse of 2012. That was a good year for sky-watching.

I watched the eclipse of 99 from Arran. I don't recall it going totally dark but it did get noticeably colder and all the birds stopped singing.

In summer 1999 I was a teenager and my parents were on holidays. Some friends and I went out to the fields with our bicycles and we were sitting on hayballs while watching the eclipse. We all had these glasses they sold or which came for free in newspapers. It was really a strange atmosphere, not only the birds but also all the insects were quiet.

I watched the 1999 eclipse from the top of a hill in a village near my parents', with my Aunt who was visiting for a few days.
We were right in the "total eclipse" zone.
That village has an astronomy club, and they had organised a bit of a fair, with an exhibition about eclipses and other sky-related phenomena, a barbecue, and fun stuff for the children.

I remember we got there pretty early in the morning, and that the first people we spoke to were a Belgian couple who asked us where they could get sandwiches for lunch.
I remember it was cloudy, until the very start of the eclipse, when the clouds seemed to vanish.
I remember a group of people with a guitar singing "Stand by Me", during the whole of the "total" phase. (and that song has always reminded me of that day ever since).

I remember the chill, the darkness, the quiet and the beauty of it all.


Also, my Mum, being a primary school teacher, had told her pupils about it before they left for the Summer holidays, so they wouldn't miss it and they could talk about it in September.
About how it was really rare, and the next one visible from France would be in 2081.
So one kid told my Mum : "Oooh! I'll keep my eclipse glasses, then, because my Greatgrandma is 102, and in 2081 I'll be 90, so I'll get to see the next one too! ... Errrm... You probably don't need to keep yours, though".

I remember going out from the office, and using a cardboad/pinhole projector too. Can't say which year! It was a partial eclipse, and it felt very odd - it was like wearing sunglasses somehow. Still sharp features and not the softening of light that you get in the evening or morning. There were a fair few clouds too, so when the clouds were thicker, you could look at the sun disc with a chunk bitten out. And when it came out, we used the pinhole.

I'm glad I saw it.

I saw the 1999 solar eclipse from near St Agnes in Cornwall. The morning was cloudy and we had more-or-less given up any idea of seeing the sun disappear, but with ten minutes to go, a gap appeared and we had an excellent view of the eclipse whilst listening to the dismal broadcast of a fully overcast sky at Lands end on the radio.

The sun itself (and the moon of course) was spectacular. The odd feeling of such deep darkness arriving so quickly was memorable and I'm sure I got some impression of the movement of the edge of the umbra across the sea-scape to the North. Bearing in mind the actual speed the shadow moves though I remain to be convinced that this wasn't just an illusion or an artifact of the remaining thin clouds.

Had a wry smile for all the people trying to take photographs using flash.

In Shanghai sometime between 1986 and 1989. I remember how pretty the shadows of the leaves looked just before it all went dark.

I'd gone to France particualry to see the eclipse in 99, and had worked out exactly where we were going to watch it from (a Total service station, approproately enough!)

It was an amazing experience - though we were clouded out just 5 minutes before totality. I remember being stunned by the rushing shadow swooping over the Earth. It was my daughter's 6th birthday the next day.

Having been cheated of that one, I was determined to see another. travelled to Iceland to see an annular eclipse in 2005 on my son's 12th birthday (too cloudy), and eventually to China in 2009. Which was just Fab.U.Lous - the Sky at Night crew were standing next to us.

Full write up at A57046142

On the Isle of Wight we had over 99%. I took the day off work (okay, I bunked off, but it was only a summer tomato job), and drove down to Blackgang Chine, the southernmost point of the Island, around 9am. At the Theme Park my then girlfriend (now wife) bought eclipse glasses, and we could already see the Moon and the Sun not too far from each other in the sky. We climbed the hill to the Pepper Pot on the top of St Catherine's Down, 290 metres above sea-level, and it was quite a climb – fewer than 75 people made it to the Pepper Pot at the top by the time of the eclipse. From the top we could see the sea curve round to the west, south and east. Looking west, we could see a line of darkness steadily approaching along the shore.
It was quite sunny on the Island, but looking out to sea, we could see the darkness approaching. A few people had telescopes etc with various devices attached to monitor the eclipse while the Moon gradually crept over the Sun. When the Sun was completely eclipsed, we could see that the Sun was no longer visible, we could see the line of darkness and light out to sea, and we could see that where the Sun was, there was only the black darkness of the Moon. But no-one, though, told us to expect the cold.
When the eclipse came over us, the whole area just froze. It became freezing cold – numbing cold, the cold where you cannot feel any part of your body. My arm froze, and I wasn't able to move it fully again until about 45 minutes after. The people around were freezing, and on a sunny summer's day. Then, when the eclipse ended, there was a cacophony of bird noise as the Earth warmed up.

<BB<

My experience was similar to BB's.

I was at a Folk Festival in Broadstairs, so there was a real carnival atmosphere, with a procession of assorted dancers, musicians and 'New Age' types along the promenade to the bandstand. It was there that a celebration was held as the sun and moon conjoined. The sky started clear but the closer the two got so there appeared to be broken high cloud cover. I believe it is known as a mackerel sky. We had home-made glasses but I was attempting to snatch photos without looking directly at the sun by holding the camera close to where i expected the eclipse to occur and then flicking the camera into position and Click!

The darkness and silence were very eerie. Not nighttime dark, or even twilight dark just strange. No wonder our forebears were in awe/terror of them.
But it was the cold that no-one had warned about. At the festival I usually spend the ten days in t-shirts, shorts and sandals (it is a Folk Festival after all) but we all wished we'd bought something warm to wear. It passed fairly quickly, quicker than I thought, and then the gulls and sparrows started singing/shrieking as hard as they could. Maybe they were also freaked out.

By comparison I can remember my first lunar eclipse. I was at work in Chelsea and it had started by the time I left at 18.00. I was so engrossed I stood at the front of the bus watching it. When I got home I raced to my bedroom to set up my birding telescope and sat and watched it take place. No-one had warned me how long it would last. The sky had a strange red glow to it, and the moon appeared orange, as I remember. I think the eclipse finally finished at 03.00 but I may be uncertain of that, it was about 20 years ago. I wouldn't rush next time, but a full solar eclipse passes very quickly.

It is amazing how the moon is so perfectly positioned from both the earth and the sun to create an eclipse.

I wonder if the Earth eclipses the sun from a Lunar perspective?

Anyone?

MMF

The Earth completely covers the moon and then some in a lunar eclipse.

When camping I enjoy the simple pleasure of watching the slow evolution of the sky from night to night; making mental note of where the planets are, the phases of the moon etc. One August down in Cornwall I was doing this and, as the moon came to fullness I was reasonably certain where I would find it in the sky and how it would appear. On my way from the tent to the facilities late one evening I looked back to see the full monn and it wasn't there! Of course, there was a total lunar eclipse, but I had to check on the web to be sure I wasn't going mad.

I seem to be one of the few people who was almost alone during the eclipse. There were many people gathering in town squares and such here, but we were all alone in the fields.

I love all of these contributions!
So, if another total solar eclipse was going to happen near you, what advice would you give to make the most out of it? For instance, my advice would be to take a warm set of clothes (including gloves) and a large flask of - even in summer it got cold surprisingly quickly.
I’d also hope to have a decent camera to take photos!

(Sounds like Beatrice has got eclipse-viewing down to a fine art)

<BB<

I think I'd arrange a day off work. The 1999 eclipse wasn't great from Woking.