Total Solar Eclipse 29 March 2006 - full video!

The Total Solar Eclipse of 29 March 2006


Brief History

I've first witnessed the magic of a solar eclipse on 11 August 1999, in Bucharest, Romania. I was 11 at the time, and I could not forget it. A deep desire grew within me to see another of these celestial wonders, and the opportunity came almost 7 years later, when a total solar eclipse occured close to my home country (Romania). This time I was 18 and determined to keep it for ever in my memory: I went to Turkey, Antalya, and then travelled to Side, a beautiful historic location some 80 km to the east, on the shores of the Mediterranean Sea, on the day of the eclipse. I had my camcorder and my camera, tripods and special sun filters to block the sun's light. I recorded and photographed during the partial periods of the eclipse, and recorded the totality entirely.

There are obvious problems with the video: firstly, my tripod was rather stiff and it gets a little shaky when I move it to center the sun. Eventually, the sun is not centered for most of the eclipse: I could not spend my whole time fighting the tripod, when I also had to photograph the event. Secondly, the time of the recording is incorrect by a few minutes, as I had failed to bring my camcorder clock into accord with the 'real' time. Please refer to the following section to see the correct time of the eclipse start / end.

You can see one photo of the total phase as the title to this video, and a collage of several photos as the closing of the video. All photos and the recording are done by me. This video was compiled in Windows Movie Maker. The only thing I don't own copyrights to is the song: this is "Flora's Secret" by Enya. I used it to give a little more colour to the recording. I've been talking during the eclipse and while this is interesting for me to hear, I believe viewers would rather hear a beautiful song than me speaking.


The Solar Eclipse Explained

How does a solar eclipse occur? Here's what Wikipedia has to say:

"A solar eclipse occurs when the moon passes between the Sun and the Earth so that the Sun is fully or partially covered. This can only happen during a new moon, when the Sun and Moon are in conjunction as seen from the Earth. At least two and up to five solar eclipses can occur each year on Earth, with between zero and two of them being total eclipses.[1] Total solar eclipses are nevertheless rare at any location because during each eclipse totality exists only along a narrow corridor in the relatively tiny area of the Moon's umbra."

Read the full article:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Solar_eclipse

What are the details of this eclipse from the chosen location (Side, Turkey)? The following information is from the NASA web page:

Location:
Lat.: 36.7722° N
Long.: 31.3953° E

Start of partial eclipse (C1) : 09:38:24.5
Start of total eclipse (C2) : 10:55:01.4
Maximum eclipse : 10:56:53.9
End of total eclipse (C3) : 10:58:46.3
End of partial eclipse (C4) : 12:13:36.2

Times above are in Universal Time. Add 3 hours (one for DST) to get the local time in Side.
Duration of Totality: 3m44.9s
Magnitude: 1.023

Check out more details here:
http://eclipse.gsfc.nasa.gov/SEgoogle/SEgoogle2001/SE2006Mar29Tgoogle.html
or here, for more eclipses:
http://eclipse.gsfc.nasa.gov/solar.html


Conclusions:

Since then, I took great pains to get to the 22 July 2009 solar eclipse in Shanghai, China, and I managed to, but the sky was overcast and the total phase was completely obscured. If you would like to witness a total eclipse, there's one in 2010, and it's pretty convenient for those living in Chile and Argentina, mainly. Here's the NASA article:
http://eclipse.gsfc.nasa.gov/SEmono/TSE2010/TSE2010.html

For those interested, the recording equipment is a Panasonic handycam using MiniDV cassettes. I don't remember the manufacturing year, but it's pretty old, almost 10 years I reckon.

Category:

Education

Tags:

• solar
• eclipse
• 29
• march
• 2006
• sun
• new
• full
• moon
• turkey
• manavgat
• side
• antalya
• mediterranean
• sea
• nasa
• total
• umbra
• penumbra
• eclipsa
• solara
• soleil
• lune
• luna
• turcia
• astronomy
• astronomie
• camera
• video
• camcorder
• photography
• photo

[KillBaddBugz]

Oh why have i read nothing of this?? Oh I should never had let astronomy mag. run out. Is this for true? Oh man, it's just=well the toys you have! So very nice.

[GicaTractoristu]

@KillBaddBugz Thanks for commenting. It's true, of course. The video footage is unedited with the exception of replacing the original sound. I recommend you to visit the website "eclipse . gsfc . nasa . gov / solar . html"

 (paste this link in the address bar, but be sure to delete all empty spaces) and see if there's a solar eclipse anytime soon in your area. It's a beautiful privilege to witness one!

[TheXeno2000]

anyways whats the song?

Or maybe its now a year after the

video has been uploaded then

u forgetted it?

[GicaTractoristu]

@TheXeno2000 Thank you for the comments. What country are you from? There might be an eclipse there - or close by - that I may be able to point out to you.

About the song: you can just read the description to the video and find out - but I'll make it easy for you and repeat myself. It's Enya - "Flora's Secret".

[TheXeno2000]

@GicaTractoristu im from Malaysia

[GicaTractoristu]

@TheXeno2000 OK then, you might just be able to see an eclipse after all, but you'll have to wait a bit longer.

There will be a total eclipse of the Sun on 9 March 2016 passing south of Malaysia, through Sumatra (Indonesia).

There will also be an annular eclipse of the Sun on 26 December 2019, again passing through Sumatra. An annular eclipse is one where the Moon disk is not large enough to cover the whole Sun, which during the eclipse will look like a ring.

[KillBaddBugz]

@GicaTractoristu Well thanks- I know it is an old piece here, but still...so good. Thanks again! =D

[alpajohn]

WoW!....so good that you uploaded this!!...i wish i can see this in person!

[TheXeno2000]

w00t this is s0 nice man i wish in my c0untry i can watch it :D

[GicaTractoristu]

@TayLindzAshx3 What is it that looks fake to you? It's a film of the total solar eclipse, no editing. Have you ever seen a solar eclipse with your own eyes?

If you have, then you must know this is not fake. If you have not, do a google.com search for 'nasa solar eclipse' and you'll reach a site of all eclipses: maybe you'll find one that comes in your living area. Do yourself a favor and go watch one. Not only will you end up being smarter, but it's a privileged sight.