ECLIPSE WATCH
A Total Eclipse of the Sun
a once in a lifetime event
Plymouth, England, U.K. Wednesday 11th. August 1999
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BE IN PLYMOUTH!
COME TO PLYMOUTH!
BE THERE! COME HERE!
This photo was taken in or around 1900 in South Africa by a Royal Naval eclipse expedition. All this and more, mostly more as in more people, will be happening in Plymouth, Devon, UK...my backyard on Wednesday 11th. August 1999...NEXT YEAR!!!
Around coffee time on the morning of Wednesday August 11th 1999, the moon will move across the sun`s disc, totally obscuring it. Day will turn to night, street lights will come on, car headlamps will burn, the sky will darken and stars will come out. This is a "must-see" event for people of all walks of life. Please try and make sure your children see it. ( see safety note below) I feel certain that all of us will be moved by these celestial event. No doubt someone will be wedded at the moment of totality at a local church, or register office, how romantic, especially as new laws in UK allow weddings to take place in a whole multitude of previously "no, no" places. On the other side of the coin, what is the bet that more than a few couples may try to conceive a child while the nuptial bed is in the shadow of the moons penumbra. Had this been the 1970`s and the flower power age, that would have truly been "far out."
Facts and Figures, Times and Places
Getting it correct, Getting it accurate
Much incorrect and very misleading information has, and is still being published. Get it right, contact Lawrence Harris, an ex-professional astronomer and technical author, now living in Plymouth and serving as Chair of the Plymouth Astronomical Society. E-mail him or Tel. 01752 775148. Lawrence has been a source of friendly information to me personally and the general public for 20 plus years, and he will help you. He is also the Astronomy writer for the local paper, The Evening Herald.( which is online and a good source of Eclipse information closer the time) Local astronomers are lucky to have such an enlightened newspaper. Get it right, for safety, exact times, best places, but remember Plymouth is a good place for the eclipse, before and after.
OR IT MIGHT RAIN.....SORRY, HAD TO SAY THAT!
If clear and sunny the landscape will take on a strange look, day becoming night. Birds will roost. Calm will descend on our busy city as a thousand eyes look skyward NEVER LOOK DIRECTLY AT THE SUN, use protective filters, around the blackened disc of the sun will be the corona...a sort of halo, I have never seen it for real, this will be my first.USE PROJECTION METHOD IN A TELESCOPE.
Then as quickly as it left us, light will return. Depending on exactly where you are in the Plymouth, Devon area, you will have about 1minute and a bit of totality.
Now you do not have to enter Cornwall to see it, (although the centre line of the eclipse is a line running from Falmouth to St. Just in Cornwall...where totality is 2mins and 6secs) indeed in some of the north of Cornwall you will miss it..it is all to do with geography. The more southerly you go, and the more westerly, the longer the totality will be. Totality may be seen south of a line drawn from Teignmouth in Devon to Port Issac in North Cornwall. PLYMOUTH IS IDEAL. It has hotels, bed and breakfasts, pension type accommodation, and things for the children to do, pools, adventure and theme parks, cinemas and restaurants reflecting cuisine from all around the world. Best of all, it is THE ECLIPSE CITY...and it is by the sea!
If you want to come, you should book early, many hotels etc. are already filling up. You can get here by British Airways, rail, coach and car ferry from France. Good roads speed you from the Midlands and London.
I LOVE PLYMOUTH, it is my home, many of my web pages are about it, today and in times past. On Eclipse Day I shall WALK...YES, WALK...( we have been warned that there may be, sorry, WILL, be major traffic problems, so set out early) to a high, or open place and gaze skyward and think how my distant ancestors in Stone Age times would have considered this event.....the sky stealing the sun..the moon eating the sun....sky Gods punishing me and taking the sun away. After totality, but just before full sunlight returns I shall fire some fireworks, the echo of their discharge breaking the nightime in daytime silence, and for an instant providing a small man made spectacle, so puny when compared to that of Mother Nature. Please do not fire fireworks during totality as it would spoil a wonder of nature, wait until it is all over.
I just can`t get my head around where I should go to see it. Sanity tells me it should be close by, but my heart tells me to go to a high windy place, to a place of memories. As the sky darkens around me and I am enveloped in a cloak of darkness, I hope that deep memories will stir in me, of times and loves past, would this happen amongst the babble of a multitude?
But what about the traffic?
As the day beckons, I shall add more information here, not technical, but practical.
If you would like to see some more of those oldie circa 1900 eclipse photos, taken in San Pola, South Africa, then here they are....oh and by the way...it was cloudy then for them!!(according to contemporary reports) Many more photos like these of Edwardian and Victorian Navy and Army scenes, as well as local Plymouth heritage, are to be found on my "CyberHeritage International" web pages.
Telescopes point skyward DO NOT LOOK AT THE SUN IN A TELESCOPE, YOU WILL BE BLINDED, USE PROJECTION TECHNIQUE.
Poles for calculating solar disc size
Instrument linked to stop clock for measuring length of totality...activated by cutting the thread with scissors, allowing weight to fall . Note naval fellows and hats!
Coronograph manned by more naval types for studying the sun`s corona.
Totality lasts approx. 3mins starting at 11.10am. Maximum time of totality will be at places such as Penzance in far South West Cornwall, Plymouth will have a little less....but is still THE PLACE TO BE!
Large television screens are expected to be erected on Plymouth Hoe and possibly other famous "coming together" places. A high flying TV equipped jet aircraft will fly at over 30,000 feet above the city to transmit live high quality TV images of totality....so even if it`s cloudy we will all get a good view. It WILL NOT be cloudy by the way!!
It is hoped that a special "Eclipse group" of Plymouth City Council will arrange to sell special protective sunglasses to allow the massed public to view the beauty of the whole eclipse.
That world famous tribute band "The Australian Pink Floyd" may be visitors to Plymouth and hopefully play Pink Floyd`s "Dark Side of the Moon".....but I hope not during totality, the beauty of nature must be left to stand alone!
"and everything under the sun is in tune
but the sun is eclipsed by the moon"
c. Pink Floyd, Roger Waters 1973
Extra buses and coaches are being planned, as well as special arrangements for car parking. Some fear "gridlock" but whatever happens the entire South West of England UK, will grid to a halt !! Indeed it has been speculated in the local press that the council may consider government funding to help cope with putting on extra facilities for the massive influx of eclipse watchers.Estimates of the numbers expected range from 250,000 to 500,000....yes, half a million ...that is a lot! One press article quoted the cost to the council at £5 per visitor head, although of course the spin off to local business will be huge, hotels, cafes....etc. Think of all the toilets they`ll need!!
LATEST NEWS
Some sources forecast up to 6,000,000 people heading west! In 1927, on June 29 at 5am, when the last Total Eclipse was visible from the UK, 3,000,000 went north....and now we have the private car....help! These folks went by train, being the biggest recorded human rail movement.
Totality in Plymouth is 1min and 42 sec at 11.13am BST
The Eclipse ties in with the British Firework Competition and the end of the Fastnet yacht race, both centred on Plymouth, as well as the city`s Soundwaves Music Festival.
Plymouth City Council has an Eclipse web site...this is the link.
Many large aircraft are expected to either bring visitors to the area, and/or then fly them above the clouds....which we will not have!!...and to extend the time that totality may be experienced by following the shadow footprint in the air as it moves along the landscape. Local airfields and airports are already having landing slots booked. Also one must expect balloons and microlights.
Temporary campsites are being looked at to provide facilities for eclipse watchers. This is going to be some event!
Concorde, the supersonic civilian airliner is reported to be being booked to fly at 58,000ft over Cornwall to view the eclipse. Due to its speed and ability to keep up with the moving totality footprint, passengers can enjoy 11mimutes of totality! It could stay with totality longer but is not allowed to fly supersonic over land, and will have to slow down as it approaches land from the Atlantic Ocean.
Apart from wearing safety specs, I guess they will have to swap seats to get a window seat on the correct viewing side! At that altitude the eclipse may well be more visually intense as atmospheric pollution will not degrade the view....however I will be keeping my feet firmly on the ground.
