jul 22 total solar eclipse

The group I traveled with arrived at Jinshan beach about an hour before first contact was due to start.  We rented a van that took us from Shanghai city to the small coastal town which was supposedly one of the better observation spots.  These days we have to pay for things we always thought was free — there was an admission fee of 30 RMB for the beach!  We paid the fee and found ourselves in the company of a beachful of foreigners who were there much earlier than we were.

I saw signs that pointed international visitors and domestic visitors to different spots.  That was strange to me.  Why did the authorities want to segregate the two groups?  I tried to decide if I wanted to be an international or domestic visitor since I’m technically able to mix in both groups without much trouble.  I hold a foreign passport, but I look just like any other Chinese on the streets.  Eventually, my group decided to head to the international side.

Our journey there saw thick morning fog enveloping the fields and vegetation.  It was not a very encouraging sight.  Fortunately, the sun peered through breaks in the cloud cover when we arrived at the beach.  We were about to be treated to a good show, so we thought.

The partial phase went well.  Low clouds were moving fast and there were enough clear patches for much of the partially obscure sun to show.  I mounted the pair of filtered binoculars I brought along.  The view through the binoculars was quite dramatic for one could see the silhouette of clouds in front of the sun’s disc.  Those who looked through seem impressed with the view.  My time spent collimating the binoculars, making the solar filters, and testing the set-up had paid off.  It was one of the most comfortable and portable methods to observe a magnified image of the partial eclipse.

It seemed as if the cloud cover got thicker as time went by.  This was taken minutes before totality.

There was an uproar from the beach goers when the sun and moon when behind the clouds for good, and didn’t show itself until after the eclipse.

As the clock ticked, we noticed that one side of the sky was visibly darker than the other.  This was sign that totality is approaching.  The birds we saw seem disoriented as they fluttered about anxiously.  We couldn’t see the last bit of the sun disc’s.  The surroundings just prior to totality, took on a copper sheen.  It was like a sunset, yet it was also different in important ways.  The darkness engulfed us in a short span of time, much unlike a sunset, where daylight retreated in various hues over hours.  I thought the surroundings looked eerie in the seconds before totality.  The heavy clouds had definitely helped to create the apocalyptic mood.  By now, squeals and cries can be heard from those in the crowd, except that this was not an ordinary beach party.  Total solar eclipses affect humans psychologically too!  Now I understand why ancient civilizations feared these events.

My friends who didn’t see the eclipse couldn’t believe that it turned as dark as night.  Well it did.  The photo above shows just that.  I had my camera flash on, of course.

During totality, some of the street lights were turned on, so it wasn’t completely dark.  I believe the sky and clouds contributed to the feeble lighting we saw each other by.  I’m not entirely sure of the primary origins of the light from above.

All the while I was hoping to catch a glimpse of the sun’s corona, but it didn’t happen.  The sky brightened up quickly as soon as those six minutes were over.  I must admit that I got a little hysterical just before totality, like a fan at a rock concert.  Even without the visuals, it was an extraordinary experience.  A mysterious one.  I had missed the eclipsed sun, but what happened around me was just as dramatic, if not more.

I still don’t know if I would rank the eclipse in my list of the most memorable astronomical events.  It belongs in a different league because it’s a remarkably different experience.  I also got to better understand why eclipse chasers can’t get enough of eclipses.

Let’s see… there’s one in the Southern Pacific next year…