|
|
On 30 May 1965 I was, like thousands of other Aucklanders, prepared with a pinhole viewer made from a Weet-Bix box. From Auckland a near-total eclipse of the sun was to be visible at sunrise; weather permitting. I was six years old at the time and I remember the disappointment when the day dawned overcast. Typical Auckland weather! The Weet-Bix box viewer never saw action.
Thirty eight years later I succeeded in seeing a partial solar eclipse. My equipment was fancier than a Weet-Bix box, but still fairly basic. Using a pair of binoculars the image of the sun was projected onto a piece of white paper. The weather was typical Dunedin weather; fine with occasional passing cloud. The eclipse was clearly visible, with the cloud adding to the drama of the occasion by streaming across the image of the sun from time to time.
Two large clusters of sun spots were clearly visible, as well as one further isolated spot. At precisely 10:38 local time we saw the first tiny dent into the sun's circular face as the eclipse commenced - an exciting moment for eclipse watchers. The progress of the eclipse was hidden by clouds for much of the time until it reached its maximum with the sun 21% covered. At this point the weather became much finer and we clearly saw the eclipse at its maximum extent.
I photographed the projected image of the sun from time to time, using a digital camera. Unfortunately the camera is not a very good camera and it was extremely difficult to get the photos in focus. This photo shows the shadow of the moon across the disc of the sun at the time of maximum eclipse (11:21 am).
The colour bands top and bottom are due
to the binoculars not pointing absolutely straight at the sun
at the time the photo was taken. The slightly squashed
appearance of the solar disc is due to the camera being held
at an angle to the paper. Here is a copy of the photo with
the sunspots highlighted. 
This image shows clouds streaking across the solar disc, as the eclipse was almost over.
Here are some photographs of our equipment set up in the window:
The camera may have been hopeless, but we saw extermely clear images of the eclipse, even with our simple equipment.
Author: Chris Hilder
Date: 24 Nov 2003
|
||