|  Home  |  About Me  |  Images  |  Equipment  |  Observatory  |  Contact Me  |  Links  |  Patrick Moore's 15" Reflector   Total Solar Eclipse, Turkey, 29th March 2006 Beautiful clear conditions prevailed for this marvellous event. Sue and I went to a beach just a few hundred metres from the Amphitheatre in the historic town of Side which was very close to the maximum totality line on the South coast of Turkey. I used a JVC GRD-290 Digital Camcorder to record the event, which has a 25x optical zoom. Visual observations were made using a tripod-mounted pair of 15x70 binoculars and the views through these during totality were quite stunning! This was our first total eclipse (I went to Madrid to see the recent Annular eclipse), and these images will stay forever in my mind. Below are links to video clips that you can view. I have left the sound track on so you can here the inane babble and total nonsense that came out of my mouth during the event! Videos: Click on the links below, or right-click and "Save Target As..." first Video of First Contact (6MB .wmv file) Video summary leading up to Second Contact (7MB .wmv file) Video of the whole of Totality (50MB .wmv file) Pictures: Click on any image to see a larger version. A montage of images taken from my videos of the event, going from just past first contact to totality.   The Diamond Ring, just going into totality (second contact). This image is a single frame taken from the digital video camera Full totality about 30 seconds after second contact. This image is a single frame taken from the digital video camera   Detail in the inner Corona. This image was produced by stacking about 100 frames together using the Registax3 software. Detail in the outer Corona. Also produced using Registax3 software. The ringing effects are artifacts produced by the processing.   An enhanced image of the diamond ring at second contact. Registax was used to stack about 20 frames together. The outer corona detail shown overlayed on an image taken by the SOHO satellite just 10 minutes before. Setting up the equipment a couple of hours before first contact. Seen here are the 15x70 binoculars safely covered with Baader Solar Film. The tall, stable tripod was excellent. Fairly comfortable viewing position. This setup attracted a lot of interest from locals who often came along for a look.   Bamboozling the locals with sign language and a smattering of Turkish! A relaxed atmosphere on the beach.   Looking West along the beach towards Side. The Amphitheatre can be seen in this picture. Sue keeping warm as the temperature drops. Here you can see the darkening sky. This was taken at about 70% eclipse.   Projected images of the Sun using a piece of paper with small holes punched with a ball point pen. A snap of Totality! Taken by Sue with the Canon 300D DSLR camera.   Venus during totality - I'm shaking too much to hold the camera steady! Seen here trying to impress the neighbours, an attractive Danish Mother and Daughter, with my boundless knowledge!     A post-totality dip in the Sea - very chilly!