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Eclipse Flight over AntarcticaFirst Report & Images
| Sky & Telescope is making the accompanying photographs available to editors and producers (click on the links in the captions). Permission is granted for one-time, nonexclusive use in print and broadcast media, as long as appropriate credits (as noted in each caption) are included. For Web publication, please include a link to SkyandTelescope.com. |
Excerpts from an e-mail from expedition leader J. Kelly Beatty, executive editor of Sky & Telescope magazine, on Monday morning, November 24th:
"Totality lasted 2 minutes 20 seconds.... Mideclipse was 23:06 UT on paper, though it seemed a little early in the excitement.... Our coordinates at mideclipse were 51° 52' E, 78° 41' S....
The onset of totality is marked by the 'diamond ring' effect as the Moon has covered the entire face of the Sun except for a lone bead of sunlight shining through a deep valley on the lunar limb. The solar corona, a softly glowing, million-degree plasma, is just coming into view around the Moon's silhouette. Note the bright prominence at upper right, a finger of hot gas glowing in the red light of the hydrogen atom. Sky & Telescope senior editor Dennis di Cicco shot this photo through the window of a chartered LanChile Airbus A340 jetliner just after 11 p.m. GMT on November 23, 2003, over Antarctica. The subsequent total eclipse lasted 2 minutes 20 seconds and ended with a diamond ring at the opposite limb as the Moon began to uncover the Sun. (Larger image available by FTP: 111K JPEG.)
Sky & Telescope photograph by Dennis di Cicco.
With the Moon completely blocking the Sun's visible face, the pearly white corona — our star's ultrahot outer atmosphere — bursts forth in all its glory. This photo of totality over Antarctica is a 1/60-second exposure with a Nikon digital camera and 200-millimeter lens. It was shot through a window of the LanChile Airbus A340 aircraft chartered by Sky & Telescope and TravelQuest International by tour participant William Whiddon of California. (Larger image available by FTP: 43K JPEG.)
Courtesy Sky & Telescope.
Vinson Massif, the tallest mountain in Antarctica, as seen from the window of the LanChile Airbus A340 passenger jet chartered by Sky & Telescope and TravelQuest International to see the total solar eclipse of November 23, 2003. At its highest, Vinson reaches 4,897 meters (16,067 feet). (Larger image available by FTP: 126K JPEG.)
Sky & Telescope photograph by Dennis di Cicco.
"We have a lot of very happy people this morning!"
Kelly Beatty will be back in the office at Sky & Telescope on Wednesday, November 26th. His phone number is +1 617-864-7360 x148, and his e-mail address is kbeatty@ SkyandTelescope.com.
