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TRAVEL FOR AN ECLIPSE
TRAVEL FOR AN ECLIPSE August 11th, 1999
On August 11, 1999, a rare space phenomenon occured in the Central Europe -
- the Total Eclipse of the Sun.
The eclipse itself is not so rare,
it happens somewhere on the Earth once a year or two,
but it happens at the same place once in a few centuries.
Certain astronomical parameters are surprisingly consistent during the eclipse.
The ratio between the distance and the diameter for both the Sun and the Moon is almost exactly 400,
the both bodies therefore look to be seemingly of the same size,
and the angle of view is approximately 32 angular minutes.
The shadow overclouded by the Moon on Earth's surface
had a width of 112 km during this eclipse, and the total duration was 2 min 22 sec.
The shadow moved on the Earth's surface at a speed of 2.660 km/h.
In the computer animation we can see how subtle the Moon's shadow is on the Earth's surface.
Every eclipse has 3 phases:
First, there is a partial eclipse
which lasts for 1 hour and 20 minutes,
then there comes the total eclipse phase,
followed again by another partial one.
The whole phenomenon lasts for about 2 hours and 45 minutes.
Because the total eclipse zone extended
across Germany, Austria and Hungary, it was quite easy
for us, the Central Europeans, to follow it.
The zone of total eclipse was given an unseemly name -
- the Zone of totality.
The zone was to run only a few tens of kilometres
apart our border,
so we decided to go to Austria.
For safety's sake, we started
our journey already at 3:30 AM.
In Austria, the eclipse was to happen at around 12:45 PM,
we hoped therefore to have time enough for finding
a reasonable place for observing.
On the days around eclipse there was a nice Summer weather
in the Central Europe, with temperatures around 26°C,
but exactly on the August 11, the forecast
was very pesimistic.
WEATHER FORECAST...
...is what interests us most of all.
Good Morning.
Let's start with the actual situation...
I don't like to talk about it...
Now we have the sky nearly clear,
no precipitation,
on the Nothern Moravia, there are sporadic fogs.
Temperatures are around 12 - 16°C,
the wind is SW, weak, 2 - 5 m/s.
What weather will be like around the lunchtime?
The METEOSAT pictures of the morning
That's why I won't to talk about it.
A cold front moves over Germany now,
it rains there already.
During the forenoon the cloud formation will increase,
a rainfall will be moving to our territory,
and the clouds will form mostly in the strip over Bohemia,
Bavaria and Western Austria
during the lunchtime.
That means overcast to cloud over,
shower or rain,
sporadically occuring storms.
There is a chance, that the Sun appears
during the noon, but we will
catch moments to see it.
When we were driving together with
pendlers across the border crossing Studánky,
the dawn just started.
Originally, we'd planned
the observation to take place somewhere around Gmunden lakes,
which are located exactly in the center of the Zone of totality,
but based on the weather forecast
we decided to go more to the East,
somewhere South of Vienna.
At 8:00 AM, we were near Vienna
approaching the center of the Zone of totality.
The route we passed so far was:
Èeské Budìjovice, Èeský Krumlov,
Linz, on the highway towards Vienna,
up to Baden.
After a refreshment, we continued
further South into the Semmering area.
Semmering is located about 70 km South of Vienna.
At the Railway Station, there is a small museum
with the motor wagon which was in the operation
between 1938 - 1991.
Semmering railroad is 41 km long,
it was the first European mountain track,
and it is on the UNESCO
list of the cultural heritage since 1998.
The construction was started
on July 27, 1848.
The operational traffic has started
on July 17, 1854.
In 1959, the track was electrificated.
The designer was Carlo Ghega,
born in Venice,
who was later known
as the knight Karl Ritter von Ghega.
In it's time, the Semmering station was the highest railway station at all.
There are 15 tunnels
and 16 viaducts,
the camber is 439 m.
The highest point of the track
is in the main tunnel,
898 m above sea level.
But this is NOT the film about railroads.
Many beholders of the phenomenon
got off the Vienna train.
At half past nine, about 2 hours remained
till the start of the eclipse.
We found the place on the hump in the valley,
with the outlook to the West,
from where the shadow was about to appear.
The weather was unstable,
a cold wind blew,
and there were many clouds on the sky.
At 11:09, about a quarter of an hour remained until the start.
The first contact happened at 11:24
and after a minute,
the alignment start was clearly visible.
Because the first phase was long and quite boring,
observers were spending the time variously.
Once in a while, the visibility situation was almost hopeless.
At 12:11, the partial eclipse was about in a half.
The cloudy weather situation was still very dramatic.
Just before adjustment the air got appreciably colder
and the colour of light changed, too.
When about 1% of the Sun remained, the light got markedly blue,
the illumination looked like of a point source
and appeared like a light of an electric arc lamp.
Immediately before the eclipse,
a very interesting phenomenon occured: the Bailly's pearls.
It was caused by the refraction on sharp edges
of the rocks on the Moon.
When Sun disappeared we could see a silvery corona
and rosy protuberances.
At that time, the lanscape went darker
and stars appeared, too.
Unfortunately, clouds prevented observing the stars,
but on the other hand,
we could safely observe and record,
even without special filters.
The entire phase of the total eclipse lasted for 2 minutes and 21 seconds.
As soon as the Sun's sickle appeared,
the dawn came from the West again.
After a while, the light got the natural colour again
and everything became normal.
Although the weather wasn't ideal
in the beginning, the weather was rather clear in the end.
We couldn't observe stars through the fine clouds,
but it was very emotional experience, anyway,
which was difficult to describe by words.
The next eclipse will be visible in the Central Europe
on Friday, October 7, 2135.