Hi all,
Sorry I haven't been able to write this before, but I didn't get back from COSMOS at Tullamore until late on Sunday night, and then I was out on Monday evening, and this evening too, and then I had a long telephone call earlier!
I want to say a very sincere 'Thank You' to IFAS for the lovely present and 'photo-certificate' given to me at COSMOS for helping to organise the eclipse trip to Turkey. There was of course one of each for David Bell too, and since David wasn't there, I have got his to give to him.
For those of you not 'in the know' it consisted of a clear crystal cube inside which was 'engraved' by laser an exact miniature reproduction of the Milky Way Galaxy, complete with its encircling retinue of globular clusters. So I can study the galaxy even on cloudy nights, albeit with a magnifying glass rather than a telescope! David, with his interest in Cosmology, got a similar one, but showing the "2-Degree Field" distant galaxy redshift survey. For details see
www.crystalnebulae.co.uk
The 'certificate' is a beautiful A4 colour 'poster' with a sequence of three magnificent eclipse photos; one showing the Second Contact Diamond Ring, one of totality, and one of the prominences and the very start of the Diamond Ring at Third Contact. They are set over a beautiful shot of the ancient Roman site at Perge which we visited. Photos were by Dave Lillis and Al White - thanks guys, they are excellent! The captions read "Thank you Terry (David). From everyone on the IFAS trip to the March 29th 2006 Total Solar Eclipse Trip in Turkey".
This was of course a complete surprise, and congratulations to everyone for keeping it secret so well. I therefore had no speech ready, so I hope I expressed my thanks adequately at the time.
But I probably didn't, so I'll try to do do here. I know that David and I both put a lot of work into making that event the success it was, but it was worth it! And all of you that went on the trip deserved nothing less than our best efforts, so of course we were going to do our best for you. And, critically, it was clear on the day! So all the work that went into selecting the
site(s) etc was worthwhile! Anyway, someone else can have a go at my role for the next trip! You'll be glad to know that at the IFAS meeting at COSMOS, it was agreed that a small 'working party' would look at the options for the eclipse in Russia on 1/8/2008 (and maybe, as an alternative, the one on 22 July 2009 in China)
Thanks again - I'm sure I can say that's from both of us.
Terry
  