Total Solar Eclipse pics from Libya!

Hey guys,

I got back from Libya last night without my luggage Anyway, I had a wonderful view from Waw an Namus, deep into the Sahara Desert, Libya. We saw 4 minutes 7 seconds from our location. I actually bumped into Chris and Brian (of the ecliptomaniacs) at the only petrol station for 100 miles the day after the eclipse.

Here are 2 completely unprocessed pics (the jpegs from my RAW+ Small .jpg setting). Would anyone like to help me with stacking the images? I really have no clue but I did get a very wide range of exposures. Any help would be sincerely appreciated.


Totality





Chromosphere




All shots with Canon 20D and Skylux telescope (the best €60 lens I'll ever buy!).


Finally I'm going to copy a quick report I sent to the SEML (solar eclipse mailing list). Well done to all in Turkey!

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Hi all,

I'm in a very slow internet cafe in Sebha. A very quick review of the
200 emails in my inbox doesn't suggest a report from Waw an Namus -
very near the eclipse maximum. I can report 4 minutes and 7 seconds of
wonderful totality.

There were many many groups that travelled this far south into the
Desert but an estimation of numbers isn't so possible because the
military had allocated spaces for most groups and so interaction
wasn't that easy. My guess for the record is around 3,000.

As far as I can tell, a makeshift runway was built especially for the
event and several helicopters and planes landed near us the night
before the eclipse. Thankfully they didn't throw up too much dust.
There also was an "Eclipse City" built nearby that had a generator
thumping away all night long. There was a bizarre rumour that Bill
Clinton flew in to see the eclipse and although I dismissed it at the
time, virtually every group I met suggested it. The security was quite
a sight but they were all very helpful and didn't pose any problems to
eclipsechasers.

The corona was beautiful, although I didn't think the streamers
extended as far as TSE2003. Caught a great shot of the last bit of the
sun in between two nice prominences, one of which looked really,
really big. I got a fair few photos and I hope to learn how to
digitally combine the different exposures (if anyone has any info,
that would be great). I seem to have caught significant Earthshine
with a .33s exposure at ISO400 and f/10. Photos to follow when I get
home.

I also saw shadow bands for the first time which is another feature to
strike off the list. According to another member of my group who had
seen them several times before, they were weak enough. My video
camera failed to capture them despite them being clear to my eyes.

The Libyans have been incredibly friendly - like no other people I
have met before. My driver went out of his way to being to me to his
house in order to meet his family. We were lavished with a wonderful
dinner and hospitality that I can't imagine receiving anywhere else.

Before the eclipse, I had seen all of 4 clouds since we travelled to
the Sahara from rainy Tripoli! E-Day was completely clear but,
astonishingly, 1/4 of the sky was cloudy the next morning. However it
was the sort of high thin cloud that would easily have permitted a
view of totality had it been around at the critical time.

Anyway, the plan is to fly to Tripoli tonight and then home on Monday
(after seeing Leptis Magna and Sabrath).

Congratulations to all,

Kind regards,


Daniel Lynch


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Wow, Dan, you can actually see those magnetic field lines in your first image! Pretty cool!

2 fantastic images Daniel. The first image is one of the best images I've seen of the corona and is very close to showing what the corona looked like in a a pair of binos. Superb!!

The prominences are the best I've seen so far, very clear!

Well done Dan. :!:

Cheers guys,

Just wondering if anyone could help me out with stacking? I haven't a clue about it. I looked a t few websites but I just didn't understand it. My pics have the eclipse at different parts of the frame and it seemed to confuse the hell out of PS CS 2.

Anyone care to help me out?

Cheers,

Daniel

Hi Dan,

I'm just back today from Libya too....we went about 30Km East of Waw al Namus to a site where we could see only one other group on the distant horizon. I was with the Ecliptomaniac group and we had another excellent eclipse too. I'm still on 35mm unfortunatley but got some decent shots. My prominences didn't come out too great this time but got other decent ones. Your prominence shots are quite excellent.

Incidentally it really was Clinton at that site accompanied by Gadaffi's sons. He was over there tying up some oil deal apparently and they must have thrown in the eclipse as part of the deal(!). When we where departing from our site (24 landcruisers....quite a sight!) we came across their camp when some of the miltary helicopters where taking off.....the whole thing was completley surreal......everyone in the middle of nowhere milling about causing dust storms.
Good luck with your processing.


Mark Dowling