Total Solar Eclipse 2008 - Russia

Paul Tipper wrote:Not that I'm aware of, but the UK met office satellite image of Asia shows western China fairly clear as of 07.00, but the Novosibirsk region somewhat clouded. Can't wait to hear the news from the lads on the ground![/quote]

Well it was clear here at 7am too! Set up the PST outside the office but unfortunately we only got glimpses through breaks in the cloud. Very quiet sun, one filament just visible near the moon which some people got to see.

Larger size: www.astrovox.gr/forum/album_pic.php?pic_id=6823

Hi!
Fantastic eclipse!
It was a trip we will always remember. We had a great time in Siberia: Novosibirsk city, architectures of the buildings, the open countryside, huge landscapes, funny and not-so-funny episodes with russian people, the Novosibirsk zoo, everything was a lifetime experience.
The eclipse was awsome, becouse we were in a place far from the city, at the northwestern coast of lake Ob, near the picturesque Leninskoye village.
The weather couldn't be better. Cloudless blue sky. During the previous 2 days of our stay, it was changing very fast and in a totally unpredictable way, either partly cloud, or overcast. So, 2 hours before the eclipse, when it was obvious that we were going to see it, we were shocked, becouse we cwere prepared for a fail. I just couldn't handdle it, too good to be true!
Just before totality starts, we saw Mercury and Venus like never before, and then we were thrilled by the colours of the sky and of the lake, we were thrilled to see flocks of birds flying around the corona, and we were absolutelly astonished when we heard a night bird's loud howl; a Hitchcock movie feeling.
We were very happy to be with Dave, Frank, Michael and Denise. Good old friends!
We have a lot lot lot video from the eclipse day and more,
and soon we will put some on youtube. (or perhaps give you a DVD next time we meet! BTW, I hope you enjoy Tremoulis's Parnon DVD! Greetings John and DaveG!)

Diamond Ring:
Nikon D70s camera,
Sigma 70-200 f2.8 APO telephoto lens
Kenko 2X converter
Image taken at 400mm focal distance at f/22, ISO 200, speed 1/800th of a second
Baader solar filter.

Hi everybody,I am very happy about the successfull
observing of the total eclipse in Siberia.Together with my Greek and Irish friends I was lucky to see the most amaging phisical phenomeno that human can see on Earth.The weather was just perfect.
See you in China next year.

Well Guys,
What a tough trip, Frank and I went up to Michaels house on Wednesday evening at about 6pm, we went up to Dublin airport and got the 10.30pm (approx) to Moscow, it took about 3.5 hours and when added to the 3 hours time difference it was about 6am getting into Moscow airport, after taking about an hour to get through visa checks and baggage we had a little food and waited around (it went fairly quickly) for the 11.45 am flight to Novosibirsk. I was unable to sleep in any of the flights so by that time I was starting to keel over, we arrived in Novosibirsk at about 6pm, we got an hour long taxi journey to the hotel where our Greek friends were waiting for us. We checked in, got cleaned up and had some good food at a nearby restaurant, we discussed plans on what to do next day for the eclipse.
Friday morning we woke up to some broken clouds, all looking pretty good, we met up with the Greek lads at their hotel and we headed off to the north side of the lake. On the way their the clouds started to thicken up and I have to say at that stage it looked like our luck had ran out. When we got to the site, it was fairly mostly cloudy, we discussed going back to the city but decided to give it 15 minutes or so to see what the clouds would do as it appeared that they were getting a little lighter. After a small while we all agreed the clouds were becoming a little less dense with more blue sky appearing. About an hour before first contact it completely cleared, we were all amazed to be honest, we saw first contact, totality and stayed right through to the end at 4th contact.
This year the surroundings to me appeared a little brighter at totality compared to Turkey 2006 eclipse, and baileys beads were alot less pronounced, there were some nice prominences there, similar to the 2006 eclipse, the corona looked a little similar to 2006 but maybe not as pronounced, I don't know if that's just our eyes not been given as much time to adapt or was the background sky a little brighter, the big thing was the time, that 2 minutes went like a flash, ALOT quicker then ~3.5 mins 2 years ago, very noticeable, you had alot less time to get pictures as it was over before you knew it so this time around I have alot less pics taken. At mid totality, a flock of birds left the trees and flew directly across the eclipsed Sun, its looked really cool. As the Sun was 30 degrees above the horizon at mid totality, you had the optical illusion of a physically big eclipse, like the big moon you might see near the horizon, that black disk looked bigger then 2 years ago, it made viewing it alot easier then say if it was directly above.
We headed back to the hotel and by the time we were back in the city, the sky had clouded over again, we had a 4+ hour window of clear sky centred on the eclipse, a miracle if ever I saw one.
We all knew this location was a 50/50 chance but we also knew it wasn't in the middle of some snow/rainy/monsoon season so we knew we had some sort of a chance, weather there was variable over the days we were there but on most afternoons it did have broken cloud. Insects were not a problem there, there weren't swarms of mosquitoes to be seen and the Russian people were great. The airline S7 had what is probabily the best food I've ever seen on an airline and were mainly on-time. Moscow was fab, Red Square and the Kremlin was super, no hassle there.

One thing I would take away from the 2006 and now 2008 eclipses is that an eclipse with less then 2 mins totality is not worth a very difficult journey, almost!.

It gives me a serious appreciation of the China 2009 eclipse which is over 6 mins long at maximum and am now seriously considering going to it.

I have some pics which I must get together and will put them up over the coming days.
Roll on 2009!!!: cheer:

Unfortunately, Dave's post is well censored and doesn't go into a few "minor" details which arose while on tour...

First up was the lovely passport control office in Moscow. This involves making a mad scrum for a few passport booths and waiting for an hour for one's passport to be checked. Unfortunately, one Irishman (and no, not one of us!) was a little worse for weather due to the overconsumption of alcohol. He nearly came to blows at one stage with a few Russian people there as he hurled abuse at everyone. When he decided to start chatting to me, Dave and Frank quickly did a legger down the other side of the scrum/queue....

This hour-long taxi ride to the hotel from novo airport was, well, an "adventure" as it involved a car with zero suspension and the back end of the car bouncing off the road the whole way along. To give credit where credit is due however, I did admire the driver's overtaking abilities which always seemed to be well timed to coincide with that of an oncoming car!

They have an amazing 3d xray scanning system for passengers at Russian airports. It involves standing still with your arms raised in a device that looks like a revolving door while scanning devices spin around you. This generates a 3d revolving image of you on a computer screen which can scan through your clothes and flesh to reveal any unwanted items on your person (tripods exempted of course).

When you do eventually get on the plane, take my advice, do not sit behind a priest of the Russian orthodox church or you get a tongue-lashing for no apparent reason.

Oh and finally, insect repellet is useful and even better if applied before you get bitten and your leg swells up like a balloon.

I will leave the stories of animals on the plane, dangerous tripods, vodka-swilling teenagers and the purchasing of mp3s to Frank who seems to have a magnetic attraction to unusual incidents.

:laugh: :laugh:
yes how could we forget the animals or how the woman at the body scanner machine at Moscow airport was giving many passengers a cheeky smile after they were "scanned" . it wasn't just an xray machine :laugh:
Frank, remember the interesting dinner you got on the plane and in that Novo bar ?? :ohmy:

I forgot to mention that on the way over between Dublin and Moscow, we had one of the best noctilucent cloud displays I have ever seen to the north, images to come. : cheer: