The Total Solar Eclipses of 2002

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A few images are included in the Ceduna-eclipse pages, the report will be added as our analysis continues.

Introduction

The Calwell Lunar Observatory has planned an expedition to South Australia to observe this eclipse with a special interest in the phenomena of Baily Beads. Details of the eclipse path and predictions for Baily Beads at the observing site in Ceduna, South Australia are given below.

On Wednesday, 2002 December 04, a total eclipse of the Sun will be visible from within a narrow corridor which traverses the Southern Hemisphere. The path of the Moon's umbral shadow begins in the South Atlantic and crosses southern Africa. After traversing the southern Indian Ocean, the path sweeps through southern Australia where the eclipse ends at sunset. A partial eclipse will be seen within the much broader path of the Moon's penumbral shadow, which includes most of Africa (excluding the north), parts of Indonesia, Australia and eastern Antarctica. The maps below have been produced by Mr Eclipse and Fred Espanak.

Locality

The chosen location shown below has been compared with one near Laura Bay which is 75 % out from the centre line to maximise the number of observable Baily Beads.

Two additional maps show the southern part of the eclipse path near Ceduna South Australia, and one of the planned observing site (A) where the moon's first contact occurs at 0810(UT) when the sun is at an altitude of 20 degrees 48'. Totality occurs at 0910 07.9 (UT) with the sun and moon at an altitude of 8 degrees 52'. Sun set occurs at 0956 (UT).

It is planned to observe the total eclipse from Ceduna shown on the map of Thevenard (Ref 5633-4 at a scale of 1:50,000). Baily Beads (see below) will be best observed at site (A), the caravan park at longitude 133 degrees 41' 30", and latitude -32 degrees 07' 30", elevation 5 m.

Baily Beads

Table 1 below lists the Baily Beads expected to occur at location (A) at the Caravan Park (see above). These events were predicted from a computer program by David Herald.

A recommended method for this observation is to project the sun's image from a small refracting telescope onto a shaded screen and record the Beads as they accur onto a tape recorder with a superimposed short wave timing signal. Simply record these as "Bead top right, Bead near top right " etc, as such a description will be adequate to analyse the observed beads given the timing for each reported bead.

Those with cameras of adequate definition, either video, photographic or digital, can record images of the Baily Beads with a superimposed timing base synchronised shortly before the eclipse with a short wave timing signal.