Partial Solar Eclipse 2004
With David H. Levy, Steven O'Meara and friends
Wednesday, October 13, 2004
Images of a partially eclipsed sun taken from the summit of Mauna Kea by Steven O'Meara. Notice the red and green colored fringes on the limb and the occulted edge of the sun.
Mauna Kea summit, Hawaii Island
Comet hunter David H. Levy and Sky and Telescope writer Steve O'Meara made a pilgrimage up to the summit of Mauna Kea the day afer David's AstroTalk in Hilo. Subaru Telescope graciously allowed us to set up outside the enclosure building. Summit level clouds descended just in time for the first contact viewing, after which David Levy gave his 1000tth public reading, this time a verse from Song of Honor, by Ralph Hodgson. Several telescopes were set up with white light and H-alpha filters (we caught a prominence just below a sunspot near the solar limb opposite the first contact point and could detect diffraction fringes off the occulting moon and solar limb). We were able to witness several green flashes while the "bitten" solar disk slipped below the clouds, and the atmosphere was filled with excitement and awe, quite a surprise for "just" a partial. Next stop: Total lunar eclipse, where we hope the 13k foot elevation of Mauna Kea may give us a fleeting glimpse of a portion of a moon in totality while it rises above the horizon. A solar and lunar eclipse within two weeks of each other from the same location.
Visitor Information Station volunteers getting ready to serve the public Waiting for the clouds to go down with the tropical inversion David making his 1000th reading after first contact on the summit of Mauna Kea
Just before sunset Saying goodbye to the last glimpse of this partial solar eclipse An impromptu celebration with students who are observing on the UH-24 inch telescope
Ala Moana Beach Park, Oahu
Mike Nassir, UH Dept of Physics Instructor and Dave Tholen, UH Institute for Astronomy (IfA) Planetary Astronomer organized an eclipse viewing for their Astronomy 110 Lab course students at Magic Island in Ala Moana Beach Park. Photographer Greg Reinking states, "The eclipse photo (with the welder's glass) came out nice, I like the reflected sunlight on the ocean at the bottom of the picture. It was a pretty sunset in true color; although the sun's disk is mostly glared out, with a little imagination you can make out the eclipse (with a bite out of the sun on the right side)". Several members of the Friends of Astronomy (IfA) support group, IfA faculty and staff , and beachgoers and passersby also attended the event, which was covered by KHNL News 8