2001 eclipse from Bevaoy, Madagascar
This time I went together with my husband Paul and astro friend Roland to Madagascar to view the eclipse.
The expectation was that most people would go to Morombe. To avoid the crowd we decided to approach the observation site from the north
From Morondave, with a landrover, driver and Malagash guide, it took us 3 full days to reach the site, approximate 280 km. The “camel trophy type” tour was worth the effort, and fun in a way.
We got ourselves a site with a good view to the NW horizon. Unfortunately our driver and guide didn’t wanted to stop north of the central line, so we ended up south of the central line on the river banks nearby a place called Bevoay.
The coordinates were S 21°49’54.6”, E 43°52’32.3”
First contact started at 12h12 UT. The totality was complete at 13h26:06 UT and had a duration of 2 min 31 sec. The eclipse was recorded with a digital 8 camera and photographs were taken. Apart from that we didn’t forget to look off course and to “live it” ourselves.
The locals were somewhat afraid of the event and only our Malagash guide had the nerve to actually look at the eclipsed sun. He was astonished. Although he kept on asking for assurance that it was not dangerous.
We were lucky that day. The days before clouds were visible but the 21st showed us a all blue sky so we could observe the eclipse without interference.
Being at the southern half of the earth it was strange to see the eclipse approach from the left bottom to the right upper corner. Large sunspots were visible, even with the naked eye.
Shadowbands were seen by others. The shadow was cone shaped and the horizon was as colored as previous eclipses. I noticed Jupiter, Canopus, Sirius and Pollux. No baileys beads could be seen, as could be expected being south of the central line. The eclipse seemed to have a very symmetrical corona. The inner corona was very bright.
A large number of protuberances were seen. At 2 O’clock the largest was visible and stayed during the whole totality. Later more protuberances were visible at 7 O’clock (a double), 9 O’clock and 10 O’clock
Immediately after totality was over the sky was bright again. I had expected a lesser spectacular return to daylight because of the approaching sunset but that wasn’t so.
During the partial phase the wind was very strong blowing from the direction of the sun. Strangely enough there was no wind during totality and no wind after that. But this might have been an every day thing because this wind drop in the evening was also noticed the day before.
I recorded the pressure with my Garmin Etrex Summit GPS and it showed that during the partial phase until totality there was a pressure drop from 1293 to 1019 mbar. After third contact the pressure slightly rose again and stayed stable. Unfortunately I have no pressure readings of the day before.
Our site was to far to the east so we missed 4th contact. In return we had a nice view of the crescent sinking behind the opposite riverbanks.
And as always the eclipse was over before we knew it. Luckily we can relive it when editing photos and video and off course it is time again to start planning the next one.
LN, june 2001