Brad Templeton's Photography
Eclipse 2010 at Hao, French Polynesia

Eclipse 2010 at Hao, French Polynesia

This year was a better planned and version of the 2009 Enewetok Jet Eclipse Expedition.

Our target for this eclipse was Hao, an atoll in French Polynesia with a long enough runway to fly into. We had planned to sail north for a longer eclipse, but weather suggested staying put. The morning dawned very clear, but sadly, just before the eclipse, clouds came up at our location, and blocked both 2nd and 3rd contact, but did give us about 30 seconds of relatively cloud free viewing out of the expected 3 minutes 30 seconds. Other places on the island, including the airstrip, got a mostly cloud-free eclipse.

In spite of the clouds this was a spectacular eclipse, with 3 bright prominences and a large corona with a few giant streamers.

Can't wait until Cairns in 2012!

Atoll flown over
(1280 x 853 - 104K)
Atoll flown over
(1280 x 853 - 92K)
Pure sunset on way back to Papete
(1280 x 853 - 48K)
Pure sunset on way back to Papete
Island Transit #1
(1280 x 853 - 161K)
Island Transit #1
(1280 x 853 - 132K)
(1280 x 853 - 113K)
(1280 x 853 - 105K)
(1280 x 853 - 188K)
(1280 x 853 - 199K)
(1280 x 853 - 219K)
(1280 x 853 - 183K)
(1280 x 853 - 183K)
(1280 x 853 - 121K)
(1280 x 853 - 62K)
Yes, we are standing on the bones of dead corals
(1280 x 853 - 320K)
Yes, we are standing on the bones of dead corals
(1280 x 853 - 297K)
Tidepool on the ocean side of Hao
(1280 x 853 - 188K)
Tidepool on the ocean side of Hao
(1280 x 853 - 238K)
(1280 x 853 - 207K)
(1280 x 853 - 100K)
(1280 x 853 - 239K)
Count them again
(1280 x 853 - 187K)
Count them again
(1280 x 853 - 159K)
(1280 x 853 - 125K)
(1280 x 853 - 139K)
Fakaravan tower to look for shrimp boats
(1280 x 853 - 180K)
Fakaravan tower to look for shrimp boats
(1280 x 853 - 160K)
(1280 x 853 - 179K)
(1280 x 853 - 200K)
Lagoon of Fakarava
(1280 x 853 - 168K)
Lagoon of Fakarava
On an island with just a few miles of roads
(1280 x 853 - 222K)
On an island with just a few miles of roads
Fakaravan Church
(1280 x 853 - 183K)
Fakaravan Church
Coconut drying house
(1280 x 853 - 352K)
Coconut drying house
Bailey's beads, such as they were.
bailey.jpg
( x - 118K)
Bailey's beads, such as they were.
A middle exposure shot of the corona
corona1.jpg
(1300 x 877 - 71K)
A middle exposure shot of the corona
The diamond ring was behind clouds
dring.jpg
(1232 x 950 - 54K)
The diamond ring was behind clouds
Just before 3rd contact a big disconnected prominence appeared
prom2.jpg
(1009 x 950 - 29K)
Just before 3rd contact a big disconnected prominence appeared
Some of the prominences
prominence.jpg
(1005 x 950 - 25K)
Some of the prominences
Giant streamers made a big corona
streamers.jpg
(1300 x 920 - 52K)
Giant streamers made a big corona

The Story

This was my 5th eclipse, the first with serious cloud blockage. This year we had a boat but decided to watch from shore, both for the chance to take photos and to experience the eclipse on the ground with a crowd, and get the full context of the land, as I think that is the best experience.

Hao features an 11,000' runway able to land a 747. Other potential locations included Easter Island and the hills above El Calafate, Argentina. Both had poor weather prospects but turned out at the last minute to have success for those there. El Calafate, with the eclipse at sunset just above the Andes, delivered the most stunning visuals, but it was a risky destination, as clouds at the horizon are very common, and anything but perfectly clear skies would likely leave people disappointed. They weren't, however.

I learned again the hard way: Don't do anything in an eclipse you haven't rehearsed many times. Once again I was writing shooting scripts until not long before, and the ones controlled by the Mac failed to start. My robotic panorama mount refused to connect by bluetooth and so I had to shoot my pano by hand -- and didn't do settings quite correctly on the camera.

Other Links

Comments on this article can be left on the blog page.

Equipment

Eclipse images with Televue 76 f/6 refractor and Eos 5D Mark II Camera, with clock drive.

Some other images from a Celestron 1500mm Schmidt and panorama from 5D.