Wow, quite the trip down memory lane. Thanks for posting that Joan. and good to have you back on the list. Your waxing nostalgic got me rummaging through my old news release files where I came across this: http://users.wirelessbeehive.com/~paw/temp/1991eclipse.pdf I trust everyone will notice who I gave first billing to (that's a not so subtle reference to the fact I always gave SLAS first billing in joint ventures but the media tended to give all the credit to the planetarium). I look forward to seeing the video on line (or maybe it could be screened at a SLAS meeting). BTW, even after all these years it still bugs me that the airport made us move after all the work we went to to get out gear set up and polar aligned. But, hey, it beat the experience on an eclipse trip to Africa a few years previous when we were charged by an angry elephant. Oh, and what about the angry guy with the spear? Or in the Indonesia eclipse trip when, while trying to get just the right shot, I tripped learned what it feels like to fall on a cactus. LOL! Memories... patrick On 25 Aug 2011, at 16:12, J E CARMAN wrote:
Was going through old VHS tapes and ran across one entitled “Solar Eclipse 1991” by Brian Ottum. Popped it into my player (I have a machine that plays VHS and DVDs) and watched all 18 minutes of it. Holy Cow there you were – dare I say TWENTY YEARS AGO. You haven’t change much that I can see. I was there, of course, and so was Lowell Lyon (lots more hair and curly too) and Cindy Raetz (Hard??), I think Alpine Stringham. I also saw a glimpse or two of Patrick (yeah, he had more hair too – hehe) and Les Case (his last name was Case not Christopher – not sure about that).
It was the quick and dirty charter to La Paz for the long eclipse. You, Brian, Cindy and maybe others drove into LaPaz to be on the center line. There was a scene of Cindy being a pack mule for someone (dare I say with the initials KH). She was carrying 10x80 binos and a tripod. I and most of the others remained at the airport . Someone rented a room for the day and there are some pictures of us in the room. I really don’t remember that part. I remember a number of us went into LaPaz and did some shopping. We all flew back to Salt Lake that night. I don’t remember a lot of it, and mainly the details of the entire trip, but what I do remember is the eclipse. Ever minute/second of it.
I remember I took the 3” finder off my refractor to act as the lens for my 35 mm camera (film at the time). Set it on a tripod and used one roll of film taking pictures of first contact, etc. I put in a roll of 36 shots just before second contact. I had all these plans, what with 6-1/2 minutes of totality – an eternity – to work with. I planned on taking numerous shots at different exposure times. Was going to try for 10 seconds etc. I remember just setting up and I SAW really, I saw, the moon’s shadow race toward us jfrom the direction of the low hills off in the distance just a split second before totality. It raced toward me and drew my eyes from the ground up to the “event.” I stared and stared. I’m not sure, but I must have blinked a few times. I could hear Patrick calling out “6 minutes left”, “5 minutes left” at “4 minutes left” I glanced down and realized I had only taken 3-4 pictures. I “turned the knob” on the camera timer – I didn’t look at it, just twisted it and clicked the shutter. I couldn’t take my eyes off the eclipse. I could hear people talking about shadow bands and such nearby, but I didn’t even glance at them. I managed to expand my view to include the whole sky and noted how dark it was, how a few stars and even planets appeared. I remember a professional astronomer had challenged astrologers because according to astrology the eclipse was supposed to take place inside Gemini and the eclipse was NOT in Gemini. Then, all too soon it was over.
I remember Patrick walking toward me and saying “Well?” I remember I just had this probably incredibly stupid grin on my face. I couldn’t say anything (Joan – speechless??? you had to be there for that). I can’t imagine what Patrick thought when I didn’t say anything.
It’s been 20 years and that is the only total solar eclipse I have ever seen. I saw an annular in LA a few years later, but it’s just not the same. I had all these plans – swore I would see many more, but in all these years, I haven’t kept that promise. On the other hand, when you see the best ....
Just watching the tape brought back really good memories and wanted to say hi and hope all is well.
Joan Carman