China - Day 9

Wednesday, July 23
Eclipse Day
Wuhan

This was the big day ... the main reason for our trip to China ... a solar eclipse. It was one of the longer eclipses in quite a few years (5 1/2 minutes of totality where we were located).

Early in the morning buses took the group to Wuhan Bioengineering Institute, where we would hopefully be able to watch the total solar eclipse. The earliest group arrived at the site before sunrise in order to be able to get their cameras set up properly. The cameras were designed and programed to follow the sun through the sky. Others, like me, had low-tech cameras. There were professional and amateur astronomers in our group as well as people who just like solar eclipses.

Astronaut Alvin Drew joined our group on the day of the eclipse, just for the eclipse. In the background are a few others in the group plus some people who just came out to the area.

Some terminology: First contact is when the disk of the moon first touches the disk of the sun. Second contact is when the disk of the moon first completely covers the disk of the sun. Third contact is when the disk of the moon last covers the disk of the sun. Fourth contact is when the disk of the moon last touches the disk of the sun. The length of totality is the length of time from 2nd contact to 3rd contact. Baily's beads and the final Baily's bead, a diamond ring, are often seen at 2nd contact and 3rd contact.

It's safe to look in the direction of the sun between 2nd and 3rd contact. Special glasses, eclipse glasses, like that being held by Alvin Drew, are needed to look in the direction of the sun otherwise.

Here is a link to a National Geographic article on the eclipse. And here is a link to a summary of the eclipse with pics written by Glenn Schneider, a member of our tour group and a professional astronomer.

The wind was still except for a rush of wind 20 to 30 minutes before 2nd contact and another one 20 to 30 minutes after 3rd contact. Unfortunately, there was a partial cloud cover. We could see only the last minute and a half of the eclipse.

Here is a picture I took just after 3rd contact (through one of the special eclipse glasses). The moon is covering the most of lower part of the sun and a cloud is covering part of the top.

After the eclipse, we ate at the university and then traveled back to Wuhan. We saw rice paddies on the way. Before boarding a plane for Xi'an, we visited the Rock and Bonsai Museum in Wuhan. Here is a picture of some carvings of different rocks and crystals displayed in the museum. -- It's not food in the picture. It's carvings in the shape of food as served Lazy Susan style.