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Annular solar eclipse

3 October 2005

Location

Vila Nova de Foz Côa, Portugal  -  41º 05' N, 7º 12' W

Atmospheric condition

Clear sky, excellent transparency, terrible seeing.

Equipment

• Telescope: Maksutov-Cassegrain 125mm f/12
  
• Digital camera: Casio EX-Z750
  
• Afocal photography with a 25mm Plössl eyepiece
  
• Baader Planetarium solar filter (see construction process)
  

Eclipse evolution

Click a frame to enlarge it. Unfortunately I was not able to photograph the first moments of the eclipse.

Lunar limb profiles during 2nd and 3rd contacts

In the brief moments surrounding the 2nd and 3rd contacts of a solar eclipse, the Sun's limb appears irregularly interrupted because of the dramatic topography of the Moon surface. In the images below, two eclipse frames corresponding to the 2nd and 3rd contacts were first overexposed – to emphasize the mentioned irregularities in the Sun's limb – and then matched with existing lunar limb profile maps, courtesy of Fred Espenak, NASA/GSFC (thank you!). Original maps are available here.

2nd contact (click to enlarge)

 

3rd contact (click to enlarge)