The weather in Shanghai a day before belied the sky condition that would greet us on Wednesday, the day of the eclipse.
We conducted a dry run of our equipment on Tuesday in front of the hostel under the sweltering heat of Shanghai sun and everything seemed good to go. Our strange-looking equipment gathered curious glances from onlookers. Some Chinese folks don’t have a concept of privacy or territory; they would just peek on our stuff without even asking permission.
Fortunately Wang, our ever-reliable interpreter kept on shooing off the nosy folks. Beng, our team official documentation head had a brilliant idea; she had someone scribbled a sign in Chinese characters that somehow said.. “ We are observing the sun. Please do not disturb”
All the set-ups were tested: multiple exposure setups, magnified shots of the sun through various phases, one on video tracking of the sun piggy-backed on a tracking scope, wide angle shot of the sun to capture nearby heavenly objects during totality, sun’s projection on astroscan, and shadow bands set-up.
Later that day, I, Aaron (one of official student delegates), Wang and Kale ( an enthusiast from Chicago who wanted to join our group) went to Jinshanwei for an ocular inspection.
Jinshanwei is a coastal suburb around 70 km south of Shanghai city proper. It is near the centerline and the southernmost part of China along the eclipse path giving us the advantage of the longest totality (our computation was 5 min and 58 s).
I was quite surprised that I haven’t heard of any Philippine team setting up in Jinshanwei. I have heard of folks flocking to She Shan observatory, Shanghai city proper and Jiaxing. Then there’s also a team at Wuhan.
I admit I was a bit apprehensive that a coastal setting might give a fickle sky condition which would have explained why no other astronomical team had set up in the location.
We arrived at Jinshanwei around 1230 pm.. We spotted 3 ideal locations and first choice was near the beach area with no entrance fee. (The other option was inside another beach that charges 30RMB /head, the third one was a park in front of a bus station).
Our chosen location did not meet two of our original requirements : must be near an electrical source or power supply and with WiFi.. But it was best there was in terms of unspoiled view.
We took the GPS setting of our chosen location ( latitude, longitude, elevation) as these were crucial for the contact timings. Bamm was our contact in the Philippines who supplied the eclipse data based on the exact location.
Cloud cover on Tuesday afternoon was promising. Thought there were scattered cirrus clouds all over, they were not alarming since they were the type that would fleet by easily. There was a smog buildup on the horizon up to about 30 deg altitude; not high enough to spoil the view of the sun during first contact.
We had 2 back up options in Jinshanwei and our ultimate back up option would have been a drive westwards towards Jiaxing area should cloud cover be nonnegotiable.
Kale had been tracking the cloud patterns the night before and the storm brewing from Beijing had all indications that it would cover the entire Shanghai area the following day.
Our call time that Wednesday was 5 am at the hostel lobby. It was quite surprising that everyone seemed all revved up when clock hit 5. ( I surmise some of them had a restless night, like me which just had a 2-hour nap) .
We left for Jinshanwei at 530 AM. Two enthusiasts from UK , Milly and Doug joined our team since we had two more slots in the vehicle Traffic, unlike what we originally thought was surprisingly light.
Ominous cloud cover was all over Shanghai and the same scenario greeted us in Jinshanwei. It was a stark contrast from the fair weather that greeted us the day before (sigh). (Sometimes I still ask God why He couldn’t have just swapped the weather for two days)
A drizzle greeted us when we were setting up. I told the team that transferring to Jiaxing was no longer an option given the extent of the overcast. We were far better off by staying put.
We had to adjust our location a bit to have a cover in case of heavy downpour. I admired the team for its professionalism. Despite the bleak scenario they set up their equipment as if all things were normal. Our equipment were all set up an hour before first contact.
Onlookers trickled in as early as 8 AM.
Some of the team prayed the rosary hoping for the clouds to open up a bit.
Our prayers were answered partly as we had glimpses of the sun between first and second contact. As the team official timer I had to announce every two minutes, the countdown for multiple images shot and the number of minutes prior to totality. In most instances the presence of the mylar prevented us from getting a good shot since the cloud provided additional filter. The settings we used during the dry runs were almost not applicable.
In other instances the sun would peek but not on the determined time that we’re supposed to get for multiple exposure. Kin and Erika nonetheless took shots of the sun since its appearance was becoming highly-prized.
Our last shot of the sun was taken 5 minutes before totality and the clouds as if a curtain, gave the sun its final bow.
We never got to capture the corona. We did however capture in video the change in the surrounding light as we approached totality.
When countdown for 2nd contact was being done we were looking at the imaginary sun. The onlookers joined us as we made the countdown. One could really feel the emotionally charged atmosphere as we were nearing zero.
As a team lead of the expedition I was supposed to be professional in the countdown. But I admit a few seconds before totality I totally lost it. I just realized I was just a child lost for words basking in one of nature’s grandest spectacle. In hindsight I was lucky I had a point and shoot camera with me to capture on video my lunacy during totality. (And the camera was not even part of the set –up)
It all made sense to me that astronomy while it thrived on rigid numbers was not about the cold equations. True, one could find handy the timing of the contacts, the altitude of the sun, or the duration of the totality. One could utter with astounding command the declination, azimuth, hour angle, right ascension or absolute magnitude
But without the heart and the human vulnerability, these numbers make no sense.
For more fundamental are the raw emotions that a celestial event would evoke. I realized that inherently we are still very much like our ancestors when they first glanced at the skies and partook in the ancient of sciences.
We may have come a long way since our caveman days but no mathematical advancement could ever rob us of that awe, of that child-like fascination, of the magical wonder.
This is the heart of astronomy.
While we were disappointed that we never got a shot of the corona, we were still blessed to feel the change in temperature and the surreal darkness that blanketed us.
We could proudly claim that we felt 5 minutes and 58 seconds of darkness, a record that would only be surpassed in 2132.
In many many years time we could tell our children and even our grandchildren that the longest total solar eclipse of our lifetime passed in 2009.
In other instances the sun would peek but not on the determined time that we’re supposed to get for multiple exposure. Kin and Erika nonetheless took shots of the sun since its appearance was becoming highly-prized.
Our last shot of the sun was taken 5 minutes before totality and the clouds as if a curtain, gave the sun its final bow.
We never got to capture the corona. We did however capture in video the change in the surrounding light as we approached totality.
When countdown for 2nd contact was being done we were looking at the imaginary sun. The onlookers joined us as we made the countdown. One could really feel the emotionally charged atmosphere as we were nearing zero.
As a team lead of the expedition I was supposed to be professional in the countdown. But I admit a few seconds before totality I totally lost it. I just realized I was just a child lost for words basking in one of nature’s grandest spectacle. In hindsight I was lucky I had a point and shoot camera with me to capture on video my lunacy during totality. (And the camera was not even part of the set –up)
It all made sense to me that astronomy while it thrived on rigid numbers was not about the cold equations. True, one could find handy the timing of the contacts, the altitude of the sun, or the duration of the totality. One could utter with astounding command the declination, azimuth, hour angle, right ascension or absolute magnitude
But without the heart and the human vulnerability, these numbers make no sense.
For more fundamental are the raw emotions that a celestial event would evoke. I realized that inherently we are still very much like our ancestors when they first glanced at the skies and partook in the ancient of sciences.
We may have come a long way since our caveman days but no mathematical advancement could ever rob us of that awe, of that child-like fascination, of the magical wonder.
This is the heart of astronomy.
While we were disappointed that we never got a shot of the corona, we were still blessed to feel the change in temperature and the surreal darkness that blanketed us.
We could proudly claim that we felt 5 minutes and 58 seconds of darkness, a record that would only be surpassed in 2132.
In many many years time we could tell our children and even our grandchildren that the longest total solar eclipse of our lifetime passed in 2009.
And that we, UP Astrosoc Team Shanghai : Beng, Sharon, Kin, Rej, Sig, Erika, Andre, Aaron, Kiel, Am, and I , were bold and lucky enough to be there.
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