MARSHALL ISLANDS: Eclipse Watchers Record "Optimal" Viewing at Enewetak
Eclipse chasers and researchers who chose Enewetak in the Marshall Islands as their viewing post the July 22, 2009 eentwere not disappointed. According to Shadia Habbal, team expedition leader from the Institute of Astronomy, University of Hawaii Manoa, viewing location was optimal. Another visitor, Brad Templeton, said it was astonding. "We saw clearly, other than one cloud which intruded for the first 30 seconds of our 5 minute and 40 second totality in otherwise generally clear skies."
Brad Templeton:
On what has to be my most remarkable eclipse trip to date, we saw the great total eclipse of July 22 2009 on the Enewetak Atoll in the Marshall Islands. Enewetak was the site of many nuclear bomb tests, including the first hydrogen bomb. Today it has been cleaned up and is re-populated, but the presence of a long airstrip allowed us to fly there and experience the eclipse on the centerline in the place with the best weather forecast along the path. Totality was 5 minutes and 40 seconds, though we missed the first 30 seconds or so due to a stray cloud.
Karen Ehrhorn for Shadia Habbal:
Everyone is happy with the experiments, and though there were a few clouds, most of totality was fully visible from their location. It appears that the selection of viewing location was optimal, since, according to Associated Press reports, in most of China (where many people went to view the eclipse) clouds, drizzle, rain, and smog obscured the view. Today, a small group taking a boat to Runit island to view the large concrete cap placed over the soil and waste cleaned up from the islands. Temperatures have reached 42 C during the day.
The Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory has donated space at the whole-body radiation counting facility they have constructed as part of the cleanup of the Marshall Islands. All of the food and water for the group was brought in from outside the island, so exposure to bio-accumulated radionuclides in local produce and water should be minimal.
GeekedOut on Enewetak, Eclipse:
The eclipse was a fantastic display of nature and I had 3 full minutes to just sit and watch. Fantastic! I set up lots of cameras which in the end proved mostly useless. I had the exposure times way wrong and should have zoomed in more. And I didn'thave tracking mounts, only tripods, which would have killed any zoom shots. Lesson learned. However, after the eclipse we started tearing down the setups and I borrowed a mount for a few nights. This hooked me on real astrophotography. Our European companions had fantastic gear and I learned a lot about this subject from Milosh, Peter and Martin.
