Total Solar Eclipse 22 July 2009, Varanasi
Some photos and video from my trip to Varanasi to witness the Total Solar Eclipse on 22 July 2009.
Varanasi turned out to be the best site to watch the eclipse in India as most other places got rained out. There was intermittent cloud cover until before totality but that provided a chance to view the partial sun with naked eyes since the clouds acted as a filter too. Just before totality and later, there was simply no cloud cover.
I was watching from the first floor balcony of a temple, with the Assi Ghat and Ganga right in front of us. Thousands of people had begun crowding the ghat from morning (some fearing the eclipse, some waiting for it), and that panorama added to the overall experience.
I was all prepared with filters and two cameras.. but I got the exposure and zoom wrong.. I should have focused more on getting a ‘regular’ picture of the totality with the Ganga and the Ghat in view, but the couple of mins of totality had me so engrossed that I forgot to take the filters off, resulting in dark totality pictures and missing the first diamond ring.
Nevertheless, nothing compares to a total solar eclipse. For a brief moment, imagine a huge black button with a golden aura in the sky.. the moments of anticipation towards first contact, totality and the diamond rings.. and the (nearly) 2 minutes of eerie darkness during totality. Now I know why there are people that chase eclipses around the world!
While this was pretty much the last total solar eclipse to pass through the main belt of India for the next 100 years or so, there is an Annular solar eclipse coming up on the Jan 15th 2010 which will be viewable from the southern tip of India. The annular eclipse will not see a diamond ring etc but will witness a somewhat brighter totality, since the disc of the moon won’t cover the sun entirely.
Some pictures, including those from Sarnath where I travelled later in the day, are here:
http://www.flickr.com/photos/thearbitcouncil/tags/varanasi/
Here is a video.. the second diamond ring is visible around the 8:20 mark.