total solar eclipse - gloria...

SOLAR TOTAL ECLIPSE 2012 1

Total Solar Eclipse November 13th, 2012 (19:45 to 20:45 UT)

Cairns, Australia

Objectives The main objective of the expedition to Australia is the observation of the total solar eclipse that will occur on November 13th, 2012 (see Fig. 1) in the region around Cairns, Australia and the South Pacific, in order to:

1) Broadcast the event live over the Internet. 2) Promote related educational activities.

Figure 1. Full band (blue lines) of the Eclipse of November 13th, 2012 as reported by NASA. The green dot indicates the location of the maximum duration of the eclipse. The observation points of the expedition will be in the surroundings of Cairns (Queensland state) in the northeast of Australia.

Phenomenon After more than a year without any total solar eclipses (the last one took place on July 11th, 2010) the Moon's shadow revisits the Earth's surface on 13th November 2012. The journey of the shadow begins in Australia, and then moves out to the Pacific Ocean. The maximum of the eclipse, with a duration of 4 minutes and 2 seconds, occurs in the middle of the Pacific Ocean at 22:11 UT, with the Sun at 68 degrees above the horizon.

Pearls and Diamonds There are many spectacular visible effects that can be observed during a total solar eclipse. If the observer is located in a high place with a good view of the distant landscape, the Moon’s shadow can be seen approaching from the western horizon, at supersonic speed. As the shadow


progresses, the appearance of the Sun is reduced to a thinning crescent, until finally a single spectacular diamond ring heralds the onset of totality. Baily’s beads (Fig. 2) may be seen as bright points of light surrounding the dark lunar disk, caused by sunlight grazing the undulating terrain of the lunar surface. Then, suddenly, the solar corona appears (Fig. 3), dazzled until then by the brilliance of the Sun’s photosphere, which is a million times more luminous. Safe naked-eye viewing of the total eclipse can begin at this moment. Additionally, in the first few seconds, part of the chromosphere may be seen as a thin arc of intense red colour with some bright extensions, which typically disappear as the lunar disk advances, unless they are very extended. The corona, an intense pearly white, shows structures that reflect the magnetic field of the Sun. The shape and brightness of the corona depends on where the Sun is in its solar activity cycle. During the brief moments of totality, the naked-eye planets and the brightest stars appear in the sky (Fig. 3), creating an artificial "night", although the lighting conditions are more reminiscent of advanced twilight than deep night. Around the full circle of the horizon the colours are similar to the colours of a sunset, because at such large distances, the eclipse is not total.

Figure 2. Baily's Beads (left) and diamond ring (right) in a composite of images of second and third contact of the eclipse of July 22nd, 2009 reported from China (Credit JC Casado, tierrayestrellas.com).


Figure 3. Solar corona and background stars in the eclipse of August 1st 2008 observed from Russia (Credit JC Casado, tierrayestrellas.com).

Location of the Expedition GLORIA has chosen to observe the eclipse in the northeast of Australia (State of Queensland) around the city of Cairns (totality duration ~ 2 minutes). The three observation points are as shown in Fig. 4, one located on the coast (G3 neared Oak Beach) while the other two will be in the inner zone (G2 at 81 Rt road, G1 in Mareeba town). The Shelios Association (shelios.org) is responsible for the planning, logistics and execution of the expedition, which will be coordinated and directed by Dr. Miquel Serra-Ricart (Astronomer from the Institute of Astrophysics of the Canary Islands and Manager of Teide Observatory). The ‘lie of the land’ at each observing location can be seen in Figs. 5a, 5b and 5c.


Figure 4. Observation points of the expedition. The red line indicates the centre of the band of totality. One observation point is located on the coast and two are inland (red dots G1, G2 and G3).

Figure 5a. Observing location G1 (220º field of view, sunset of 2012 June 5th).


Figure 5b. Observing location G2.

Figure 5c. Observing location G3.


Broadcast The total duration of the eclipse is 1h 50m and the retransmission is performed in two ways: 1) Live There will be a live connection with a total duration of 15 minutes to encompass the second (C2) and third (C3) contacts (see table times in Annex 1) and with streaming images of the Sun from the three locations G1, G2 and G3. From location G1, astronomers Miquel Serra-Ricart and Vanessa Stroud will provide commentary in Spanish and English. Connection: Contacts 2 and 3 – 13 November 20:30 to 20:45 UT (21:30 to 21:45 CET).

Note: The local time at the observing sites will be 6:30 to 6:45 Australia EST (14th November). Note: UT – Universal Time; CET – Central European Time.

2) Time-lapsed From 19:45 UT on November 13th, and every five minutes thereafter, the image of the Sun (partially eclipsed by the Moon) will be refreshed from the three observation points. The broadcast can be followed on the GLORIA web portal (live.gloria-project.eu). Educational Activities Environmental data (including temperature, pressure, light intensity, wind and humidity) will be collected at each observation location and web-based educational activities will be deployed to allow school students to analyse the weather sensor data during the eclipse. Access to these activities will be through the GLORIA project website (www.gloria-project.eu).


Credits The Seventh Framework Programme of the European Union (EU, FP7/2007-2013, INFRASTRUCTURES-2011-2, INFRA-2011-1.2.1: e-Science environments) contributes to the relay under the GLORIA - GLObal Robotic-telescopes Intelligent Array for e-Science "(Grant Agreement Number 283783).

Video Partners

Web Partners

-The INAF IASF of Bologna participates in the web distribution. -The Instituto de Astrofísica de Canarias participate in the web distribution. -The University of Warsaw participate in the web distribution. -The Oxford University participate in the web distribution. -The Catalunya Supercomputing Centre CESCA participates in the web distribution. -The Alared Solutions Web S.L. enterprise will participate in the web distribution. -The Canarcloud enterprise participates in the web distribution. -The HEAnet from Ireland participate in the web distribution. -The Astronomical Institute of the Academy of Sciences of the Czech Republic participate in the web distribution. -The University College Dublin from Ireland participates in the web distribution.


Collaborators

- The Army, Command in Canary, will collaborate with the satellite communications. - The Iberia Group collaborates in transport logistics.


ANNEX 1. Time Chart (November 13, 2012).

G1. Mareeba. Lat.: 17.0407° S Long.: 145.3501° E

Total Solar Eclipse Duration of Totality: 1m27.5s Magnitude: 1.005

Event Date Time (UT) Alt Az Start of partial eclipse (C1): 2012/11/13 19:44:58.5 001.2° 108.7° Start of total eclipse (C2): 2012/11/13 20:38:54.9 013.5° 105.2° Maximum eclipse: 2012/11/13 20:39:38.5 013.7° 105.2° End of total eclipse (C3): 2012/11/13 20:40:22.4 013.8° 105.2° End of partial eclipse (C4): 2012/11/13 21:40:13.7 027.7° 102.1°

G2. Mulligan Hwy view point. Lat.: 16.4651° S Long.: 144.8558° E



G3. Captain Cook Hwy view point.

Lat.: 16.6465° S Long.: 145.5654° E



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