Preparing for the Eclipse

This is somewhat of a test of the RAS Eclipse Traveler's Blog. We are two weeks from departure, and starting to get prepared and excited about the upcoming trip.

Preparing for an eclipse is half the fun. Scheming and planning, trying to remember all of the things you forgot last time. Like most eclipse travelers, I have dedicated a room to the preparation. Whenever I remember something important in the middle of the night, that objects makes it onto the floor of the room.

Alson Wong and I go further than most, being avid astroimagers and eclipse imagers, we have a bunch of additional equipment and computer software to prepare. My basic rig was created in 2006 for the Egypt eclipse. It consists of a Borg 77mm refractor on a Kinko travel mount. The Canon 40D is controlled by a laptop computer running Eclipse Orchestator. That is a scripting program that can control most of the popular digital cameras. The software tells the camera when to take pictures using predetermined settings.

Using the coordinates of your observing site and precise time from your computer clock (adjusted using special software), Eclipse Orchestator knows the precise times of 1st, 2nd, 3rd, and 4th contacts. Using those timings, it can automatically create sequences of exposures to catch all aspects of the solar eclipse which can be combined later into a master image. Of course, it is best to test the system well in advance using simulators - something we have been doing for the past several weeks.

The software also provides for an emergency script. This eclipse has the highest probably of clouds of any of the 9 Total Solar Eclipses I have seen. In fact, it is little more than a 50/50 proposition. However, in the event of broken clouds, pressing the F12 button when the sun makes a brief appearance launches a quick sequence of exposures that can catch the whole thing. Let's hope it is not necessary.

More on preparation in another blog.