The 4 December 2006 total eclipse was Phill’s fourth and Steve’s first. We were booked on a Mediterranean cruise on the Costa Classica on another trip organised by Roy Mayhugh. Our cabin had a balcony which was going to be in an ideal position to view the eclipse.
Phill’s camera had a 200mm to 400mm lens with a 2x extender making it a 800mm lens at f11.
Around 12h15 Phill set up the camera and got the solar filters ready. As the time approached 12h25 we got ready for first contact. Phill saw it about 30 seconds after the scheduled time. A cheer went up from on deck. Phill got Steve to tape a camera lens cap over his left eye to dark adapt it. It looked odd!
As the time approached 13h45 the sky was clear and we headed for second contact. It got quite cold. We saw the approaching moon shadow and then the diamond ring and then totality. It was magnificent. There were corona spikes in the top left and bottom right areas. We could see a solar flare at the bottom. The 3 minutes 55 seconds went quickly. The second diamond ring appeared and it was over. We waited for fourth contact and watched it happen.
We looked at the pictures. Phill had a few good ones of totality. His best had Baily’s Beads and a solar flare. He didn’t get a good corona photographs due to problems with focus and exposure which weren’t worth trying to fix during totality. Many people miss rare minutes of totality faffing with cameras. If something goes wrong with a camera, forget it and just enjoy the view.
This was the 29th eclipse of Saros 139.
