2006 March 29th
Turkey, Antalya
Presentd by Konstantin Yakovlev ( USA )
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2006 March 29th Turkey, Antalya Presentd by Konstantin Yakovlev ( USA ) |
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NASA Eclipse Home Page NASA Total Solar Eclipse of 2006 March 29 Home Page NASA Eclipses During 2006 Home Page Special acknowledgment to "Eclipse Predictions by Fred Espenak, NASA's GSFC" Special acknowledgment to Ekol Travel LTD, the tour operator who arranged my tour. Personal acknowledgment to Filis, the lady who was our guide and who was doing her job excellently and very professionally, as well as to Fevzi, the guy with whom I communicated before the trip and who met me in the airport. |
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In the end of March 2006 I traveled to Turkey to observe the Total Solar Eclipse. I watched the
Eclipse right from the beach; it was in the town of Belek, about 40km east from
Antalya. I have chosen Turkey because its proximity to the point of Greatest Eclipse, its convenient
location, its good infrastructure, as well as good weather forecast for its southern coast.
The duration of totality in Belek reached 3 minutes and 32 seconds, and the observation conditions were beautiful : it was about noon and a few small clouds were not covering the Sun. My expectations were not disappointed. On Wednesday, March 29, a Total Eclipse was visible from within a narrow corridor, which traversed half the Earth. The path of the Moon's umbral shadow began in Brazil and extended across the Atlantic, northern Africa, and central Asia, where it ended at sunset in western Mongolia. A partial eclipse was seen within the much broader path of the Moon's penumbral shadow, which included the northern two thirds of Africa, Europe, and central Asia. The central eclipse track began in eastern Brazil, where the Moon's umbral shadow first touched down on Earth at 08:36 UT. Along the sunrise terminator, the duration was 1 minute 53 seconds from the center of the 129-kilometre wide path. Traveling over 9 km/s, the umbra quickly left Brazil and raced across the Atlantic Ocean (with no landfall) for the next half hour. After crossing the equator, the Moon's shadow entered the Gulf of Guinea and encountered the coast of Ghana at 09:08 UT. The Sun stood 44° above the eastern horizon during the 3 minute 24 second total phase. The path width had expanded to 184 kilometres while the shadow's ground speed had decreased to 0.958 km/s. Located about 50 kilometres south of the central line, the 1.7 million inhabitants of Ghana's capital city Accra witnessed a total eclipse lasting 2 minute 58 seconds (09:11 UT). Moving inland the umbra entered Africa at Togo's coast at 09:14 UT. The instant of greatest eclipse occured at 10:11:18 UT when the axis of the Moon's shadow passed closest to the center of Earth. Totality reached its maximum duration of 4 minutes 7 seconds, the Sun's altitude was 67°, the path width was 184 kilometres and the umbra's velocity was 0.697 km/s. Continuing on a northeastern course, the umbra crossed central Libya and reached the Mediterranean coast at 10:40 UT. Northwestern Egypt also lay within the umbral path where the central duration was 3 minutes 58 seconds. Passing directly between Crete and Cyprus, the track reached the southern coast of Turkey at 10:54 UT. The coastal city's inhabitants were positioned for a total eclipse lasting 3 minutes 11 seconds while observers on the central line received an additional half of minute of totality. At 11:10 UT, the shadow axis reached the Black Sea along the northern coast of Turkey. The central duration was 3 minutes 30 seconds, the Sun's altitude was 47°, the path width was 165 kilometres and the umbra's velocity was 0.996 km/s. Six minutes later, the umbra encountered the western shore of Georgia. Moving inland, the track crossed the Caucasus Mountains. As the shadow proceeded into Russia, it engulfed the northern end of the Caspian Sea and crossed into Kazakhstan. At 11:30 UT, the late afternoon Sun's altitude was 32°, the central line duration was 2 minutes 57 seconds and the umbral velocity was 1.508 km/s and increasing. In the remaining seventeen minutes, the shadow rapidly accelerated across central Asia while the duration dwindled. It traversed northern Kazakhstan and briefly re-entered Russia before lifting off Earth's surface at sunset along Mongolia's northern border at 11:48 UT. Over the course of 3 hours and 12 minutes, the Moon's umbra traveled along a path approximately 14,500 kilometres long. This was the 29th eclipse of Saros series 139. The series began with 7 partial eclipses, the first of which was on 1501 May 17. Quite remarkably, the first dozen central eclipses of Saros 139 were all hybrid with the duration of totality steadily increasing during each successive event. The first total eclipse occurred on 1843 Dec 21. The series continues to produce total eclipses which culminates with an extraordinarily long total eclipse of 2186 July 16. The 7 minute 29 second duration falls just 3 seconds short of the theoretical maximum. The last central eclipse of Saros 139 occurs on 2601 Mar 26 with a 36 second duration. The final nine eclipses are all partial events visible from the Southern Hemisphere. The series ends with the partial eclipse of 2763 Jul 03. More details can be found on NASA SunEarth page. |
The observation point was located right on the beach, in the town of Belek, about 40km east from Antalya and about 30km west from the central line. The duration of totality in the point of observation was 3 min 32 sec. |
Because of location not directly on the central line, about 10 seconds of totality were lost. However, convenience of the location right on the beach of the hotel was compensating this minor ( less than 5% of totality ) loss. |
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