Total Solar Eclipse, 22nd July 2009

Prospects for viewing the longest total eclipse of the 21st Century were always no better than 50/50, so I set off this time more in hope than expectation. Most of the eclipse track was over the Pacific Ocean, and this included the point of maximum duration (6mins 39sec) which was to the south-east of Japan. The overland section began in western India and moved through China before the centre-line crossed the coast just south of Shanghai - this I where I thought I would be but a late change dictated by the enormous number of people expected to be present saw us further down the coast, at the yellow spot on the map.

Weather conditions in the days before the eclipse were pretty good but things changed the night before when thick clouds and rain moved in - not entirely unexpected, as it was monsoon season, after all! More heavy rain on the journey to the chosen site did not improve the mood but at least this had decreased to light showers by the time we arrived. First contact came and went with the sun entirely invisible but the clouds then thinned slightly on several occasions to give us tantalising glimpses of the decreasing solar disc. By the time the sky began to darken things had closed in again though, so when totality arrived we couldn't say where the sun was let alone see a corona! After a suitably long darkness (difficult to say exactly how long, as light diffused in by the clouds made it impossible to say when totality actually began and ended) we at least had the distinction of having been "under the shadow" for the Big One - this wasn't exactly what we had come for though!

Naturally enough, about 10mins after totality the clouds began to clear so the closing partial phase was easily visible through a thin veil - so near but yet so far, once again! However, we were by no means the only ones to see virtually nothing as the whole of eastern China and the near-Pacific were blanketed by clouds and rain. There were reports of sightings from central China and Varanasi in India had a good view at dawn but the 2009 event could easily be, in terms of the percentage of people there, the least observed eclipse of recent times!

After the eclipse was over we waited for the appearance of China's only tidal bore. While not particularly large, this was interesting for the fact that it spanned the entire width of an estuary which must have been at least a mile wide. The images show it approaching me and then rushing past.

  Pictures of the eclipse     Eclipse movie     Tidal bore

And so that was that! Back onto the coach and on with the tour. I took quite a lot of images of Shanghai and Suzhou which I've assembled into a mini-site, as I did with the Moscow pictures in 2008. To view it, click here - it will open in a new window. To return to this page, close the new window.