Total Solar Eclipse. November 13, 2012 (19:45 to 20:45 UT) Cairns, Australia

Transcription

1 Total Solar Eclipse November 13, 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 13, 2012 (see fig. 1) from surrounding of Cairns, Australia, for two purposes: 1) The live broadcast of the event. 2) Promote educational activities. Figure 1- Full band (blue lines) of the Eclipse of November 13, 2012 as reported by NASA. The green dot indicates where the maximum duration of the eclipse. The observation point of the expedition will be in the surroundings of Cairns (Queensland state) northeast of Australia. SOLAR TOTAL ECLIPSE

2 Phenomenon After more than a year without any total Solar Eclipses (the last one took place on July 11, 2010) the Moon's shadow revisit the earth's surface on 13 November The tour of the shadow begins in Australia, and then moves to the Pacific Ocean. The maximum of eclipse occurs in the middle of the Pacific Ocean with a duration of 4 minutes and 2 seconds with the Sun at 68 degrees above the horizon at 22:11 UT. Pearls and Diamonds There are many visible effect completely. Here we enumerate the main phenomena 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, can see perfectly the moon s umbra approaching from the western horizon, at supersonic speed. At the instant of the second contact (C2) it is produced the diamond ring, a brightness which, due to the irradiation, takes place at the point where the solar photosphere hides. But before disappear the last portion of the photosphere, this will be divided, because of the rugged terrain of the edge of the lunar disk, in bright fragments, called Baily's beads (Fig. 2a). Then suddenly the solar corona appears (Fig. 2b), dazzled until then by the photospheric brilliance, a million times greater. In the first few seconds shows part of the chromosphere as a thin arc of intense red colour with some bright bumps, which if not large enough, quickly disappear after the advance of the lunar disc. The corona, intense pearly white, shows structures that follow the layout of the magnetic field of the Sun. In the centre stands the lunar disk, transformed in a black hole in the sky. The shape and brightness of the corona depends essentially on the moment when our star is in its activity cycle undecenal. The naked-eye planets and the brightest stars appear in the sky (Fig. 2b), creating an artificial "night", although the lighting is rather like a twilight advanced. About the full circle of the horizon the colours are similar to the colours of a sunset, because there in the distance, the eclipse is not total. SOLAR TOTAL ECLIPSE

3 Figure 2a.- Baily's Beads at second and third contact of the eclipse of July 22, 2009 reported from China (Credit JC Casado, tierrayestrellas.com). Figure 2b.- Solar corona and background stars in the eclipse of August 1st 2008 observed from Russia (credits JC Casado, tierrayestrellas.com). SOLAR TOTAL ECLIPSE

4 Expedition- Location GLORIA has chosen as destiny for the observations, the northeaster of Australia (State of Queensland) around the city of Cairns (total length 2 minutes). The three observation points will be as shown in Figure 3, 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). Shelios Association (shelios.org) is responsible for the theorical and training organization of the expedition, which will be coordinated and directed at all times by Dr. Miquel Serra-Ricart (Astronomer from the Institute of Astrophysics of the Canary Islands and Manager of The Teide Observatory). Figure 3.- Observation points of the expedition. The red line indicates the centre of the totally band. The observation points are located one on the coast and two inside (red dots G1, G2 and G3). SOLAR TOTAL ECLIPSE

5 Figura 3a.- Point G1 of observation (220º landscape, sunset of 2012 June 5th). Figure 3b.- Point G2 of observation. Figure 3c.- Point G3 of observation.. SOLAR TOTAL ECLIPSE

6 Broadcast The total duration of the eclipse is 1h 50m and the retransmission is performed at two levels: 1) Live. There will be a live connection with a total duration of 15 minutes coinciding with the second (C2) and third (C3) contact (see table times in Annex 1) and it has streaming of Sun from three locations (G1, G2, G3). From G1 astronomers (Serra-Ricart & Stroud) give explanations in Spanish and English. Connexion- Contacts 2 and 3-13 November 20:30 to 20:45 UT (21:30 to 21:45 CET). UT Universal Time ; CET European Central Time. 2) Sequence. From November 13 at 19:45 UT and every five minutes will refresh the image of the Sun (eclipsed by the Moon) from the three points to keep the portal of the broadcast updated. The broadcast can be followed in the GLORIA web portal ( Educational Activities. There will be an Educational Activities who will be done from environmental data (temperature, pressure, light, wind, humidity) at the time of Eclipse. Access and management to the Educational Activities will be done with free software educational content called moodle (moodle.org). SOLAR TOTAL ECLIPSE

7 Credits The Seventh Framework Programme of the European Union (EU, FP7/ , INFRASTRUCTURES , INFRA : e-science environments) contributes to the relay under the GLORIA - GLObal Robotic telescopes Intelligent Array for e-science "(Grant Agreement Number ). 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. SOLAR TOTAL ECLIPSE

8 -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. SOLAR TOTAL ECLIPSE

9 ANNEX 1. - Local Time Chart (November 13, 2013). G1.- Mareeba. Lat.: S Long.: E Total Solar Eclipse Duration of Totality: 1m27.5s Magnitude: Event Date Time (UT) Alt Azi Start of partial eclipse (C1) : 2012/11/13 19:44: Start of total eclipse (C2) : 2012/11/13 20:38: Maximum eclipse : 2012/11/13 20:39: End of total eclipse (C3) : 2012/11/13 20:40: End of partial eclipse (C4) : 2012/11/13 21:40: G2.- Mulligan Hwy view point. Lat.: S Long.: E Total Solar Eclipse Duration of Totality: 2m01.4s Magnitude: Event Date Time (UT) Alt Azi Start of partial eclipse (C1) : 2012/11/13 19:44: Start of total eclipse (C2) : 2012/11/13 20:37: Maximum eclipse : 2012/11/13 20:39: End of total eclipse (C3) : 2012/11/13 20:40: End of partial eclipse (C4) : 2012/11/13 21:39: G3.- Captain Cook Hwy view point. Lat.: S Long.: E Total Solar Eclipse Duration of Totality: 2m05.1s Magnitude: Event Date Time (UT) Alt Azi Start of partial eclipse (C1) : 2012/11/13 19:44: Start of total eclipse (C2) : 2012/11/13 20:38: Maximum eclipse : 2012/11/13 20:39: End of total eclipse (C3) : 2012/11/13 20:40: End of partial eclipse (C4) : 2012/11/13 21:39: SOLAR TOTAL ECLIPSE