SvennoJ said:
Well, you had a chance to see the stars without streetlight polution, although 30 seconds is way to short for your eyes to adjust. Don't you feel blessed the shadow of the moon passed over you, it's a once in a lifetime, err happens all the time. |
There are usually 2 eclipses per calendar year somewhere in the world, but you'll only get a total eclipse every 2-3 years. Most of the paths run over difficult-to-get-to areas of the world which means that sometimes you have to wait decades for one to appear over a convenient location. Even then you're at the mercy of the weather.
Totality for some eclipses can last for up to 6 minutes, but most go total for about 1-2 minutes, and there's so much to look for during that time.
This is Argentina 2010, and it's special because the sun is very close to the horizon. Things to watch for:
0:30 Eclipse shadow coming in from the left 1:20 totality begins. 1:50 notice the shape of the shadow - the sky is light either side. 1:58 close-up of the corona 3:45 see how daylight is coming in from the left 4:02 totality ends with the 'diamond ring' effect 4:30 - 5:00 showing how the eclipse shadow is rushing off to the right 5:15 zooming in on one of the planets (could be Mercury) 5:53 filter over the lens shows over 90% of the sun is still covered, and it is already daylight.
