Shadowchaser

"You know what we call you?" she said. A woman standing beside me, waiting for her first eclipse. Learning I had seen 10 so far. I shook my head. "Umbraphiles!". She smiled and laughed. I laughed too. This would be my 11th eclipse. And I loved it.

My alarm started chiming. With the sound of birds chirping away. Someone had put sand in my eyes. I had to blink a number of times before tears finally managed to wet them. Half past three. In the morning. Argh! The room was c-c-c-cold! I jumped out of bed, ran across the livingroom and straight into the shower. A quick shower later, and some packing of food. I was ready for the trip to La Silla. My bag was packed. The tripod was ready. I went through everything in my head one last time before heading out to the car. Put everything in the back seat, and drove out of the parking lot. I was soon out on the highway. Heading north. The fog was thick this morning. As I ascended up the hills above La Serena, it engulfed the car, and slowed me down. The road also did its best to do that. With hairpin turns here and there, I had to concentrate the whole time not to slide into the side railings on the road.
I was tired. No doubt about that. But I wouldn't want to risk getting stuck in traffic. I wanted to be early to get a good spot at La Silla.
After one hour of twists and turns, and a toll station, I arrived at the exit. Observatorios. I stopped to take a picture of the sign.

My heart jumped. There is something about coming to an observatory you have only heard or read about before. Seen pictures of. I swung off the highway and on to the road to the observatory. I did find that there where actually two observatories here. And a fork in the road split between the two.

A short ride on a less than perfect, narrow road led finally to a gate. Mine was car number five in line. It was dark. The gates were closed. I stopped the engine. Silence around me. I got out and looked up. The Magellan clouds were straight in front of me. I took out my tripod and tracker and put my compact in top. Switched it on, and took some images of the clouds.  Enjoyed the view of the stars above me. Clear, dark night.

I had planned to sleep some before the gates opened, but how could I sleep? A beautiful sky above me. And a wonderful experience ahead. I think I managed to doze off for 1 minute before I had to get out of the car and enjoy the view.
The minibuses that were supposed to brings us to the summit arrived, and was let into the compound. A whole row of them arrived. 10. 15. 20. I lost count. As the sun was getting up, and the stars faded from view, I got into my car again. The cold of the night was getting through my light clothing. I sat in the car as the Sun reared its rays above the mountains in the east.

More cars were arriving. Some had camped for the night in the small forest near the entrance. They were busy making breakfast and brushing teeth.

As the daylight lit up the area, I noticed the sign beside the gates. And of course, everybody wanted to take selfies in front of it. Me included. "Welcome eclipse nutters!" Well. It didn't excactly say that, but I guess the latter was selfevident.

I was getting a bit impatient waiting for the gates to open. Especially when it passed the 8 o clock opening time. I don't know what held them up, but half an hour late, they finally opened, and we were let in.

They pointed us to a makeshift parkingarea where each lot was handpainted on the ground. The lots were a bit too narrow, so we ended up sliding a bit across two every three or four cars. Just to give enough room for passengers to get out of their cars without banging the doors into other peoples cars...
After getting all my gear out, I tried figuring out where to go next. Not too much in the way of signs, but I finally found the area where we would get our wristbands and complementary drinking bottle. They do not allow plastic bottles at the observatory, so we were given refillable metal ones. There would be water coolers at the observatory for us to fill them. Interestingly, they had listed us by first name, not last. So I stood in one line for a while before I realized that, and had to get into another line...
After getting my proud wristband, I got in line for the minibuses to take us up. And while waiting, I  took this photo of the itinerary for the day.

The "music band" I already knew about. While waiting at Heathrow, I started talking to a couple of guys. One of them was managing a music act with Steve Rothery from the band Marillion. He would be performing Marillion hits with his band. I like Marillion, so I was looking forward to that. Too bad it was so close to the eclipse (the time on the itinerary was wrong, it was from 14-15). I knew I had to forego some of the concert to prepare my gear.
After a couple of buses had left, it was finally my turn. I dragged my gear onboard and got a window seat on the right (in both meanings of the word) side of the bus. The driver jammed the pedal to the floor and we were off. Up, up and hopefuly not away. He had the radio on, playing music.
While we were ascending, I noticed the radio was playing "Stairway to heaven" by Led Zeppelin. I smiled as I cought the first glimpse of the observatory far away on a mountain top.

For most people, arriving at a big professional observatory may be impressive. To me, I just want to stay there. Use the telescopes for my own stuff. Last year, I and some friends went to Mount Wilson Observatory in California and rented the telescopes there for a couple of nights. Amazing to watch these engineering beauties move. And then to look through them at objects that were barely small whisps of fog in my telescopes, come to life in the eyepiece. Almost too bright.
If I had a billion dollars, I would buy one for myself. Place it on a mountain top, and just enjoy the views. And the opportunity to take stunning photos of distant objects. Ah!
There was a sensation of awe as we finally arrived at the summit. The large domes overhead. We stopped below them, and we all got off. It was clear from just walking a bit up the steep roads that we were at 2400 metres. I was shorter of breath than usual.

I found the spot I had seen on the map, and put up my gear. Making sure I got a spot free of anything or anyone in front. So I would have an unobstructed view of the eclipse. Both I and my camera.

Not very warm early in the morning.

My gear, ready for the eclipse.

Cannot complain about this view!

After setting up my gear, I went to attend the tours of two of the telescopes. On my way there, I got to see other people's gear. And this one in particular cought my attention. Not the telescope itself, but rather the homemade counterweights...

Guess he can have a few after a successful night...

I was going to visit two of the telescopes on the site. The 3.6 meter telescope housed in the big dome on the picture above. And the NTT, or New Technology Telescope. Also about 3.6 meter mirror. They had minibuses to take us up. I guess to avoid anyone having a heart-attach from walking. The minibus dropped us off outside the 3.6 meter. And we stood there taking some photos, waiting for a guide to show up.

Telescope array. Candy for astronomers!

The NTT building is the squarish one on top of the ramp to the right

My viewing spot was in the area to the right of the road in the middle of the picture

After a while, we were starting to wonder if we were at the right spot, so one guy walked around, and found that the entrance was on the other side. We arrived as the previous group finished...
After some short introduction, we were taken into an elevator. Just big enough for all of us. We ascended a few stories. I was at the back of the elevator, but when we arrived at the telescope floor, the doors opened behind me. I seized the opportunity to run into the observatory and shoot some images before the rest of the group arrived. Like a kid in a candy store, I ran around shooting as much as possible before the rest arrived.

Our guide explaining the details of the telescope and its instruments.

A temperature difference between the outside and inside during observations will cause air turbulence in the dome opening, so they try to keep the inside temperature constant during the day. Hence it was quite cold inside. But I had a warm and fuzzy feeling inside from seeing the blue monster.
After the 3.6 meter telescope, we were taken back down in minibuses again. And I walked onto the ramp to the NT telescope. This time I did not have the opportunity to be alone, but made up the rear end of the group to have time to photograph it all. Interestingly, this telescope had an open view of the mirror itself. I snuck behind the guide and snapped some photos. The NTT was quite unusual for its time. First, it have adaptive optics, and second, it uses an alt-az mount. In fact, the whole building rotated with the telescope. Today, both are more the norm than the exception.

Holders for the massive Zerodur mirror

Shiny object!!! 💖

I took a ton of images of the telescope and its instruments. The instruments were mounted on what is called the nasmyth focus on either side of the telescope.

After satisfying my nerdy needs, I was ready for the eclipse. There were some lectures at the observatory, but I was more keen on walking around, taking pictures and setting up my gear. Ready for the Moon's date with the Sun later that afternoon.
I tested my gear, and set everything up with the script I had made a few days before.  I was a bit nervous that everything would fail. This was the first time I would use a cmos camera instead of a DSLR. So there were a lot of possible failure points.
While preparing, I suddenly heard the familiar tunes from up the hill. Marillions "Kayleigh". I walked up and got to enjoy several songs. Steve Rothery said between two songs "This is without doubt the smallest crowd I have ever played before. But the location? This must be the most amazing location! Just look around you! And soon, there will be an eclipse here!"

After enjoying some great Marillion hits, I looked at the time. 23 minutes to first contact. I had to break loose from the great concert.
At this time during an eclipse, my pulse is normally increasing, adrenaline starts flowing. Anticipation. I have seen this 10 times before. But still. I get just as excited every time. The light. The pulse of it all. And the beauty. Never gets tiring, or old. And the reason I still travel to remote areas of the world. I am a shadowchaser.
The minutes went by. Both too slow and too fast. I tried focusing, and testing my control script. And suddenly, the time was there. I started my script, and it started recording. People started buzzing around me. "Do you see it?" "Yeah!". I looked at the image on the screen. Nope. Nothing. I put on my eclipse glasses. Looked at the Sun. There! A small dent on the Sun. It had started! My heart jumped. Just over an hour until totality!
Below is the result of the images taken before totality.

The minutes inched by. People realized I was getting images of the sun on my PC. So more an more people came over to see it. Some even took photos of my screen. I got to speak to a lot of people from all over the world. About the eclipse, photography, processing of images and astronomy in general. I showed people how they could make pinhole cameras with their hands to see the eclipse. A lot of people gathered to see and learn, and then went back to their group to show others. Knowledge and fun shared and passed on. Loved it. And it made the minutes pass much faster.
A few minutes before totality, I stopped the imaging loop used for the partial phase, and loaded the script for totality. I looked around me. The light was getting weird. Shadows sharper. My heartrate picked up. Adrenaline flowing. I pulled out my phone and opened a GPS-clock app to get the exact time. My script was to start at 16:39:00, totality (second contact) would start at 16:39:23. I wanted to record a 30 second video of entering into totality to get bailys beads, the diamond ring, and the totality in one video.
The clock counted down. I was looking at the sun through my eclipse glasses. Just a small slither was left. It was getting seriously dark!

I was ready to fire up my script. I counted down the seconds. 5-4-3-2-1 NOW. I tapped the touchpad on the PC. It took a few seconds before I realized the script hadn't started. I tapped again. Nothing. My heart was racing. I clicked the plate instead. Now it finally started. 9 seconds too late. I angrily stood up. Whatever! If it failed, it failed! I just wanted to enjoy totality.
The cheering increased. Seconds to go. The diamond ring was intense! Then BOOM! Totality! It is like your brain just shuts down. And this spectacle explodes inside you. The incredibly beautiful corona, glowing around this incrediby black hole in the sky. I screamed "YEEEAHHH!" Couldn't help myself. I smiled from ear to ear. Took some photos of the eclipse and the surroundings with my compact camera.

Then a thought struck me. "The filter!". In the stress from not getting my script to run, I had clean forgot to remove the filter in front of the telescope. I stepped forward and pulled it off gently. It was almost halfway through the eclipse. So I knew I would not be able to get all the images I wanted. But hey! I got to see the eclipse! And what an eclipse! The colors were intense! The shadow just beautiful. And with intense clarity, one could see the outline of the shadow as it moved across the landcape and the sky.

The shadow moved towards us, and the eclipse was about to end. I looked at the beauty, and how the shadow closed in. An intensly red prominence glowed behind the moon as we were nearing the end. Then again : BOOM! A flash of light as the diamond ring appeared again.

Timelapse of third contact

I looked away. Light had retuned after 1 minute 52 seconds. Everyone erupted into a cheer. Me included. Another successful eclipse.
My script had finished. I was hoping for something to process, but accepted that this may have been a failure. A lot of people came over to me to check my images. I showed what I had, and they loved it. It was getting more and more light. Before the sun started setting. The moon left the sun just before sundown. Again, the colors in the sky exploded as the atmosphere spread the colors of the spectrum out.

As I showed people my images, the battery ran out, so my PC died. I had just enough juice for the eclipse. And nothing else. I was satisfied. Had that great feeling in my body you get when you have experienced something wonderful.
As the sun was setting, the observatories came to life around us. They opened up the slits on all the domes. Preparing for another clear night under the skies. As we stood there talking, the stars came out above us. The beautiful Milkyway. Laying as a band across the skies. Just as beautiful as it was in Namibia. And almost no twinkling. So possibly really sharp images could be made here.
People were leaving. The people working here started to get impatient. And it was obvious that they were "flashing the lights". Time to go down again.

As I waited for the bus to take me down again, I took some pictures of the observatory with my phone. Handheld. Not the best possible, but it gives a slight impression.

The 3.6 meter telescope with the constellation Scorpion above. Antares glowing bright

The Milkyway was clear and bright. I showed a few people some of the stunning objects they could see through binoculars. They were amazed. "Wow! That's soo beautiful! Amazing!" I only wished I could stay for the night. Taking photos. But even if I could, my PC was dead. So nothing more to do for me.
As we descended, I felt tired, but satisfied. I had about a two hour drive back to La Serena. And I was hoping the traffic wouldn't be too bad. It had been a very long day, and I was not in the mood for slow moving traffic.
At the bottom of the mountain, I found my car in the dark and packed my gear into it. Then drove off. The traffic was light. I drove past a large field where people had been standing. Right off the Ruta 5. It was a big field they had set up for spectators. As a drove on to the highway, there were nobody there. No cars, no nothing. So I raced towards La Serena. After 80 km, there were more cars. And suddenly, everything stopped. Traffic jam. I checked my phone. 40 km to go. Argh! I was hoping to get back by 9 pm. But that was now just a warm fuzzy dream.
There were some minor accidents from impatient drivers, and people getting pulled over by the police for riding on the curb. But other than that, traffic snailed its way boringly towards La Serena.

When we were 10 km away, I was getting really tired. It was now close to midnight. And suddenly, I woke up. My heart raced. I had actually fallen asleep! In the middle of the road! I rolled down the windows and started singing and doing a lot of stuff to keep me awake. The cold breeze woke me a bit and I was able to stay awake for the rest of the trip. And finally, I could park the car outside the apartment block. 1.30 am. Zombie. I brought my gear up to the apartment and just tossed it on the floor. Brushed my teeth, and crashed on the bed. Slept like a baby.

So. What about the totality? Did I get a photo of it? Well. Sort of. I made several mistakes. Used 8 bit instead of 16 bit recording. And I spread the exposures too wide. But I did manage to get something out of it. I am definitely not happy with the result, but it is doable. For now. Nothing can beat seeing the real thing with your naked eye though. But this will give you an impression. Enjoy!

Ragnar
Shadowchaser