The Great South American Eclipse
Day Six - Mendoza & The Great South American Eclipse - 2019
Another wonderful spectacle of nature - and we arrived just in time!
Map Credit: OpenStreetMaps
Map Credit: Open Street Maps
1. Partial Eclipse #1
From our viewing location, the partial eclipse began at 4:26 PM.
When traveling, sometimes things go perfectly according to plan, sometimes things go completely against your plan, and sometimes things seem like they are going against your plan until they don’t. Eclipse day -2 July 2019- was one of those days.
The litany of to-do items on Eclipse Day was great: travel by taxi to get the rental car, drive the rental car back across town to Chacras de Coria to collect supplies, then drive 3.5 hours north to a pre-selected point just north of San Juan, Argentina, to view nature’s greatest spectacle, being sure to stop for gasoline and lunch along the way. I budgeted what I considered to be more than enough time to make all of these things happen with enough time to spare to set up my camera equipment. However, agricultural control lines, road construction, and traffic management issues meant that we arrived at the pre-designated location just *five minutes* before go-time. This left me very little time to get a complex collection of eclipse-friendly pieces of camera equipment set up and ready to go for the big event. This is the first photograph I took of the partial eclipse.
Five minutes to spare. But crystal clear skies. Yeah, it was chaotic, but, in hindsight, I couldn’t have planned it better….
2. Partial Eclipse #2
3. Partial Eclipse #3
4. Partial Eclipse #4
5. Partial Eclipse #5
6. Partial Eclipse #6
7. Partial Eclipse #7
8. Partial Eclipse #8
9. Eclipse Viewing
Hundreds of thousands of people traveled to the 201-kilometer (125-mile) wide path of totality in Argentina and Chile.
Frankly, I was shocked how many dozens of people had selected the same viewpoint I did to view the eclipse. Generally, the crowd came equipped with advanced viewing equipment, suggesting that -like me- they did their homework to find the location that would give them the best chance to see totality without cloud cover. While most of western Argentina and Chile had a relatively cloud-free day, the stakes were quite high in the Andes Mountains, as a cloud-free view during totality was at best 50/50 based on weather records.
10. Partial Eclipse #9
11. Partial Eclipse #10
12. Partial Eclipse #11
It was at about this point I started to notice the edge of the moon was not as perfectly round as I had seen it during the August 2017 total eclipse. I didn’t think much of it at the time, since you are really living in the moment during a total eclipse. However, little did I know that this un-roundness would have a profound impact on the eclipse photographs yet to come.
13. Andean Condor
The Andean condor is the world’s largest bird when weight and wingspan are considered.
When I shoot eclipses, I have a two camera / two lens set-up. I have an older model crop sensor camera with a 70-300mm full-frame lens with a solar lens mounted on a tripod for shooting the partial phases of the eclipse; I also have a 300-600mm full-frame lens mounted on a crop sensor camera for photographing totality. I do this so that I don’t have to waste valuable time swapping lenses or filters when the sun enters totality.
Having prefaced with that, I was snapping the last photos of the initial partial eclipse phase when, out of the corner of my eye, a bird in the distance caught my attention. Quickly snagging the 300-600mm lens / camera combination, I snapped a few quick photos of what had caught my attention - an Andean condor! I had gone the entire trip without having seen one, and I was blown away that I would witness two of nature’s greatest treats in the same five minute span.
14. Totality #1
Totality began at 5:39:39.
And, boom, the total eclipse began! Since eclipses are such a fleeting event, I don’t hammer down on the shutter release for the entire event; rather, I take photographs in a few short bursts which maybe occupies 20 seconds of my attention during the entire event. And, certainly, I don’t check the screen to see what I’ve captured!
So, it was much to my surprise when I later saw how pronounced the distortion I noticed at the end of the partial phase ended up being! I have replayed the day’s events in my head, and I am certain that focus was not the cause (proof is in the pudding on the photograph, “Totality #3”, below, as a star is visible as a pinpoint at the bottom left). I have two plausible explanations for this: first, since the sun was very low to the horizon (about an hour from sunset), particulate matter near the horizon started to affect the overall image quality, or, second, the rapid cool down of the desert floor due to the loss of the sun’s heat caused heat to rapidly rise, resulting in a mirage effect. Either way, very fun, unique, and unexpected! I already have some photographs of perfectly round moons blotting out the sun so I am glad I got something a bit different this go around.
Photographer’s Comment: This photograph and the one below it feature a phenomenon called a “Baily’s beads effect” or “diamond ring effect”, where the rugged topography of the moon allow light to shine brightly in one spot but not in others. The rainbow color effect is generated by the camera and is not a natural occurrence. Photographing the diamond ring effect is extremely dangerous as it is required that you aim the camera while a blinding ray of light is still visible. There are three methods to safely photograph this occurrence: 1) wear eclipse glasses while looking directly through the viewfinder, 2) look through the viewfinder obliquely (a difficult skill to master if you are not familiar with it, or 3) use the view screen on your camera if so equipped. Viewing Baily’s beads directly can result in severe eye injury so please: safety first! There are several recorded cases of partial eclipses and near-total eclipses being burned into people’s retinas - don’t become a statistic.
15. Totality #2
16. Totality #3
17. Totality #4
18. Totality #5
Maximum totality arrived at 5:40:50 PM.
19. Totality #6
20. Totality #7
21. Totality #8
Photographer’s Comment: While totality appears white when you view it in person, it is sometimes fun to “color correct” the corona to approximate the sun’s yellowish appearance.
22. Totality #9
23. Totality #10
24. Totality #11
Photographer’s Comment: This very heavily edited image is intended to show the solar prominences at the 6:15, 8:30, and 9:15 positions.
25. Totality #12
26. Totality #13
27. Totality #14
28. Totality #15
Totality ended at 5:42:02.
2 minutes and 23 seconds - that’s how short-lived this amazing celestial coincidence was. But, as for many umbraphiles such as myself who made the journey to South America to bear witness, these were 143 of the most amazing seconds of my life. Total solar eclipses are among the most amazing things you will ever witness, and I encourage you to go see one for yourself. If you want to know where the next total eclipses will be, I recommend the timeanddate website. Oh, and I’ll see you there!
29. Partial Eclipse #12
30. Partial Eclipse #13
31. Partial Eclipse #14
32. Partial Eclipse #15
33. Eclipse Lens Flare
Photographer’s Comment: This shot was achieved through some out-of-focus trickery and some light contrast editing. Rather than putting the sun or the ridge in focus, I focused entirely on the flare, which showed the phase of the eclipse clearly. Again, photographing like this can be dangerous and, in this case, I used the camera’s screen to aim and focus.
34. Eclipse Sunset
The eclipse ended at sunset, 6:44:49 PM.
And just like that, it was all over. Somewhat somber, somewhat still in awe, we made our way back to Chacras de Coria for our last night in Argentina. Most of the long drive back, I lamented it would be another 531 days until the next total eclipse. One day at a time….
