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20 years since the Cornish Total solar eclipse


Allan the Plumber

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Where do the years go !???

11 August 1999 1113am

 

It’s 20 years to the day of the UK eclipse. I was down in Cornwall at my parents home underneath the centre of the plotted moon shadow the Umbra ( Falmouth Budock Water) 

I remember the build up over the years and  that Cornwall was going to be the best place to see the totality (Lands End) it then moved and the centre part of the Umbra was placed right over where my parents lived. 

All my family made their way down to my parents home to enjoy the spectacle. Patrick Moore was over the Hill at Pendennis Point with the BBC and as is the norm the skies where cloudy aghhh

Well we watch the TV ran out every 5 minutes as the moon started moving over the face of the sun but still nothing, I remember Patrick also getting frustrated with the cloud cover, then totality the sky went dark (no disc to be seen) then just as it was finishing a patch of cloud thinned and we caught a glimpse of the disc 

It’s now 20 years on and I still

haven't witness a total eclipse maybe one day  

 

Day before 10Aug clear

Day after 12Aug clear ?????

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That is a great memory to have Allan, I enjoyed a partial eclipse from up here, ?

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We were in Munich on a weekend break to see it.

A nice city break. We enjoyed it. The beer was very good.

They had Deutschmarks back then.

 

The eclipse for us happened at 12:37 (CET)

The weather was ok for the partial phases, but with perfect timing,

clouded over 20mins either side of totality ?

It went dark, and i have a photo somewhere of me standing in the darkness looking forlornly at the sky...

 

I'm ready to see another eclipse.

I think theres one on Spain in a few years ?

 

We should do an EMS trip.....?? 

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2 hours ago, Allan the Plumber said:

2026 umm might be a goer?

Lets do it. Astro trip to Spain.

Any other takers ??

The weather should be more reliable in Spain.

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4 minutes ago, Bino-viewer said:

Lets do it. Astro trip to Spain.

Any other takers ??

The weather should be more reliable in Spain.

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Solar_eclipse_of_August_12,_2026

 

we could take in the Presides at the same time I’m okay as I’ve got the motorhome  

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My memories of the day arent too great I,m afraid, I was off sick for a month with what I now know as the first phase of my long term ME. I was undergoing test after test and was exhausted and in continuous pain but I dragged myself out in the garden to catch a glimpse of the partial from here. I didnt have strength to set a scope up just viewed through a solar filter and clouds.

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I was steel erecting in central London.

I lent out my entire stock of spare welding screen glasses to the guys on site so they could watch it with me.

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I was working in Grantham but kept going outside to look! it did get dark and the street lights came on, although it was a bit cloudy we did see the eclipse! 

Was that really 20 years ago!! 

 

Ron

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Went down to a B&B in Penzance, an old 400 year old farmhouse. The owners did a champagne breakfast and a BBQ later so everyone who was staying and all the farm workers were there. It was good, watching the seagulls flying out to sea, then turning round and coming back as it got dark. That's all we saw, it getting dark. 

There was a campsite that had popped up on a neighbouring farm on a hill and at "totality" all you could see were camera flashes going off on the hill.

It was nice after that, had a good week down there.

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I have just found the images for the 2006 on disc and could not find the ones for 1999 and remembered they are on slide and negative.

Those were the days.

Ektarchrome 400 seems to ring a bell.

 

I think they were transfered to disc by slide copier but can't locate them(note to self read image archive thread Steve)

Edited by Ibbo
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  • 2 weeks later...

I saw a 95% partial phase from home in Wiltshire. My parents travelled and didn't see a thing.

 

I didn't travel as we had a long holiday booked to see my in-laws that Christmas and I shared a lunar eclipse with them.

 

We were in Padstow the year before the eclipse. We had great weather and it was one of our best holidays.

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