Twilight ringed the horizon above the Ob Sea during the August 1 total solar eclipse. Rich Talcott photo
The weather forecast for August 1 in Novosibirsk, Russia, didn’t look promising. On the evening of July 31, the most favorable prediction called for partly cloudy skies, while the more pessimistic predicted a 70 percent chance of rain. Fortunately for Astronomy Editor Dave Eicher and me — and more than 150 fellow eclipse chasers with our MWT Associates eclipse tour — the forecasters proved to be well off the mark.
Our group was perched on the shores of the Ob Sea just outside Novosibirsk. By the time we arrived at our eclipse site in mid-afternoon, the skies already were mostly clear. And conditions only improved by the time the Moon began to cover the Sun. As shadows sharpened and the Sun waned to a thin crescent, the only significant clouds in the sky were clustered low in the north — far away from the Sun’s position.
Those clouds served as a harbinger of totality. As the Moon’s shadow approached us, the clouds turned from pinkish-white to dark blue, signifying the shadow’s imminent arrival. Then, before you could say “diamond ring,” the Sun’s photosphere winked out and totality began.
Gasps echoed along the shoreline as the Sun’s corona burst into view. With solar activity now at a low ebb, several coronal streamers stretched far above the Sun’s equator, while delicate polar brushes arced above the polar regions. Meanwhile, a fiery solar prominence appeared near the 2 o’clock position. And not far to the Sun’s east, the bright planets Mercury and Venus blazed away.
Two minutes and 20 seconds isn’t long, however, particularly when you’re talking about a total solar eclipse. Before we knew it, a beautiful, long-lasting diamond ring announced totality’s end. Although the main event was over, it took a long time for the exhilaration to fade. Now, we can let the excitement build slowly toward next July and the 6-minute eclipse in China.