Seljalandfoss, waterfall on Iceland's South Shore, March 17, 2015. // Credit: David J. Eicher
On Tuesday, March 17, we donned our green and went exploring along Iceland’s southern coastline, seeing an incredible array of waterfalls, an immense ice-capped volcanic caldera, some beautiful historical villages and museums, and other treasures.
But first, we endured lectures by myself and noted astroimager Dennis Mammana. Dennis delivered his humor and experience to our group of 50 with a big collection of tips about how to photograph the fast-approaching eclipse. I went through the eclipse basics, telling the audience about the timings, the orbital dynamics of eclipses, how to observe the event, and so on. The eclipse will last about 2 minutes from our vantage point in the Faroe Islands, and I encouraged everyone to simply watch and enjoy it. After all, ANY eclipse, after the event, lasts 8 seconds. (That is old friend Norm Sperling’s law — it is all over in a flash.)
We then adventured south and east from Reykjavik and found ourselves at the spectacular Skógafoss, a magnificent waterfall that gave us a chilly mist as we shot countless images. We also explored Seljalandfoss, another pristine waterfall nearby, and the incredible ice-capped volcanic caldera Eyjafjallajökull, which erupted in 2010. The adventure continued with a trip through the historical village and museum at Skógar. We then had a really wonderful dinner of lobster and all the associated sides in a lovely roadhouse inn. And when we came out, we walked straight into an immense G4 auroral storm raging away. See my other blog for an explanation of the 2-hour imaging fest we had with what was one of the greatest auroral events I’ve ever seen . . .
Simply unbelievable!!
Stay tuned.
For all images from the trip, visit the
Online Reader Gallery.
For related blogs, see:
Astronomy's 2015 eclipse trip begins in Reykjavik, Iceland
Astronomy eclipse expedition explores Iceland