Astronomy.com blog : tours

Additional images from the China Eclipse Tour

David Eicher — Wed, 29 Jul 2009 19:16:00 GMT

Along with the other 186 people on our ship, the Victoria Prince, I found myself reporting from China during our last week with very limited Internet capability. Thus, I could not send images with the final blog posts during the week of July 20.

To make up for this, I am now posting a selection of images from the last week of the trip that includes shots of eclipse day.

Enjoy!

Previous post: We visit a Revolutionary

Photo credit: David J. Eicher

Solar eclipse 2009 trips: We visit a Revolutionary

David Eicher — Mon, 27 Jul 2009 18:13:00 GMT

Here's my final blog from the China 2009 eclipse tour the Astronomy magazine editors have conducted, along with Melita Thorpe of MWT Associates. Sunday we travel to Shanghai, board a plane in the afternoon, and fly back to Chicago and then to Milwaukee.

See all the images from Dave's tour in our solar eclipse 2009 trip gallery.

This morning our group of 187, including Senior Editor Rich Talcott and his wife Evelyn, boarded buses in Nanjing and traveled through the city to see a holy place of sorts for Chinese citizens, the mausoleum of Dr. Sun Yat-sen, who died in 1926. En route we heard from our local guide about the history of Nanjing (formerly Nanking), a "medium-sized" city of three million residents. The place is infamous for Japan’s invasion in 1937, when the Japanese army overran the area, including the city, burning, pillaging, murdering, and raping in what has become known collectively as the "Rape of Nanking." Altogether, some 300,000 people died in the carnage.

When we arrived at the tomb site, we disembarked and marched up the incredibly long procession of steps and plazas to see the burial place of China's first president. The architecture and presentation was vaguely reminiscent of the Lincoln Memorial, in an odd way.

Afterward, we returned to the city and explored at length the Confucius Temple area of Nanjing, exploring the Quing Dynasty style bazaar with almost unlimited shops and stalls. It was an amazing sight to behold.

This afternoon I participated in an astronomical roundtable with the other lecturers aboard the Victoria Prince, who included Talcott, SETI Institute astronomers Frank Drake and Seth Shostak, Astronomical Society of the Pacific Executive Director Jim Manning, and astroimager Dennis Mammana. We responded to many questions about life in the universe and how Astronomy magazine works, as well as this week's impact observed in the cloudtops of Jupiter. It was a most enjoyable session.

This evening we have our farewell dinner and then ready to set sail for the States! This is over and out from the 2009 China Eclipse Trip, and I'll look forward to blogging again from our offices in Waukesha.

Follow Astronomy Senior Editor Michael Bakich at Twitter.com/AstronomyMag (@AstronomyMag) as he continues his tours of China.

Previous post: We soak in the spectacular scenery of Yellow Mountain 

Solar eclipse 2009 trips: We soak in the spectacular scenery of Yellow Mountain

David Eicher — Fri, 24 Jul 2009 16:42:00 GMT

Today our group of travelers left our ship, climbed aboard buses, and made a 2.5-hour journey from our dock to Huang Shan, Yellow Mountain, a national treasure of China. Although the weather was hardly favorable, with rain coming down strongly or sometimes partial clearing and fog and haze rolling by, we journeyed toward our destination through charming little towns, villages, and cities. The pastoral countryside was amazing in that every farmhouse in every land seemed to have crops of all types from rice to melons to corn to beans planted in a willy-nilly way to fill up nearly every square inch of ground. With mostly new roads traversed by cars, carts pulled by bicycles, and motorbikes, the mountains looming behind came closer and closer as we sped along.

See all the images from Dave's tour in our solar eclipse 2009 trip gallery.

When we reached Yellow Mountain, the air of the place was like a national park in the United States. We climbed up many steps and, after eating a fine lunch at a fancy hotel, boarded a huge cable car that could accommodate dozens at a time for a 20-minute journey incredibly high up in their air. We passed over six supporting columns, the car falling down and swaying after it reached each post, before coming to the end of our journey. The views were magnificent — Disney has nothing on this ride. That was just the beginning.

Our group spent about 2 hours hiking along high and perilous overlooks, viewing spectacular mountain panoramas with waterfalls, diverse green trees, birds flitting around, and spectacular rock outcrops. We were told that among the native animals are abundant monkeys, but we didn't see any and suspect they are mostly out at night.

In any case, it was a magnificent day, and we just returned to the ship to await dinner. Our Friday was splendid, and we carry on again tomorrow.

Follow Astronomy editors Dave Eicher and Michael Bakich as they continue their tours of China at Twitter.com/AstronomyMag (@AstronomyMag)

Previous post: Astronomy editor reflects on "best eclipse" he's ever seen

Solar eclipse 2009 trips: Astronomy editor reflects on "best eclipse" he's ever seen

David Eicher — Thu, 23 Jul 2009 19:55:00 GMT

  Carefully following weather reports and satellite imagery through the hours leading up to the great Asian solar eclipse, we knew we might well be in trouble. Rather than pushing on eastward to Wuhan, we stopped our ship, the Victoria Princess, at the city of Yichang, well to the east, and had wonderful success. A wisp of cloud hung over the Sun just as first contact occurred, but then it slid to the east, and we had the Sun hanging in a cloudless sky. Given the poor conditions over much of the region, we felt exceptionally fortunate and gave numerous high-fives to Melita Thorpe, our tour partner, who made the call to stop short.  

See all the images from Dave's tour in our solar eclipse 2009 trip gallery.

A crowd of about 100 passengers filled the ship’s top deck in temperatures in the low 90s during the partial phases. Another hundred or so people went onto land into a nearby park to set up astroimaging equipment and share their eclipse glasses with the local children, who filled much of the park's perimeter. A long bridge well behind us, westward on the Yangtze, filled with thousands of local citizens who lined the walkway to see the amazing spectacle.   

The eclipse was one of the best we had ever seen!

Rich Talcott, SETI Institute astronomer Frank Drake, and I monitored times, and Frank called out major events to the crowd on ship. The eerie left fell gradually downward following first contact as the shadows on the ground slowly sharpened. As we approached second contact, at 9:19 a.m. local time, we knew we were in for a treat and would see the whole eclipse in a clear sky.   

The psychology of an eclipse crowd changes dramatically in the last minutes before totality. People jig and dance around. An occasional scream of joy rings out. People snap lots of images with their digital cameras. The thrill of seeing the Sun's disk grow slimmer and slimmer provides a kind of euphoria that resonates throughout the assembled mass of humans, many of whom have seen several eclipses before but an equal number being “eclipse virgins," first-time viewers of totality.   

Suddenly, a brilliant flash occurs as the diamond ring signals the commencement of the total eclipse. The deep horizon twilight darkens significantly; the flash of sunlight through the Moon's last valley transforms into a magnificent flower of corona, the Sun's hot atmosphere, surrounding the intensely black disk of the Moon. Screams of joy ring out across the deck! Shouts and laughter and applause! It's a go and a success, and this is one of the most beautiful eclipses anyone has ever seen, as you never quite know what the details are going to be like beforehand.

The eclipse is perhaps the darkest any of us has ever seen, in part because the Moon is relatively close to Earth now (which also made the eclipse long). The corona is elongated and asymmetrical, as we knew it would be near solar minimum, but it has many delicate streamers of material coming out radially and attractive polar brushes easily visible to the naked eye. Many bright stars and planets pop out of the darkness, Venus straight overhead, Sirius, Mars, Betelgeuse, and other stars of the Winter Milky Way. It isa glorious sight!

  And then, that 5 minutes plus of totality, the longest eclipse any of us will ever see again, is over. A brilliant diamond ring flashes again, signaling the end of the best phase. As the old saying goes, any eclipse of any duration "lasts just eight seconds after it's over." The sheer joy, hoots and hollers, on deck are overwhelming. Suddenly the eclipse chasers are immersed in a kind of nonstop party to celebrate what they have seen, almost to the point of forgetting the last half of the eclipse is still going on. It is the greatest observational party of amateur astronomy, and everyone has had total victory.   

Afterward, I spoke to the ship's passengers about deep-sky objects of the Southern Hemisphere to provide a change of pace and to take the conversation from the solar system out into the deeper cosmos. The great questions passengers had about the size, shape, age, and contents of the universe demonstrated their knowledge and supreme interest in the big questions of astronomy, ones that inevitably lead to how and why we are here and where we're going as a civilization.   A fabulous dinner finished off the day.

Follow Astronomy editors as they continue their tours of China at Twitter.com/AstronomyMag (@AstronomyMag)

Previous post: Post-eclipse sightseeing in Wuhan

Solar eclipse 2009 trips: Post-eclipse sightseeing in Wuhan

David Eicher — Thu, 23 Jul 2009 14:55:00 GMT

The day following the fantastic total eclipse, our 187 travelers on the Victoria Princess spent a good part of the day in Wuhan, a large city midway between Chongquing and Shanghai. We climbed aboard buses and traveled to the Hubei Provincial Museum to see historical treasures from the region. The name was familiar to me immediately as a mineral collector from Hubeite, an unusual species that was discovered in this province.

See all the images from Dave's tour in our solar eclipse 2009 trip gallery.

The museum constitutes a large, sprawling complex of several buildings. First we went inside a theater for a 30-minute performance of ancient Chinese music played on instruments created to match those found in the tomb of Marquis Yi of Zeng, a feudal king buried 2,400 years ago. The most percussive concert was a treat for the eyes and for the ears, particularly for a drummer like me.

We then saw the original artifacts from Yi's tomb, mostly made of bronze and constituting drums, cups, bells, arrowheads, bowls, food containers, and a wine cooler that preceded Frigidaire by 23 centuries. We also saw many precious gold and jade artifacts recovered from the tomb, which was excavated in 1978.

The museum contains many other treasures of Hubei Province, including neolithic items, the species of Homo erectus known as Yunxian Man, and enormous galleries of lacquered wooden items from ancient times. It was a real treat for anyone with an interest in history.

The highlight of the afternoon back on shipboard was Seth Shostak's talk about what will become of humans on Earth. Shostak, well-known SETI astronomer and sometime Astronomy contributor, delivered a fascinating look at how, long before the Sun kills off life on our planet, energy consumption, climate change, robotics, and population growth may spell an end to things as we know them. It was a real eye opener, meant to provoke and cause lots of conversations, and it certainly did.

Tomorrow we travel to the Yellow Mountains. Stay tuned for a further report.

Follow Astronomy editors as they continue their tours of China at Twitter.com/AstronomyMag (@AstronomyMag)

Previous post: We visit the Three Gorges Dam

Solar eclipse 2009 trips: We visit the Three Gorges Dam

David Eicher — Wed, 22 Jul 2009 15:38:00 GMT

**Editor’s note: Dave Eicher prepared this blog just hours before last night’s eclipse. Check out our solar eclipse page to read a recap of Dave’s Twitter (@AstronomyMag) updates throughout the eclipse. Stay tuned for a full report and eclipse images coming soon!**

As I sit here writing this, it's 6:30 Wednesday morning in China, on ECLIPSE DAY! The weather forecast has been horrible for most of the region, but our ship's captain has docked us at Yichang, west of Wuhan, and we have a little scattered cloud with mostly sunny skies right now. It's less than three hours to totality, and so we are very hopeful that we're going to see it well! The weather prospects south and east of here are even dicier, so we're feeling fortunate.

See all the images from Dave's tour in our solar eclipse 2009 trip gallery.

Yesterday we had an exceptional day of touring. Our ship, the Victoria Princess, docked along the Yangtze River near Shennong Stream,l and we set off on an excursion with a ferry down one of the tributaries to look at the local landscape surrounding it. After a 3-kilometer journey, we transferred to tiny "peapod" boats that held 15 passengers and had a hard-working crew of several who rowed us downstream! It was an incredible display of energy from the trackers, who at one point had to get out of the boats and use a rope to pull us downstream because of the shallow draft.

Along the way we observed many interesting villages, caves (some of which held locals who hid in them during Japanese bombing raids during the 1930s), and, most spectacularly, hanging coffins.

What in the heck are hanging coffins?

The locals in this area felt that "burying" their dead as high up as possible would facilitate the journey to heaven. These coffins are tied with ropes and stuck in cavities in the sheer rock dozens or hundreds of feet high and are at least 2,000 years old.

Our second great excursion before eclipse day took us to the world's largest engineering project, the Three Gorges Dam. This $25 billion construction generates a massive amount of hydroelectric power and is just being completed this year. It has significantly changed the river downstream and is somewhat controversial.

Amazingly, the dam, which was supposed to generate 10 percent of China's energy needs, now provides just 3 percent of China's because the country’s energy consumption is growing so quickly. In another decade, that amount will drop to only 1 percent. It is the largest dam in the world and is amazingly huge.

After returning to the ship, while we ate dinner, the ship passed through the first of four locks, a process that altogether lasted three hours. While we were still passing through, Senior Editor Rich Talcott presented his excellent talk on the eclipse itself, a major feature of the tour the passengers were all waiting for. We are all primed for this morning's big event, and it looks like we're in luck to see it, defying the poor odds in most of Asia. [UPDATE: Dave’s trip indeed defied the odds and enjoyed a clear view of the entire eclipse. Unfortunately, Senior Editor Michael Bakich’s tour group was not so lucky. The group was mired in a down pour from their site at Nine Dragons Resort in Jiaxing and watched local TV coverage of the event.]

Previous post: Cruising the Yangtze River as eclipse day nears

Solar eclipse 2009 trips: Cruising the Yangtze River as eclipse day nears

David Eicher — Tue, 21 Jul 2009 14:59:00 GMT

Tuesday morning we continued our adventure in China, hoping for a good eclipse day tomorrow. On Sunday we traveled down to Chongquing, a huge city of 8 million in the inner part and 32 million in the surrounding area. It is one of the centers of manufacturing. You know all that stuff you buy from China? A lot of it comes from there.

See all the images from Dave's tour in our solar eclipse 2009 trip gallery.

Yesterday morning we left our hotel in Chongquing and boarded our ship, the Victoria Princess, initiating our weeklong cruise down the Yangtze River. This morning we awakened to spectacular views heading through the first two gorges on the way to the Three Gorges Dam, the enormous engineering project that has changed the river. Our Internet service on the ship is a little sketchy, so I will be blogging for you but will not be able to post more photos until we return home next week. Fear not! We'll get a lot more images online!

Tonight Rich Talcott will give his talk about viewing the eclipse. This morning we have good sunshine, but the forecast for the whole region has been bleak. We are all crossing our fingers for clear skies. Tomorrow, following the eclipse, I will give a talk about deep-sky observing, just as a little change of subject.

I'll keep you posted from the river as often as the Internet service will allow! In the meantime, don’t forget to follow our eclipse trips on Astronomy magazine's Twitter page at http://www.Twitter.com/AstronomyMag.

Previous blog: Face to face with Xian’s Terra Cotta Warriors

Solar eclipse 2009 trips: Face to face with Xian’s Terra Cotta Warriors

David Eicher — Sun, 19 Jul 2009 13:32:00 GMT

One of the greatest historical sites in the world lies tucked outside the huge city of Xian, near an obscure “mountain.” The mountain is actually a vast burial mound where Qin Shi Huang, China’s first emperor, is entombed. But no one knew this until the accidental discovery of a vast chamber of terra cotta figures in 1974, which only happened because a local farmer was sinking a deep well.

See all the images from Dave's tour in our solar eclipse 2009 trip gallery.

Excavations in the pits containing clay figures unearthed a vast number of life-sized figures of warriors of all grades guarding the nearby mountain. On Saturday, July 18, Astronomy’s intrepid eclipse travelers were fortunate to visit the site of the famous Terra Cotta Warriors of Xian, and indeed we even met the man who discovered the site back in 1974!

Pit #1 (pictured above) holds the largest number of excavated figures and may contain some 6,000 altogether, including infantry, cavalry, and officers — some even have horses and bronze implements of war. Two other great pits are in lesser states of excavation, and there is certainly much work to be done to explore fully this unprecedented army that was intended to protect the emperor in the afterlife when he died in 210 b.c.e. Currently, in the three pits, some 8,000 figures have been found altogether, along with 130 chariots and nearly 700 horses. Astonishingly, every soldier bears a unique face, a testament to the craftsmanship of the effort.

Temperatures on this day were again blazing. SETI astronomer and Astronomy contributor Seth Shostak wondered if we would melt before seeing all the warriors. Melita Thorpe of MWT Associates, our tour partner, doted over guests and helped them through the logistics of seeing such a vast complex. Astronomy Senior Editor Rich Talcott and his wife Evelyn enjoyed the scene and we snapped each other’s images in front of the warriors to prove we had been there.

After a marvelous local lunch we moved on to the city of Xian, which is “small” compared to the biggest Chinese cities but still boasts 6 million people. It is more of a normal city than Beijing, with lots of new construction but without the overwhelming, almost unbelievable series of high-tech skyscrapers that seems to dwarf even New York.

We explored the famous City Wall of Xian (pictured at right), which dates from the Ming Dynasty in 1370. The walled city inside the original circumference is a charming place and now boasts many shops, restaurants, and hotels. After a long day of sightseeing, we settled in at the Tang Palace Dance Show, where we enjoyed a traditional Chinese dance and musical play, a real delight. There, the smallness of the world was once again on display as we ran into the renowned author Dava Sobel, who was with another group and on her way to see the eclipse. (We had already run into Astronomy contributor Tom Polakis in Beijing.)

It was a great day once again. Tomorrow we travel to Chongquing, so expect a more detailed report again in a couple days after we get settled there and begin operations once again.

Previous blog: We conquer the Great Wall of China

All photos by David J. Eicher

Solar eclipse 2009 trips: Senior Editor Michael Bakich en route to China

Michael Bakich — Fri, 17 Jul 2009 14:51:00 GMT

The longest total solar eclipse anyone now alive will experience happens July 22. Depending on the weather, millions of people may see the Moon cover the Sun in the daytime. But not in North America.

As the lead astronomer for a trip organized by Astronomical Tours, I, along with my wife, Holley, embark Friday on a journey to China to see the eclipse. We’ll return July 30. Our group will fly to Shanghai where we’ll spend 2 days before heading to Jiaxing.

There, we’ll view the eclipse — including 5 minutes and 51 seconds of totality — from the Nine Dragons Yacht Club Marina, a 500-acre private resort on the shore of the Yangtze River delta. This location offers the best prospect for clear, smog-free viewing. At mid-eclipse the Sun will stand 56° above the eastern horizon. We’ll be looking toward the ocean where a Buddhist monastery sits on a nearby island. In the afternoon, we’ll fly back to Shanghai where we’ll celebrate with dinner at the amazing Shanghai Acrobatic Show.

The next day, we’re off to Xi’an. There, we’ll explore the famous tomb of Emperor Qin Shi Huang, with its thousands of life-size terra cotta warriors who stand guard over the tomb.

We’ll spend our next few days in Beijing. Among the many sites we’ll visit are Tiananmen Square, the Forbidden City, and the Summer Palace.

Finally, on our last day in China, we’ll be at the Great Wall, one of the Seven Wonders of the world. Our full-day tour includes a visit to the Badaling section of the Great Wall and a visit to the Ming Tombs, a total of 13 imperial tombs from the Ming Dynasty.

Stay tuned for lots of coverage on Astronomy.com of one of the biggest observational events of the decade. We’ll post regular updates and images from our trips. And if technology cooperates, I’ll also “tweet” live during this trip. Follow us on Twitter (@AstronomyMag).

Visit our Solar eclipse 2009: Totality crosses eastern Asia page for complete coverage, including eclipse information, observing tips, and a path-of-totality animation.

Related:

Blog: "We conquer the Great Wall of China," by David J. Eicher, Editor
Image gallery: Solar eclipse 2009 trip

Solar eclipse 2009 trip: We conquer the Great Wall of China

David Eicher — Thu, 16 Jul 2009 14:39:00 GMT

Day two of substantial sightseeing on our Chinese eclipse tour started with a bang as we boarded buses, left Beijing, and headed high into the mountains northwest of the city. There we were stunned to see huge sections of the only structure built by humans that is visible from Earth orbit, the Great Wall of China. After disengaging from our buses, the 187 travelers along with MWT Associates spent more than 2 hours hiking along the long stretches of the wall rebuilt and maintained near Badaling. The steps and smooth stretches of rock are often treacherous and steep, as this stretch of wall was built more than 500 years ago.

See all the images from Dave's tour in our solar eclipse 2009 trip gallery.

Our tour guides told us that men can achieve the highest grade of bravery by hiking the “really hard” section all the way to the “top,” a battlement with an enclosed roof high up on the mountain. And so we did!

After conquering the wall, which had earlier been accomplished by the Mongols, our group moved on to a nearby attraction, the famous Ming Tombs a little closer to the city. Thirteen of the 16 Ming emperors lie entombed in this series of ancient buildings, only one of the tombs being excavated and some of the relics held within on display. The accompanying Spirit Way (pictured at right) is a long stretch of paved walkway between the tombs and a symbolic arch that marks the journey between heaven and Earth. Imagine my surprise when, as I stood looking at exhibits, Astronomy Contributing Editor Tom Polakis came up behind me and wondered what I was doing there. Meeting an old friend by chance on the other side of the planet was a little weird.

Our group also enjoyed a view of a surprising star in Beijing’s galaxy since the Olympics of last year, the Olympic Stadium, or “Bird’s Nest” as it’s called.

A wonderful dinner finished off the day, and we move on to Xian tomorrow. More to come.

Previous blog: Touring Beijing

Top photo courtesy David J. Eicher

Spirit Way photo by David J. Eicher