Total Solar Eclipse 21 June 2001

The Trip

A group of 268 people (plus crew) started on 20 June 2001 at 18:45 from Vienna Airport for a trip to Lusaka, the capital of Zambia. The "expedition" was well organized by Max Schwendenwein, a pilot at Austrian Airlines and astronomer, together with Astronomy-Travel, Prof. Maria Firneis from the Astronomy Institute of the University of Vienna, and several Austrian hobby astronomers. About 130 participants were from Austria, about 100 from Germany, a few from Bulgaria, Finland, Mexico, Slovakia, Slovenia and Switzerland. Traveling speed over ground was up to 1010 km/h. After a comfortable flight of 8.5 hours on board of the Austrian Airlines plane Airbus A340-300 "America", our pilot Max landed smoothly at Lusaka International Airport at 3:12. Note that local time in Zambia is identical with summer time in Central Europe.

Before sun rise. The spot in the upper left corner is planet Venus.

A group of friendly young Zambian ladies provided a kind welcome in the very early morning. After arrival most people walked or stumbled in more or less darkness to the observation place, located about 10 minutes a part from the airport building. This "Technical Area" was a dusty meadow; temperature was 6.5 ^oC; number of insects was obviously very low. The sky was clear, Venus seemed like a headlight, Mars was near horizon, and comet Linear 2000 A2 was easily detectable. The sun rise at about 6:30 - together with a desire for warming up - was urgently expected, except by those who still adjusted their instruments. Only a few people organized private tours to the city of Lusaka - ca 20 km from the airport - to get at least a small impression of people and colorful markets. Temperature reached ca 28 ^oC at noon and the complete absence of clouds was a good reason for a relaxed atmosphere. Besides the Technical Area an "Eclipse Village" was prepared with shops for local food, handicrafts and other useful things. Many hundreds of Zambian people met here to watch the eclipse. During afternoon even the President of Zambia made a short visit - 21 June 2001 was declared as a holiday in Zambia.

Some of the friendly reception ladies. The airport building in the background.

Entrance to Eclipse Village.

The sky spectacle started at 13:41 with the First Contact. Accompanied by Zambian drummers and dancers, never-stopping passionate comments from a loudspeaker, and the cheerfulness of Zambian people, "moon was eating sun". The excitement but also the noise - a mixture of cries, applause and clicks of cameras - reached their maximum during the 3 minutes 30 seconds totality between 15:10 and 15:14. Temperature had decreased by 11 ^oC (measured near ground, see the temperature drop report). Neither pictures nor words can really describe the impression of a total solar eclipse. Time until the Fourth Contact at 16:27 was used by most people for recovering, packing their equipments and celebrating the fantastic event.

Sun set was at about 17:45. Even the terribly crowded airport during check-in could not destroy the euphoric mood - however, more and more joined with satisfying tiredness. During walking to the plane, the Southern Cross and the two "Centauries" sent last African greeting from the sky. Starting at 20:40 and landing at Vienna Airport at 5:37 obviously was just routine work for the pilots. Great thanks to all who made this trip so successful. 5 July 2001 VK