Total Solar Eclipse 29 March 2006

Sahara in Southern Libya

DATA and MAPS

Observation Place

N 24^o 31.520' [1] E 18^o 0.019' Altitude 440 m

Eclipse Time

1st contact 10:56 [2] 2nd contact 12:14:20 3rd contact 12:18:27 4th contact 13:39 Totality 4:07 67^o above horizon during totality

Sun Photography

Digital mirror reflex camera Olympus E-500 [3]. Zoom lens 40-150 mm (150 mm used); with a 1.4x tele converter a focus length of 210 mm could be used. Resolution 3200x2400 pixel gives a sun diameter of about 350 pixel. Processing by Photoshop software only for contrast and brightness.

Generated by software Win-Eclipse [2]. The red dot marks the observation place.

[1] The observation place is located in Southern Libya, about 50 km South-South-East from the famous volcano crater Waw an Namus ("mosquito crater") in a very flat, stony extreme desert. According to Espenaks data the observation place is within 1 km of the central line. Distance to the border of Chad Republic is about 190 km.

[2] Win-Eclipse software by H. Scsibrany (Vienna, Austria).

[3] This equipment cannot be recommended for pictures from total solar eclipses because of severe focusing problems.

Red dots: Places on the trip, blue dot: eclipse observation place

Google Earth

Libya from 1200 km (vertical view, 1430 km wide, 1160 km high,). Tripoli - Sebha city: 670 km (1 hour flight). Sebha city - Tmissah: 280 km paved road. Tmissah ("last" village) - Observation Point: 300 km (1.5 days, no roads). Tripoli - Namus Crater: 1000 km.

Google Earth

Waw an Namus (Mosquito Crater) and area of Observation Point (tilted view, in foreground 60 km wide, at the position of the crater 115 km wide). The black ash area has a diameter of about 20 km. The crater (caldera with lakes and central mountains, not visible) has a diameter of about 4 km. The ash tail spreading out to the Southwest has a length of about 160 km. OBS, observation point very near to central line; Camp 2, large, dusty, and noisy Eclipse Camp; both about 50 km from the crater.