ASTRONOMY SURVIVAL NOTEBOOK Eclipses SESSION FIVE: SOLAR AND LUNAR ECLIPSES THE GREAT ECLIPSE CHASE Gary A. Becker Murphy’s Laws have built in called Baily’s Beads. Normally in a total corollaries for virtually every situation and solar eclipse, Baily’s Beads would be visible profession. For astronomers there seems to just a moment or two before second contact. be a direct relationship with the desire to With a broken annular, such as the one that observe a particular celestial event and the we would witness, Baily’s Beads might be number of pitfalls and disasters that nature visible for up to 30 seconds or more as the can produce to thwart the event. In essence, center of the moon passed in front of the when you are sure everything will proceed center of the sun. in a smooth and orderly fashion, Murphy is Our plan was to view the eclipse hiding just behind that next rock ready to along the banks of the James River at make you stumble and laugh as you fall. Berkeley Plantation, 40 miles east of This time, happily, it was Murphy that Richmond. There would be extensive fumbled. network media coverage, as well as My little odyssey began when hundreds of participating observers as this friends, Ernie Andrews (minister), Charlie celestial courtship of the sun and the moon Takacs (planetarium director), and Carlson passed over the plantation around noon. The R. Chambliss (Ph D astronomer) traveled to eclipse would also provide, as Charlie noted, Richmond, Virginia to view a broken “an exceptional opportunity to record the annular eclipse. The solar event was being many varied methods for viewing the sun's sponsored by nature herself, but the ground disk.” Since at all times the sun’s bright and expedition was hosted by the Virginia dangerous photosphere and chromosphere Science Center's Universe Planetarium. On would be visible, this eclipse could not be May 30, 1984 the moon was to rendezvous viewed directly with the unaided eye. with the sun along an extremely narrow Filtration or projection methods would have path, only four miles wide in the location to be employed. where we would be situated. Murphy's plan was a classic in its The eclipse path stretched from the simplicity. It was to provide as much cloud Gulf of Mexico to the Virginia coast. cover and precipitation over as wide an area Positioning was everything. Unlike total as possible, then render everyone immobile solar eclipses where the moon completely by duping as many meteorologists as covers the sun and the sky darkens rapidly, possible into thinking that the skies would this eclipse would feature a ring of sunlight eventually clear. surrounding Sol because the moon would be Our crowded compact station wagon, just a smidgen too far away, and therefore, lent to us by Kutztown University departed too small to cover the sun completely. What in a downpour which did not abate to any would make this eclipse unique, however, real extent during our six hour trek to was that the apparent size of the moon was Richmond. By the time we were so close to the apparent size of the sun, that comfortably settled into our Holiday Inn, we when the ring phenomenon occurred, were already contemplating chasing the mountains jutting from the rugged limb of eclipse further south the following morning. the moon would break the perimeter of the Only Ernie Andrews, with his direct hotline sun into a circle of sparkling, flickering light to God, remained confident that we would 191 ASTRONOMY SURVIVAL NOTEBOOK Eclipses have any chance of seeing the event through voice saying, "It's ‘puddling’ outside." The broken or clear skies. However, even he had rain had not stopped. We quickly dressed, to bow to Murphy's wishes when we and assembled our gear, and ran it down to the about 100 other eclipse enthusiasts wagon. Shortly after six, we were driving assembled, early that evening, in the past the glitzy planetarium where others ultramodern Universe Planetarium and heard from our group would be assembling at 8 the morning's forecast for the eclipse—that a.m. for a continental breakfast, and then the simplest of four-lettered words which is the bleak drive to Berkeley Plantation. bane of all astronomical observations— By 8:30 a.m., we were nearing the RAIN!!! border between Virginia and North Carolina, Our soggy walk back to the motel and conditions had not improved to any brought us to the realization that it was up to great extent. We gassed up and breakfasted us to find that elusive hole in the sky so that at a local truck stop where the southern we could bathe in the near umbra of the drawl of the waitress and the twang of the moon. Carlson miraculously produced a country music were thicker than the ketchup bottle of cheap peach brandy from his which Ernie used to smooth over the bland suitcase, and we were off to my room to taste of his grits. It was a fortunate stop, plan strategy for the next day. With maps however, for there we met another party of and charts spread over the bed and our eclipse chasers. They had a small road map glasses filled with ice to smooth the cutting of the Carolinas and had plotted the bite of the liquor, we decided to rouse centerline of annularity through these two ourselves at 5:30 a.m. for a final weather states. We were able to jot on a napkin the assessment and then make our move. few towns as markers which lay along the The 11 p.m. Weather Channel eclipse path. satellite photo showed a long, narrow tongue A half-hour later we were procuring of clear sky about 200 miles to the west of "official" North Carolina road maps at a Richmond, followed by another region of tourist hospitality center. Luckily, they were clouds farther west paralleling the large and detailed, containing whole degrees Appalachians. Atlanta, Georgia, along the of latitude and longitude, essential to my centerline of annularity, would be clear and plan of plotting the northern and southern dry tomorrow, but eastward towards limits of the eclipse path. The race was now Greenville, South Carolina, the prediction on for a site. Charlie was driving well above for a successful view dwindled to only 50 the 55 mph speed limit. Carlson was percent. Our more restricted driving range scanning the highway with binoculars for appeared to limit us to Greensboro, North state police. Ernie adamantly maintained Carolina, about 200 miles away, which held that we were going to see the sun. Damn almost no prospects of clearing by eclipse you Murphy—it was still pouring outside. time. Still we thought that we had to give it To obtain a detailed plot of the path of a go. We had come too far already to annularity, I constructed a makeshift ruler simply pack it in and admit defeat. One from the printed lines of the map text. Then thing was certain; Berkeley Plantation, as I used this measuring device to locate as well as the entire Eastern Seaboard, was accurately as possible the northern and doomed to be damp and soggy on eclipse southern limits of the eclipse path. Precise day. We were on our own. latitude and longitude positions were obtained from the U.S. Naval Observatory's I was awakened by the clock radio Bulletin 166 which thankfully we had taken which Charlie had set for 5 a.m. and to his 192 ASTRONOMY SURVIVAL NOTEBOOK Eclipses along. It was tedious work on a bumpy remained had become puffy white cumulus highway traveling at 70 mph; but within a against a fresh clean sky. A left turn at Glen half hour, numerous points were positioned, Raven, on through Elon College, and then a connected, and then double checked. I question mark at Gibsonville. Our map did quickly concluded the centerline computed not indicate a route number to Osceola, and by the observers back at breakfast was the road divided up ahead. At this point in wrong. They would be about five miles too our journey, there was no margin for error. far north and would miss the most Our destination lay somewhere 10 miles in spectacular part of the eclipse, the sun front of us, and the moon was scheduled to completely surrounded by Baily’s Beads. make first contact with the sun in less than From our information two sites were 15 minutes. chosen, one northeast of Greensboro, in a Luckily, we found the local small town called Osceola, an important municipal building. I must have had an railroad depot during the Civil War; and the urgent look on my face as I briskly opened other, about 40 miles to the southwest on the the double glass doors and immediately banks of the Yadkin River, just north of a approached a secretary. "Osceola," she small community called Reeds. Our sighed. "Why I've heard of it, but I've never decision was narrowed down considerably been there. One moment, please..." She when a radio bulletin noted that the banks of sashayed into an official looking office, then the Yadkin no longer existed. The river had disappeared around a corner. What seemed flooded Reeds. Our decision was like an eternity later, the chief of police irreversible—onward to Osceola despite the appeared, with a Boss Hog attitude straight fact that it was still raining. from Dukes of Hazard, but smoking a pipe It was in this moment of deepest rather than the classic long cigar.