Renee's Libyan Eclipse Adventure
29 March 2006

Eclipse Qualities: The sky was very bright during this eclipse, a fine, dark blue, with twilight colors all the way around the flat desert horizon. One could actually see the camera controls, it was so bright. Venus was clearly visible, as was Mars if you were willing to face away from the corona. Only a few people with keen eyesight saw Mercury, which was located about midway between the sun and Venus. Some thought that this eclipse resembled the 1991 eclipse, with a symmetric corona and asymmetric pink prominences. A few people were able to see the magnetic poles, which are visible in ______'s mathematically transformed images of the corona.

Shadow Bands: some people saw them, some didn't. I didn't see any, and I've seen shadow bands so I know what to look for, but then again, I covered up my head a few minutes before totality (to improve eyesight) and was beset by Lybian reporters immediately after totality, so wasn't able to watch the white sheet. Frank Rubino (__ eclipses) wanted very much to see shadow bands, but although he watched carefully, he saw none. A number of people (perhaps 15% of the group of ~2000) saw them, and those I spoke with agreed that they were moving about 2'/second in six-inch bands. At the "stump the astronomers" Q&A, someone asked about the spatial distribution of shadow bands. Could they be seen on one blanket, but not on a neighboring blanket? The hesitant consensus was that, although shadow bands were not a well-studied phenomenon, they would probably only differ from say, mountain top to mountain top, not from spot to spot on our desert site. I disagree with this opinion, as a number of people who knew what to look for, definitely looked and failed to see them, while others definitely saw them. IMO a survey of our large group would be informative. If one were to ask, "Have you ever seen shadow bands? Did you look for them? Did you see them?" Then toss out information from those who either didn't look, or have still never seen them. One person said she could see them distinctly, but her mother, looking from the other side of the blanket, cojuld not see them. However, it was her mother's first eclipse, and therefore her mother had never seen shadow bands, and might not recognize the subtle moving shadows. The ones I saw in Africa, I think one could see looking at them front back or sideways.

Romance: A couple on my bus, Bus 16, became engaged during the "diamond ring" phase of the eclipse. After third contact, he put a diamond ring on her finger! She proudly displayed her beautiful diamond on the bus.

Snail Shells: There were many snail shells on the desert floor. They were white, and looked like ancient fossils. "The Sahara desert must once have been a sea floor!" I mused, as I collected a large handful of the shells. They were oddly heavy, packed with sand. I was planning on taking a bucketful back home. I passed a group of about twenty Japanese-speaking eclipse watchers, and ebulliently shared the discovery with them. As I walked away, they conferred amongst themselves and finally someone urgently shouted out to me, "Alive! Alive!" Alive? I pried at a plug of sand, to reveal a glistening snail inside the shell. They were actually live snails! Eek. In the line for the bathroom, I told of my narrow escape from importing a bucketful of snails into the US, and we joked about the dangers of Snail Flu. Comes on slowly... but it's awfully runny!

Bathrooms: With only five facilities for 2,000 people, there were dreadfully long lines. The porta-potties were standard porcelain toilets, incongruously set inside tents with zipper closures! One thoughtful woman, perhaps a girl scout in her youth, brought a whole roll of toilet paper. She emerged from the tent, and walked down the line, letting people unroll handfuls... and wasn't even charging for it! While waiting in the painfully slow line, we noted that a number of men were standing aways off in the desert, with their legs placed in the standard position. I became mildly resentful towards the men in line in front of me. Why couldn't they go do their business as God intended, and stop slowing down things for the women?!!

Befuddlement: Just as totality approached, a line of cars roared past in the desert! It always boggles eclipse-watchers, that so many people are utterly oblivious to the amazing astronomical spectacle.

Physical Reactions to the Eclipse: I am fairly level-minded, but five minutes before the eclipse, adrenaline flooded my body, and I began to shake. Around this time, Frank, a recent acquaintance, told me, "There's an eclipse tradition... I'll tell you what it is during totality." I knew he meant a kiss, and I said, "No, I don't want to be surprised!" He quickly fessed up that he meant a kiss. And when totality arrived, he very sweetly kissed me on the cheek. How flattering!