Solar Eclipse in Turkey - Pictures up

A little over a month ago Anne and I went to Turkey to view the solar eclipse. We got a package tour from Cosmos Tours, which went down the day before, and left the evening after the eclipse. We stayed in the Antalya area - Belek was the town - which was lovely and at the center of the totality path. The region is on the Mediterranean coast in a valley surrounded by rugged mountains.

The eclipse itself was spectacular - if you haven't seen a total eclipse you just can't imagine the effect it has. A few minutes before totality the air gets cool (like evening), the character of the light changes in a way thats hard to describe, and things gets quiet. When totality occurs the light drops over about ten seconds to darkness - but there is twilight all around on the horizon. And the sun - a dark orb surrounded by a silver veil - hanging in the sky, is captivating.

It took a while, but our pictures are now online. Mine are at
http://stokesinternet.com/eclipse2006/
and Ardenbird's are at
http://www.stokesinternet.com/anne/albums/Eclipse_in_Turkey/index.html
and they link back and forth. My pictures are more arty and detailed of the sun. Hers have more pictures of the trip and what I was doing to get those pictures. I hope some of you find them interesting.



David

Cool pictures, David.

Those are gorgeous, David!! And that's a very impressive looking camera you have!

Hey David

Thanks for posting them. Really ace!

Stairs in the hotel??? Cool, never seen a hotel room with stairs. (thought maybe at first that it led you up to a roof top observation deck).

Those photos are wicked! 

Thanks all. Glad you like 'em.

I like my camera. By reading lots of reviews and patiently searching eBay I've gotten decent but not terribly expensive equipment (still not cheap). Its definitely not top-of-the-line, which is ridiculously priced; but its nice and probably enough for the enthusiastic amateur things I do.

We were quite surprised by the hotel room and the second level. We don't normally stay in this kind of hotel, but it was part of the package tour. The package - which included airfare, room and meals - was quite affordable. Getting from Scotland to Gatwick was actually more expensive than going from Gatwick to Turkey.

Cosmos did a pretty good job arranging the trip. A few little glitches, but this was a one time deal so they weren't as practiced as their regular tours, I'm sure. If you go in for package tours (normally I don't but this was special) I'd recommend checking them out. One odd thing: talking to people on the plane we discovered people paid a wide range of prices for the trip. The later one booked the lower the price seemed to be. I only found it a week before and it was quite affordable. Since they chartered the plane and booked a whole block at the hotel, I imagine most of their costs were already set and they were trying to make back any money they could.

The region was quite lovely, and I'd like to go back some day when we have more time to explore the area.

Really enjoyed the eclipse photos, thanks for posting!!

Fabulous photos! 

I experience a total solar eclipse in 1978 (or so) and I'll never forget it.  We were kept inside at school until it was over.  and when it went dark, it was the coolest thing.

Did you have to use a special filtre on your camera?  We all used welders' glass to look at the sun, way-back-when..

Fantastic!  Thank you for sharing.

They Kept You Inside! What a waste of an educational experience! But, yeah, the onset of darkness itself is cool.

Before totality you need some sort of filter, becasue its like, well, looking at the sun. Once you are in totality you don't use a filter, becasue the photosphere is covered. The corona is about the brightness of the moon, and its more diffuse. Safe to look at, and not bright enough to shine through a filter that is safe for the rest of the time.

We had filters I made from aluminiumized mylar. If you look at my wife's pictures you can see her holding one. From one A4 sheet I made a filter that fit over my camera and two that we could hold by hand. It turned out several local businesses were handing out viewing glasses at the airport, but they weren't very good.

I think I remember that '78 eclipse (would be the right grade in school for me). It wasn't total where I was but it was enough to make the light look a unusual color. I was out on the playground at lunch projecting crescent images of the sun with a pinhole. I don't think anyone else at the school knew about it, but then, thats how things went at my school.

Those are seriously excellent David   As good as any I have seen of a total eclipse I watched the BBC show about it, and was really bummed not to have been able to see it in person.

Those were great pictures!
Thank you for sharing.