2008 Total Solar Eclipse from the Gobi Desert (Northern China)

[Video does not have a sound track]

This sequence was constructed from frames shot on 35mm film (1/250 sec. on Fuji Velvia 100 slide film).; These are telescopic shots taken through a Borg 4" refractor with a 2x teleconverter (1280mm focal length). Partial phase shots were taken about once every 4 minutes.

Notice that towards the end of the sequence, the sun becomes redder and slightly flattened. This due to the fact that by the end of the eclipse it was close to sunset. The sequence in the photo at right has been rotated to orient the flattened sun to the plane of the horizon, as it appears when the sun is setting.

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