POINTERS TO PARADISE:
RAROTONGA MAUKE SITE MAP HOME SURPRISE ME!
OR FIND YOUR OWN PIECE OF PARADISE USING THE MENU ON THE LEFT
RAROTONGA MAUKE SITE MAP HOME SURPRISE ME!
OR FIND YOUR OWN PIECE OF PARADISE USING THE MENU ON THE LEFT
11 July, 2010: Mangaia, Southern Cook Islands
Six seconds after 8.21 am (1821 GMT) on Sunday 11 July, the sun will stop shining on the most southerly of the Cook Islands, Mangaia,. And for the following 3 minutes 18.8 seconds, the island and its 654 residents will be plunged into complete darkness. The eclipse itself, as seen from the island, will last 2 hours 21 minutes from beginning to end. Mauke and Rarotonga will only see a partial eclipse, created by the Moon's shadow.
SO, WHAT IS A TOTAL ECLIPSE?
A total eclipse occurs when the moon passes in front of the sun and blocks it. The intensely bright disk of the Sun is replaced by the dark silhouette of the Moon, and the much fainter corona of the sun is visible. During any one eclipse, totality is visible only in a narrow track on the surface of the Earth (never more than 167 miles in diameter).
FIRST CONTACT: When the moon's shadow first becomes visible on the solar disk. (Some also name individual phases between First and Second Contact e.g. Pac-Man phase)
MANGAIA: 7.15 AM (17:15:06 GMT)
MANGAIA: 7.15 AM (17:15:06 GMT)
SECOND CONTACT: Almost the entire disk is covered. Starting with Baily's Beads, caused by light shining through valleys on the moon's surface (pictured below, photo by Fred Espenak) and the Diamond Ring (left).
MANGAIA: 8.19 AM (18:19:27 GMT)
MANGAIA: 8.19 AM (18:19:27 GMT)
THIRD CONTACT: The end of total darkness, when the trailing (western) edge of the Moon coincides with the Sun's western limb, Immediately after third contact in a solar eclipse, the diamond ring or Baily's beads may become visible again.
MANGAIA: 8.22 AM (18:22:45 GMT)
FOURTH CONTACT: It's over....the disk of the Moon passes away completely, revealing our life giving sun in all its glory again.
MANGAIA: 9.36 AM (19:36:50 GMT)
TOTALITY: With the shadow of the moon obscuring the entire disk of the sun and only the sun's corona visible.
MANGAIA: 8.21 AM (18:21:06 GMT)
MANGAIA: 8.21 AM (18:21:06 GMT)
SEE WHAT A TOTAL ECLIPSE IS LIKE. This video, hosted on YouTube, was taken on 26 March, 20006 in Turkey (opens in a new window or tab)
MANGAIA: Ancient, awe inspiring...and very friendly
Watching a total eclipse on Mangaia is likely to be particularly awe inspiring....even spiritual. At 20,000 years old, this is the most ancient island in the Pacific, and even at a normal dawn or dusk the jagged rocks and thick, green landscape take on an eerie appearance.
Acknowledgements and recommended links:: The eclipse map and timing predictions are courtesy of Fred Espenak, NASA/Goddard Space Flight Center. The NASA Eclipse web site was my definitive source for this page.. The Exploratorium website has a step by step guide to the phases of an eclipse. I also used the eclipse glossary which is on the Earthview Eclipse Network and particularly liked the Eclipse Chasers site which has loads of helpful information, especially about how to photograph an eclipse, from people who just love watching eclipses! And in case you missed it further up the page, the Eclipses Online part of the HMNAO website has a wealth of information on solar and lunar eclipses, past, present and future and is highly recommended. If you're thinking of a trip to Mangaia to see the eclipse Pacific Expeditons in Rarotonga is organising one.
FIND OUT MORE ABOUT MANGAIA
Overview Personal Impressions 1 Personal Impressions 2 Video Tour
Overview Personal Impressions 1 Personal Impressions 2 Video Tour
AN AWESOME SIGHT
"Can you imagine the sun going dark in the middle of a cloudless day? A total solar eclipse is the most awesome astronomical site you can see. The light of day fades to night, the sun turns into a dark hole surrounded by a glowing crown, bright planets and stars are visible, the horizon and sky are full of colour - but only for a few minutes - then it all turns around again as you return from the surreal world of totality and contemplate what you've seen."
From the Eclipse Chasers website
"Can you imagine the sun going dark in the middle of a cloudless day? A total solar eclipse is the most awesome astronomical site you can see. The light of day fades to night, the sun turns into a dark hole surrounded by a glowing crown, bright planets and stars are visible, the horizon and sky are full of colour - but only for a few minutes - then it all turns around again as you return from the surreal world of totality and contemplate what you've seen."
From the Eclipse Chasers website
Photo above (2nd contact) and below (totality) are
(c) Exploratorium
(c) Exploratorium
EXCLUSIVE!
This looping animation shows what the various stages of the eclipse as seen from the village of Oneroa on Mangaia.
FOR THE SCIENTIFICALLY MINDED...
In the bottom left hand corner is the phase of the eclipse and the exact time GMT (also known as UT or universal time). Deduct 10 hours for the time on Mangaia. Bottom right is the azimuth - the compass direction in degrees where an object in the sky appears. The altitude is the angle in degrees above the level horizon. The two combined enable the positon to be pinpointed exactly. Obscuration is the percentage of the sun's disc that appears to be covered by the moon.
This looping animation shows what the various stages of the eclipse as seen from the village of Oneroa on Mangaia.
FOR THE SCIENTIFICALLY MINDED...
In the bottom left hand corner is the phase of the eclipse and the exact time GMT (also known as UT or universal time). Deduct 10 hours for the time on Mangaia. Bottom right is the azimuth - the compass direction in degrees where an object in the sky appears. The altitude is the angle in degrees above the level horizon. The two combined enable the positon to be pinpointed exactly. Obscuration is the percentage of the sun's disc that appears to be covered by the moon.
I am extremely grateful to Dr. Steve Bell - Head of HM Nautical Almanac Office in the UK for creating the animation exclusively for this site. If you click here, you can also see his illustrations showing the footprint of the eclipse as it crosses the globe, and the details of the event at Mangaia . The Eclipses Online part of the HMNAO website has a wealth of information on solar and lunar eclipses, past, present and future.
Mangaia is almost at the centre of that narrow track in 2010 (see map above, courtesy of Fred Espenak/Jay Andersoin, NASA/Goddard Space Flight Center). An eclipse also has its own lifecycle. This is how things will look from Mangaia during the four phases of contact...
STRANGE HAPPENINGS
"As the total phase of the eclipse approaches, the lighting around you becomes very strange. It gets much darker, but unlike at sunset, the color of the remaining light does not become orangish and reddish. It just gets grayer. If there are animals around to observe, the daytime animals become quiet and prepare for sleep, while at the same time the nocturnal animals get ready to come out. "
"What to see during an eclipse" by Ron Hipscham on the Exploratorium website
"As the total phase of the eclipse approaches, the lighting around you becomes very strange. It gets much darker, but unlike at sunset, the color of the remaining light does not become orangish and reddish. It just gets grayer. If there are animals around to observe, the daytime animals become quiet and prepare for sleep, while at the same time the nocturnal animals get ready to come out. "
"What to see during an eclipse" by Ron Hipscham on the Exploratorium website