The Eclipse from Libya

Easily one of our better choices as a destination for an eclipse. The Libyan desert provided clear skies and although the sun was almost directly overhead we were still able to get some great photos, despite having sore necks for a few days afterwards. Click on a thumbnail to download a larger version of the image.

In the beginning there was a little bite out of the sun.Though barely noticable, Mark Dowling took this photo through his ETX 70.	Everyone is excited. Almost everyone is looking through their eclipse shades. Some of the Libyans are singing and dancing and looking through their eclipse shades. One driver arrives late and jokingly steps out of his 4WD with his eclipse shades on! Some people are playing football. Mark is busy taking photos.	The magnificent diamond ring at second contact. Just after this the Libyan drivers began their special eclipse prayer, the Salat al-kusoof. We all fell quiet and listened intently. It was one of the most touching moments I have ever experienced during any totality to date. Photo: Mark Dowling
The sun is at its minimum activity cycle at present so the corona was much smaller than our last eclipse in 2003 but still beautiful. That is the magic of eclipses, no two are the same. The corona is always different, the prominences are always different and the location is always different. In fact the location is the only thing us humble humans have control over. Photo: Mark Dowling	Taken through an ETX 90 this photo shows feint prominences in the north-north west area of the suns disc. Photo: Mark Dowling	A real diamond complete with glittering rays of light caused by internal optical reflection somewhere in the camera or the ETX or........who cares? It's kinda nice and different. Photo: Mark Dowling
A slightly longer exposure than one shown earlier, this photo shows more detail in the streamers. Photo: Mark Dowling	A slightly shorter exposure than the previous shot, this photo shows more detail all around the corona. Photo: Mark Dowling	A wonderful crescent sun visible through a thousand Oaks filter and an ETX90. Photo: Mark Dowling
A hand held photo taken with a Fuji Finepix digital camera! Photo by Dave Seales.	During totality the sky was this magnificent colour. While most of us clicked away, Ali (second right) looks on while Talal (far right) checks his camera. Photo by Dave Seales.	Another shot with a digital camera, this time a Canon 350D. Photo by Jim Lynch.
A diamond necklace. Amazing photo. I have to find out the technique for this one! Photo: Kurt Von Morgen	If you look close you will see that the shadows are composed of crescents. Look in between the arms and shoulders for example. Photo: Barry Cooke	Everyone waits as the shadow approaches across the desert. This was stunning. You could almost feel the shadow pass over us. Photo: Barry Cooke
A fish eye lens view during totality. Photo: Mark Dowling	Another fish eye view during totality. Photo: Mark Dowling

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