[türkçe]

Total Solar Eclipse of March 29, 2006
Side, Antalya, Turkey (Page 2)

The Second Day: The Eclipse

Next day around 10 a.m. we headed to Manavgat which is about 1 hour east to Antalya by car. We stopped by Side, which is only a few kilometers away from Manavgat. Side attracks more tourists during summer, since it is near the sea. Side was an ancient harbor city in the years B.C. There is an antique amphitheater and many ruins.

We decided to stay here during the eclipse, because there seemed to be more activity here than in Manavgat. While entering Side...

... we saw fully equipped people getting ready for the big event...

... and we realized that we were relatively lightly equipped!

So, we decided to go inside the ancient theater of Side.

By that time, partial eclipse had already started. It was broadcast live by Exploratorium. Solar eclipse time information for Side was as follows (local times):

• Central Duration: 3 min 45 sec
• First Contact: 12:38:22 (start of partial eclipse)
• Second Contact: 13:54:59 (start of full eclipse)
• Third Contact: 13:58:44 (end of full eclipse)
• Fourth Contact: 15:13:34 (end of partial eclipse)

Time was approaching. There was almost one hour time for the "totality". We started getting ready for the big event.

There were people in the theater; mostly turkish students with no equipment except solar glasses and foreign tourists with detailed equipment.

The sky was getting darker and darker.

Hour: 13:14 (local time) Shutter speed: 1/180 s. Aperture: F8.0	Hour: 13:38 (local time) Shutter speed: 1/125 s. Aperture: F8.0	Hour: 13:47 (local time) Shutter speed: 1/125 s. Aperture: F3.4	Hour: 13:51 (local time) Shutter speed: 1/60 s. Aperture: F3.4
Hour: 13:55 (local time) Shutter speed: 1/4 s. Aperture: F3.4	Hour: 13:57 (local time) Shutter speed: 1/4 s. Aperture: F3.4	Hour: 13:58 (local time) Shutter speed: 1/4 s. Aperture: F3.4	Hour: 13:58 (local time) Shutter speed: 1/4 s. Aperture: F3.4
XviD Video (4.1MB)	XviD Video (3.5MB)	XviD Video (5.9MB)	XviD Video (2.9MB)

A shining circle in the sky!

End of totality! :( Local time approaching 13:59.

XviD Video (10.1MB)

XviD Video (4.1MB)

And the sun showing itself again:

Hour: 13:59 (local time) Shutter speed: 1/4 s. Aperture: F3.4	Hour: 13:59 (local time) Shutter speed: 1/4 s. Aperture: F3.4	Hour: 13:59 (local time) Shutter speed: 1/6 s. Aperture: F3.4	Hour: 14:00 (local time) Shutter speed: 1/8 s. Aperture: F3.4

That's what it means to be in the right time at the right place! The weather was just perfect. We felt we were very lucky; for most people, this was an experience that they will have at most once in their lifetime!

After the eclipse turned back to partial, we left the theater and went to Side's sea shore.

We spend the night in Antalya and the next day we spent our day visiting some places around Antalya.