fab story brad. thanks very much for sharing it! love the photos too.

mary

I've never been so jealous in all my life! I was in Atlanta for the eclipse in the 80s and would love to do it again one day...

We were planning to watch the eclipse from Shanghai, but it rained out there. We took a train over to Hangzhou, and it was cloudy all the way but started clearing up a little after first contact. It was pretty clear by totality, but hazy, so we didn't get as clear views, but still had a great experience.

I was living pretty much on the centerline for an annular back in the early 90s. Was very cool, but that's just dimness, not darkness, and none of the extended solar atmosphere stuff. But then, I just walked outside, didn't need a friend with a jet. (And I gather a rather long-range and thus even more expensive one at that. I'm curious the type, though I suppose you didn't give it out of privacy considerations.) Wonderful story and amazing photos.

I've now seen two annular and two total eclipses. The two annular were the 1984 near-total from Louisiana and the 1994 "garden-variety" annular near Chicago -- both of which happened to be very near my residences at the time. The total ones were July 1991 from Baja and July 2009 from Chongqing.

The 1994 annular seemed more like a deep partial eclipse. It never looked like anything but daylight. Some of the "weird stuff is happening" effects occur: it gets chilly quickly, and it's definitely dimmer. The best description I've heard of a ~90-95% eclipse is that it seems as if you're wearing sunglasses that you can't take off.

The total eclipses were everything people say they are, though for a few reasons the one in China wasn't quite as dramatic as the one in Mexico. There was lots of haze versus a desert-clear sky, so the dimming wasn't too different (until the final stages) from what it would have been like if the haze thickened slowly into clouds. And the early-morning hour and oppressive humidity reduced the dramatic cooling effects. From my vantage point I couldn't see the Moon's shadow moving on the ground. And (as Brad noted) the corona was much more compact and there were no really visible prominences.

I took a video of the eclipse in Chongqing, looking over the Yangtze with the crowd reactions. My travel story isn't as dramatic as Brad's, but it did involve a last-minute diversion (funded by frequent-flyer miles) from Shanghai the night before the eclipse when it became clear the weather in Shanghai would be dreadful.

So, to answer Brad's question, the 1984 eclipse was ... different. It was certainly dramatic, far more so than an ordinary annular eclipse. Seeing 360 degrees of Baily's Beads is something I'll never forget. The experience really was something halfway between a normal annular and a total eclipse. Very dim sky and ground: perhaps the amount of light you would get under a big thundercloud. Annularity only lasted 12 seconds, so things were happening very quickly: I didn't even think of trying to photograph it.

I live in louisiana and I was in middle school in louisiana when the May 30 1984 Annular Eclipse happened. what I remember about the eclipse is that it was not totaly dark but very close. more like dusk like it always is before it gets totaly dark at night. I could see some stars in the sky at the max part of the eclipse.

Hi Brad, supper pictures of the atoll! I miss that place like no place I’ve been. I was one of the Navy folks who helped clean up Enewetak in 1977 and back again in 1979. I was a small boat operator the first trip where I carried people, both Military and civilian from island to island. The second trip I operated a 75' landing craft hauling trucks, equipment and fuel. The times there are imbedded in my memory for ever. Saw a 16' Shark while diving on the tower pinnacle off the coast of Runit. Huge fish! By the way, not trying to be putz but the debris in the covered crater on Runit is from the islands up north near Engebi. The debris from Bikini was stored elsewhere. I spent many a night on Lojwa, Engebi, Medren, Japtan and Enewetak. Lived thru tropical storm Nadine too. That was something else! Coral and sand was blown clear across the wide spot on Enewetak. There was a Typhoon the first trip and the Military evacuated us to Guam for a day for safety. Anyway thanks for the beautiful pictures, very nice.

My father was an atomic veteran stationed at Enewetak in the late fifties, when the US government conducted some 35 tests, knowing there would soon be a moratorium. He died of multiple forms of cancer at age 67 and during his illness was under an oath of silence that prevented him from telling his doctor that he'd been exposed to massive doses of radiation. After his death my mother tried to get compensation for his loss and the government denied that his cancer was a result of his time in Enewetak, as his dosimetry badges had conveniently disappeared. In 2005 (?) give or take a year or two, the Marshall Islands was declared the most poisonous place on Earth. Just last year I was able to get my mother DIC, a pension to compensate the loss of my father due to cancer from radiation exposure. I'm now waiting to find out if my siblings and I will get a settlement for our loss. Though I very much appreciate seeing these images, the next time you want to photograph eclipses, I hope you find a safer place to shoot.