Roland's picture pages

1999

These pictures are licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 3.0 Unported License

Links to the larger pictures have been removed to save space. The original pictures are also available under the same license by contacting me.

The solar eclipse

On August 11th 1999, there was a solar eclipse visible in Europe. I went to see it with some friends.

Me, my sister Rose and her boyfriend Kees went to the south of Belgium the day before the eclipse, as to avoid traffic jams.

We spent the night in a bungalow with Kees his sister and her family, and rode south to France next morning together to the zone were the eclipse would be total.


Preparations at the bungalow	Driving to France in the rain, along the river Meuse.

Looking like a space-alien part one: put on your safe solar glasses	We found a side-road that wasn't crowded yet, so we parked there to wait for the eclipse.

Rose and Kees almost ready for watching.	At least it was a good exercise in straining your neck.

Ready!	Unfortunately it was quite clouded just before and after the total eclipse, but I managed to get some pictures of the sun, filtered through the clouds.



Now the totality itself was a strange and eerie sight. You could actually see the sky becoming darker and darker in a matter of seconds!	Yet in the distance there you could still see some faint light, like dawn rushing upon you.

It was an experience that I will not easily forget. I can now easily understand why people in earlier times were afraid of solar eclipses. Especially the total eclipse could be frightening if you don't understand what is going on!

The return journey was not very pleasant, since the whole southern part of Belgium was one big traffic jam.