IOTA February 26 1998 Eclipse Observations

The International Occultation Timing Association (IOTA) is planning an expedition to the island of Curaç to view the Feb 26 1998 eclipse. Observers will station themselves within an approximate 1 km wide zone near the southern limit of the eclipse (which is near the southernmost part of Curaç) to view and record the Baily's Bead phenomena. A second expedition will observe Baily's Beads from the northern limit.
The video observations of Baily's Beads during eclipses will allow IOTA to accurately determine the radius of the Sun in ongoing research to search for possible solar radius changes. Using solar eclipses, this technique yields a far more accurate radius of the Sun than any ground = based method thus far.
Equipment needed for making such observations is a small telescope, sunfilter, video camera, camcorder and shortwave radio for recording WWV = time signals. This expedition will be led by IOTA's vice president Paul Maley. Other IOTA participants in Curaç include Gary Nealis (NASA Johnson Space Center), Chuck Herold, Isao Sato (IOTA-Japan) and the undersigned.
If you are planning to go to Curaç and are interested in participating or need more info, please contact the undersigned.
Richard Nugent
IOTA
Houston, Texas
RNugent@ghg.net


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1998 Solar Eclipse Displayed with RedShift 2 Software

 

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