Total Solar Eclipse in Turkey 29.03.2006

An unknown Finnish artist had described nicely the purpose of the trip. The figure was made with beach sand and stones.

Photo: Henrik Herranen

At 12.52.

We traveled to Turkey with an eclipse trip organized by the Finnish astronomy magazine Tähdet ja Avaruus. Jari Mäkinen and Marko Pekkola were our guides on this splendid eclipse hunting trip. Our hotel was located near the city of Antalya in a village called Belek.

At the day of the eclipse, we jumped to a car and headed for the ruins of ancient Lyrbe (located in the mountains near Side). We had checked the day before that the place might be perfect for observing the solar eclipse. On our way towards the site, we noticed some clouds near the horizon and decided to head back to the hotel. Service would be better there anyway.

Photo: Emma Herranen

At 12.54.

Our group of 11 people settled to a small "island" at the hotel's swimming pools. This gave us a good chance to monitor both the eclipse and the hotel environment.

Photo: Emma Herranen

At 12.56.

These three images of the partial phase have been photographed with a welder's glass so that the sun is seen through the glass and other parts of the pictures are reflections of the scenery behind the photographer. This is not a post-processed composite picture (if you don't count the scaling from original size).

Diminishing Sun near the hotel Atlantis.

Photo: Emma Herranen, Canon Powershot G3 + 12 DIN welder's glas

At 13.37.

Sami Kiiskilä and the diminishing Sun through a welder's glass.

Photo: Henrik Herranen

At 13.50.

Sun crescents were visible in the shadows of the palm trees around the hotel pool.

Photo: Henrik Herranen

At 13.54.

This image contains a pollen colour circle - a rather rare thing in eclipse photos.

The same pollen circle is also visible in Pasi Ojala's video camera captures of the solar eclipse

Photo: Emma Herranen, Canon EOS 350D (Kaisa: Thanks for lending the camera!) & EF24-105mm f/4L IS USM

The rare photo is included in the article by G. P. Können and C. Hinz (2008).

At 13.54.

Bailey's beads.

Photo: Emma Herranen

At 13.56.

The sight was extreamly beautiful and people around us were screaming Hooray!

Planet Venus is also visible above the trees on the right side. Mercury, which could be observed with bare eyes, is only visible in the full-sized version of this picture.

Photo: Henrik Herranen, Canon EOS 5D & 24mm f/1.4L

At 13.55.

A little bit of corona.

Photo: Emma Herranen

At 13.58.

Even if the eclipse lasted longer than the ones we've seen before, it was over all too soon.

Photo: Emma Herranen

At 14.02.

While the rest of the eclipse was disappearing, we played a while with the usual sun-and-shadows effects.

Photo: Emma Herranen

Our exploration group att the hotel swimming pool four minutes after the end of totality.

Above: Antti Mäkelä, Virve Rosberg, Sami Kiiskilä , Henrik Sampe, Anne & Arto Mäkelä,and Tuula Herranen.

Below: Henrik & Emma Herranen, Pasi Ojala and Otso Herranen (two years is a perfect age for your first total solar eclipse)

Photo: Henrik Herranen

It's nice to be abroad. Nevertheless, the best thing is to come back to enjoy the everyday tasks in the beautiful weather of your own country.

Photo: Emma Herranen

We've also collected a small link list about other Finnish 2006 Solar Eclipse websites.