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Similar to rocket experiments, we found that performing an eclipse experiment on the desert tip of a remote island requires an extreme self reliance. We discovered very quickly that anything that we did not bring with us, such as nylon rope or a wind tarp, took ten times longer to find, if we could find it at all. So we spent the first few days setting up and testing our equipment, and adapting to the conditions of the island. The biggest problem was wind! The wind blew nonstop, gusting quite strongly at times, buffeting our telescope and blurring our images. We errected an elaborate series of windscreens to try to block the wind, and ultimately had to modify our observing software to shorten our exposure times so that the effect of the wind was reduced.
A total solar eclipse, by itself, is a major world event, attracting all types of people from all parts of the world. During this fourth week of February, the population of the island almost doubled, putting a real strain on the tourism infrastructure. A rental car was almost worth its weight in gold! To add to the frenzy, this solar eclipse also happened to be the same week as Mardi Gras, literally justifying the "Carnaval" spirit! However, given all of the excitement and pressures of tourism, the people of Curacao maintained their composure with an amazing sense of grace, gentleness and a genuine "bon bini" (welcome). Even though the tourists (and occasionally the experimenters) would get excited and stressed out at the slow pace of things, the local people would always smile and try to help, with the universal reply "it is too HOT to get excited...or stressed out".
For all of our excitement and anticipation of this spectacular celestial event which was about to happen, the local people had a delightfully different sense of importance and interest in the upcoming event. The local tourism board emphasized the 18 year eclipse Saros cycle of which this eclipse was number 130, placing the event in an historical context linked to the natural clockwork and great cycle of nature. Individually, the local people were keenly interested in how the eclipse would effect their animals and livestock. In fact, several people I talked to wanted to go diving and watch the reaction of the fish under the sea! After the eclipse, you could hear countless stories in the restaurant, while eating Mondongo soup and fried Conch, of how everyone's goats and chickens reacted to the eery twilight just before totality.
The night before the eclipse, we slept out on the deck, under the stars, only to be awakened at 4 AM by raindrops on our feet! It hadn't rained on the island for almost three months and now, the morning of the eclipse it started to rain. By 9 AM it was pouring down rain, and we scrambled to cover our instruments with rain tarps and plastic covers. Needless to say, we were being tested! However, by noon, the rain had stopped and the Sun was back out, So we scrambled to make sure our experiments were still working and verify our pointing and tracking before first contact (when the moon first takes a bite out of the Sun) at 12:45 PM. By the beginning of totality (second contact), at 2:11 PM (local time), there wasn't a cloud in the sky. Since our experiment was looking at the limb of the Sun which was first occulted by the moon, almost an hour earlier, we were concerned that our pointing might have drifted slightly. So our primary job, once totality occured, was to verify (and possibly correct) our pointing. It turned out not to be necessary. Our pointing was exactly were we wanted it to be, and everything was working! In the background, everyone was either in awe with their mouths open, or shooting off fireworks, typical of the local culture! At the same time, totality is both the fastest and slowest 3 1/2 minutes, where time seems to stand still, and yet passes instantly.
Our experiment had worked perfectly, and it was a spectacular event. We have over 120 images of high quality unique observations of the solar corona, a portion of which can now be viewed on the previous page (http://www.boulder.swri.edu/eclipse98). It was also an enriching experience to share with the people of Curacao our passion for science and the Sun, and to experience their awe and wonderment, and see the twinkle in their eyes, of having experienced one of nature's most spectacular and amazing natural events.
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