---------- Forwarded message ---------- Date: Mon, 30 Aug 1999 15:43:42 +0000 (UTC) From: Frederic Clette Cc: Frederic Clette Subject: Status report Hello ! Still collecting data, and receiving fresh news from the last stations to show a sign of life (J. Draeger, L. Van Driel, I. Rodriguez-Hidalgo). I have developed a new batch of 4 eclipse films. Here are my comments : - J. Draeger : fairly large images (long focal length) showing only the inner corona (only the shortest exposures were actually made. Unfortunately, the improved spatial resolution that might have been expected is lost because most images are degraded (some severely) by vibrations. Also, the images are decentred, and part of the corona is somtime lost outside the field of view. - J. Sykora & P. Bendik : fairly good image set. The nominal exposure sequence was not followed rigorously. Also, the fixed polarisation filter was apparently located close to the focal plane : dust specks are scattered all over the field of view. Fortunately, the flat-field exposure show them also, and should thus allow a correction. - EAGB - Romania : "nominal" data set. No defects (slightly out of focus ?). One of the best image sets. - A. Ozguc : another "nominal" data set. No defects (no vibrations despite the very fast manipulations). Again, one of the best. A question for F. Rouviere : I developed film 9 which proved to be empty. I thought that on one film, you had at least one or two images of the Sun (partial phases). Didn't you make any exposure ? Below is an updated list of results. - Now, only 3 stations did not report yet (clouded out in France ?). - CCD images were obtained in Hungary and Turkey, but data may be incomplete or may contain defects. - I still expect to receive good photographic results from T. Mirtorabi in Iran and from G. Szecsenyi-Nagy in Hungary. Please, send me the films as soon as possible ! - Considering the geographical distribution and quality of the data, we now have the following coverage : - excellent data from France (Ballevre), Romania (EAGB), Turkey (Ozguc) - good data from Hungary (Bendik, Trowbridge), Bulgaria (Lindquist), Turkey (Gigolashvili) - degraded data (usable ?) from Hungary (Draeger, Ross), - bad or fragmentary data from France (Bareford, Kinet) No valid data could be collected from Germany, Austria and India. Overall, the throughput of this collaborative effort is fairly low, mainly due to the bad weather and probably to the inexperience of some teams with this very special kind of observing. Total eclipses are not foregiving. Any flaw or distraction may lead to failure. From my own impression, and also from explicit reactions from some of you, this brought you a new and useful experience, even to those who could not bring back a single image. Still, the initial goal is achieved, as we managed to get a fairly even distribution of observing sites along the totality band, from France to Turkey and hopefully, to Iran. The combined data will thus span a 1h to 1h30min time interval. Kind regards, Frederic Clette TECONet Coordinator ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Processed films : J. Ballevre : Vouzier, France clear sky, perfect sequence, calibration : good fragments, vignetting : OK film developed, info : missing totality timing R. Bareford : Annelles, France cloudy, strong transparency degradation, tracking problem, probably unusable calibration : cloudy, vignetting : unreliable film developed, info : OK J. Draeger : Hungary manipulation errors, images decentred and blurred by vibrations calibration : OK, vignetting : OK film developed, info : missing totality timing EAGB - Romania : Rimnicu-Vilcea clear sky, perfect sequence, calibration : OK, vignetting : OK film developed, info : OK (cf. tape recording) M. Gigolashvili : Elazig, Turkey clear sky, some good images, tracking problem, non-standard procedure, calibration : a few exposures, vignetting : OK film developed, info : OK V. Kinet : Alsace, France cloudy, strong transparency degradation, probably unusable calibration : no, unreliable, vignetting : no film developed, info : missing totality timing, site ? A. Lindquist : Albena, Bulgaria clear sky, good sequence, coronal decentred calibration : OK, vignetting : OK film developed, info : OK A. Ozguc : Elazig, Turkey clear sky, perfect sequence calibration : OK, vignetting : OK film received, info : OK I. Ross : Csopak, Balaton, Hungary thin high clouds, severe smearing due to vibrations, probably unusable calibration : post-totality, vignetting : no film developed, info : OK J. Sykora, P. Bendik : Fulopjakab, Kecskemet, Hungary clear sky, some incorrect exposure settings, dust specks calibration : OK, vignetting : OK film received, info : OK D. Trowbridge : Pacs, Hungary apparently clear, some good sequences, tracking lost for last 2 frames calibration : OK, vignetting : OK film developed (2), info : missing totality timing ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Films to be developed : ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Good news : EAGB-Romania (ROB): Ramnicu-Valcea, Romania claer sky, successful observations (CCD): 120 images T. Mirtorabi : Tiran, Iran clear sky, film to be shipped, info : not yet documented J. Pasachoff : Ramnicu-Valcea, Romania clear sky, successful observations (CCD) I. Rodriguez-Hidalgo (IACanarias), Kastamonu, Turkey clear sky, successful observations (CCD) but centering problems G. Szecsenyi-Nagy : Tihany & Zamardi, Hungary clear sky film to be shipped, info : not yet documented L. Van Driel (OPMeudon) : Szombathely, Hungary clear sky, successful observations (CCD), no polarisation (?) ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- The "black list" : P. Corelli : Salzburg, Austria, no observations (clouded out) A. Desai : Isfahan, Iran, no observations (equipment failure during totality) EAGB-France (ROB): Niederbronn, Alsace, France, CCD + photo, no observations (clouded out) GFOES-A. Philippe : Oberroedern, Alsace, France, no observations (clouded out) GFOES-P. Gredin : Oeuilly, Aisne, France, no observations (clouded out) F. Heinicke : Stuttgart, Germany, no observations (clouded out) L. Korosi : Timisoara, Romania, no observations (clouded out) F. Rouviere : Alsace, France, no observations (clouded out) D. Sarkar : Virandiyara Village, India, no observations (clouded out) D. Staps : Munich, Germany, no observations (clouded out) ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- No news yet from : C. Cox, Reims, France G. Nickas, Sivas, Turkey S. Rosoni, Stuttgart, Germany -------------------------------------------------------------------------------