Editors note: The only total solar eclipse of 2021 happened Saturday, Dec. 4, over Antarctica, where few people might see it. Some intrepid explorers, like our columnist Joe Rao, tried to see the eclipse from cruise ships near Antarctica. Heres what Joe and his ship saw.FROM THE LE COMMANDANT CHARCOT IN THE SOUTHERN OCEAN OFF OF ANTARCTICA– Approximately 200 travelers on board this expedition cruise ship, owned by the French cruise line, Ponant, unfortunately suffered a total cloud out of this overall solar eclipse, which swept throughout a part of the frozen Antarctic continent on Saturday.Late Friday evening, Captain Etienne Garcia, Master of the Le Commandant Charcot, reversed the course of the ship. It had been previously heading on a southeast trajectory just to the east of the center-line of the eclipse track, but based on a check of satellite images, Captain Garcia decided to turn and head on a northwest trajectory and maneuver the ship closer to the eclipse center line. The satellite images had shown a more-or-less general cloud cover, however the search was on for some thin areas which may have offered some partial visibility.Photos: Amazing 2021 total solar eclipse views from AntarcticaImage 1 of 1A view from the stern of Le Commandant Charcot searching for towards the ships bridge under overcast skies prior to the start of the overall solar eclipse of 2021. (Image credit: Joe Rao) Solar Eclipse Photography GuideUnfortunately, throughout the over night hours as the temperatures cooled the overcast only ended up being thicker. And the guests and crew who gathered at the stern of the ship after 3 a.m. (” Chilean Summer Time”) only saw gray skies.At the time it encountered the moons dark umbral shadow, the 30,000-ton expedition vessel was situated near 57.72 degrees south and 44.02 degrees west, to the northeast of the South Orkney Islands. About 20 minutes before second contact, the start of the overall stage of the eclipse, passengers started to discover a subtle diminution of the light levels and it truly started accelerating towards darkening in the last number of minutes before totality as the moons shadow raced toward us from the northeast at 3,100 mph.Related: The 8 most famous solar eclipses in historyThe minute of totality of the overall solar eclipse of 2021 from the deck of the Le Commandant Charcot in the sea near the coast of Antarctica on Dec. 4, 2021. The sky was clouded out, however is significantly darker and lights can be seen shining on the ships bridge. (Image credit: Joe Rao) A number of petrels– tube-nosed seabirds indiginous to this part of the world– were flying and diving around the ship as the darkness was coming on and we also saw 2 whales that breached the sea surface area alongside our ship. Whether they were all responding to the darkening sky is debatable, however certainly a possibility.Totality lasted 97 seconds. No unique shadow or cone of darkness was noted. Rather, just an amorphous darkening of the sky– like somebody refusing a rheostat or dimmer switch. No colors were seen and completion of totality appeared more pronounced as the light seemed to come back quicker than it when it faded away.During totality, it actually began to drizzle very gently and a couple of minutes after third contact it actually began to snow lightly. The air temperature hovered at around 0C (32F), but factoring in the winds made it feel significantly colder.Related: The phases of the 2021 total solar eclipse explainedCaptain Etienne Garcia, Master of the Le Commandant Charcot, making last-minute course corrections in an attempt to locate a break in the clouds for a view of the total eclipse. (Image credit: Joe Rao) Well … we provided it our finest shot, but regrettably came up empty. Those who had never experienced an overall solar eclipse, were impressed by the significant darkening of the sky, however for those like myself, who understood what was hidden from our view behind the cloud deck, it was rather disappointing.I knew when I accepted this assignment to deal with Captain Garcia and his personnel, that the weather condition chances were long for success based upon long-lasting environment records for this part of the world. It is however hard to take, thinking about how brilliantly bright our skies were in the two days prior to the eclipse.This was eclipse number 13 for me … the really first going back to July 1972; only my 2nd cloud-out (the very first was 44 years ago in Colombia, October 1977). My batting average for eclipse success is 84.7%, so I actually have little to complain about– however a bitter defeat nonetheless.On a bright note, with todays 97 seconds, I have now invested over 30 minutes “basking” in the shadow of the moon. Back in 1973, I was at a gathering of eclipse chasers at the Hayden Planetarium where Dr. Charles Hugh Smiley of Brown University was going to. The Director at Hayden, Mark Chartrand said that Dr. Smiley had actually spent more than 30 minutes in the Moons umbra, “An extraordinary total!” gushed Dr. Chartrand. I believed to myself at that time that I would never ever come remotely close to Dr. Smileys record, but with todays eclipse I have. Dr. Smiley (who passed away in 1977), ended his career having observed 14 eclipses. Today, many experienced eclipse chasers have seen more than 20 overall eclipses and a few individuals, such as solar physicist, Dr. Jay Pasachoff of Williams College in Massachusetts and Dr. Glenn Schneider of the University of Arizonas Steward Observatory, have actually seen more than 30! Unfortunately ironic that on the day prior to the eclipse, the skies were remarkably sunny. Here is Renate Rao (my wife), delighting in the cold Antarctic sunshine. Note the large iceberg in the Southern Ocean behind her. (Image credit: Joe Rao) At least one cruise ship did get a view of the totally eclipsed sun. Word reached us that National Geographics ship “Endurance” handled to sight the suns corona between clouds at a position near the start of todays totality path. There were likewise chartered flights that took observers about 33,000-feet above the cloud cover for airborne views of this mornings celestial spectacle.In all, it is estimated that less than 3000 individuals participated in observation of todays total eclipse. Another member of the Ponant cruise ships, the Le Boreal, passed our ship on its way north to position itself along the totality path. A wayward petral photobombed it in this view. (Image credit: Joe Rao) The next overall eclipse on April 20, 2023, will actually be an uncommon annular-total, or “hybrid” eclipse, in which along part of the eclipse course an annular or ring eclipse is seen, while along other parts of the eclipse path the eclipse is overall. The majority of eclipse watchers are most likely to assemble on Cape Range National Park in Western Australia, where totality will last for 62 seconds.On April 8, 2024, a total eclipse will cross parts of Northern Mexico and the Southern and Eastern United States and Eastern Canada. About 35 million people reside in the totality path of this eclipse with the total stage in some cases going beyond 4 minutes.Editors Note: If you snap a remarkable solar eclipse picture and wish to share it with Space.coms readers, send your picture( s), comments, and your name and location to [email protected] Rao works as a trainer and visitor lecturer at New Yorks Hayden Planetarium. He composes about astronomy for Natural History publication, the Farmers Almanac and other publications. Follow us on Twitter @Spacedotcom and on Facebook. Todays finest offers on eclipse glasses:
It had actually been previously heading on a southeast trajectory simply to the east of the center-line of the eclipse track, but based on a check of satellite imagery, Captain Garcia decided to head and turn on a northwest trajectory and maneuver the ship more detailed to the eclipse center line. About 20 minutes before second contact, the start of the overall stage of the eclipse, travelers began to discover a subtle diminution of the light levels and it actually started speeding up toward darkening in the final couple of minutes before totality as the moons shadow raced toward us from the northeast at 3,100 mph.Related: The 8 most well-known solar eclipses in historyThe moment of totality of the total solar eclipse of 2021 from the deck of the Le Commandant Charcot in the sea near the coast of Antarctica on Dec. 4, 2021. The air temperature hovered at around 0C (32F), but factoring in the winds made it feel significantly colder.Related: The stages of the 2021 overall solar eclipse explainedCaptain Etienne Garcia, Master of the Le Commandant Charcot, making last-minute course corrections in an effort to locate a break in the clouds for a view of the overall eclipse. (Image credit: Joe Rao) The next overall eclipse on April 20, 2023, will in fact be an unusual annular-total, or “hybrid” eclipse, in which along part of the eclipse path an annular or ring eclipse is seen, while along other parts of the eclipse course the eclipse is overall. The majority of eclipse watchers are likely to converge on Cape Range National Park in Western Australia, where totality will last for 62 seconds.On April 8, 2024, an overall eclipse will cross parts of Northern Mexico and the Southern and Eastern United States and Eastern Canada.