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Highlights of the TravelQuest /
Sky & Telescope, Total Solar Eclipse tour
and the November 23, 2003 ‘Antarctic Flight Through
Totality’. |
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By Robert Stephens
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Photo by:
B. Stephens & A. Wong |
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Most
eclipse trips start before the previous one is over, and such was the case
with the 2003 Antarctica solar eclipse. Despite the difficulties in
observing an eclipse from the heart of Antarctica, several groups were
already planning the trip before the Australia 2002 eclipse trip was even
concluded. It came as a pleasant surprise when Travel Quest and Sky &
Telescope announced their plans about a year ago. |
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This
journey was not for the faint of heart. As Kelley Beatty of Sky &
Telescope pointed out, only a few hundred people saw the eclipse,
mostly from the air. This was primarily due to its remote location and
the cost of being in the right place at the right time. However, our
story does not start there. Let’s back up a couple of weeks.
Our trip had several add-on legs. The most popular were the
Observatories Tour and the tour of the Patagonia region. Fifteen of us
joined the Observatories Tour and flew down to Santiago nine days ahead
of the eclipse. From there we backtracked for a two-hour flight up the
coast of Chile to the city of Antofagasta. Upon our arrival, we found
that due to a scheduling change, we had to visit Paranal Observatory
that afternoon, instead of having a day to rest up. However, we were not
disappointed at the news, since it meant that we would be there in the
evening, instead of the afternoon. Visions of observatories at sunset
danced in our heads. |
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Yepun
Telescope
Photo by Bob Stephens |
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The
most opulent bus ever used on a TravelQuest tour took us on a two-hour
drive into the coastal mountains. We traveled into the
Atacama Desert, one of the driest
places on earth.
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leaving Antofagasta, we did nto see one piece of vegetation until
we arrived at the observatory on Cerro Paranal at over 7,000 feet. There, the European Southern Observatory
has constructed the Very Large Telescope (VLT). It consists of four
8.2-meter, single mirror telescopes that are in the process of being linked
together to form an interferometer. We were able to enter the dome of the
Yepun Telescope (Venus) where we got the grand tour of the facility. Later,
after visiting the control room, we returned to watch the staff open the
dome for the evening. After our sunset pictures, |
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(left to
right) Antu, kueyen, and Melipal telescopes
Photo by Bob Stephens |
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we had another delightful
surprise as we were invited to dine in the
astronomer’s cafeteria. Let’s just say that they know how to live up on
Cerro Paranal |
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Back to Top |
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Copyright 2007 TravelQuest
International. All rights
reserved. 800-830-1998
Revised: January 06, 2007.
Information in this document is subject to change without notice.
Other products and companies referred to herein are trademarks or registered trademarks of
their respective companies or trademark holders. |
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