Wednesday 25 March 2015

a different sort of eclipse

A colleague dashed in my office and said “have you seen the balloon?”  Well, there are often hot-air balloons in the sky, but he seemed quite insistent, so I got up to have a look.  And immediately went to grab my phone to take a photo.

17:34 GMT: the balloon has gone down
(Our windows at work don’t open more than a crack, for safety reasons it seems, so I had to photograph through the glass almost into the low afternoon sun, hence reflections.)

We all stood around watching and wondering, and then the eclipse started:

17:37:39 GMT: note the thinning at the base of the red giant,
as its internal pressure can no longer support it
17:37:57 GMT: the eclipse/collaspe is well under way
17:38:09 GMT: it disappears so suddenly
17:40 GMT: last contact

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