Tuesday 6 November 2012

Cairns Solar Eclipse hopes for a cloud-free sunrise


With just over 8 days to go, the Solar Eclipse that will sweep across Cairns and Far North Queensland next Wednesday 14th November morning, will be a hit and miss with a lot of cloud cover spasmodically appearing in recent days.

I snapped this stunning cloud-free sunrise a few days ago from Yorkeys Knob beach, just a few kilometers north of Cairns.

You can see False Cape in the background with near-perfect viewing conditions for our eclipse next Wednesday morning.

Sunrise is around 5:42pm approx at the moment, so don't forget to rise early and get a great spot to capture this wonderful moment.

My friend and confessed eclipse freak Michael Aisner from Boulder, USA, who is coming here to catch his tenth eclipse since 1979, says it's a total obsession with an insanely elegant rare phenomenon.

"What a charge-up seeking out and standing in the moonshadow of perhaps the grandest of all imaginable celestial and natural events," Michael Aisner says.  

"The sun at 93 million miles, the moon at only 250 thousand and they happen to 'appear' the same size in the sky. Bizarrely the sun is 400 times farther - our round moon 400 times smaller – voila a perfect fit."

Aisner says if you add to this utter rarity – looking up are sentient creatures contemplating the majesty and specialness of it all.

"Are we the singular creatures in all the infinite universe to be thusly treated?  Rush! Plugs me in every time. Bonus is I get to see much of this earth, meet odd bearded people and share it with appreciating worthy eclipse partners," Michael Aisner says.