Richard Watts
I had never observed a total solar eclipse prior to August 11, 1999. I am a member of the Riverside Astronomical Society in Southern California. Its members live in the so-called "Inland Empire" region approximately 100 kilometers east of Los Angeles, in the greater metropolitan areas of Riverside and San Bernardino.
My sister lives Quedlinburg, a city in the former East Germany, on the northern edge of the Harz Mountains. Famous for more than 1200 half-timbered houses constructed over 6 centuries and the Romanesque St. Servatius collegiate church, Quedlinburg was designated a UNESCO World Heritage Site in 1994. Based on Sky & Telescope's weather predictions for Europe, my sister's desire to visit Hungary, and the fact that it called itself "The Sunshine City," we decided to travel together to Szeged, Hungary to view the eclipse together.
Szeged is located in the southeastern part of the country, in the so-called Great Plain area, near the Serbian border. It has a population of about 185,000, and is noted for the József Attila University, the Pick Salami Factory, and the annual late-summer Open-Air Festival held in the square in front of the Votive Church. The Tisza River runs through the middle of the city. Its coordinates are 20 degrees, 08.5 E, 46 degrees 15.5 N. Being a few miles from the central line, totality began at 12:53:22 local time and ended at 12:55:43, for a total of 2 minutes, 21 seconds. Here are some related links, current as of mid-September 1999:
We then traveled by train to Vienna on Aug. 5. After a very brief visit, we took the "Orient Express" to Budapest. Unfortunately, this train is now no different from any other inter-city express train in Europe. It only travels between Paris and Budapest, and no longer continues to Istanbul. We enjoyed the beautiful city of Budapest very much. I would recommend the small hotel where we stayed, the Hotel Orion. It is comfortable and moderately priced, and located in Buda (the area west of the Danube) near the Elizabeth Bridge. One amazing event we experienced involved running into another member of the Riverside Astronomical Society as we waited on a bus and he came up from the subway. He was part of an organized eclipse tour going to Romania and having a free afternoon in Budapest.
On August 9, we traveled approximately 100 kilometers on the Hungarian State Railroad to Kecskemét, about halfway to Szeged. This city is famous for its art nouveau architecture, including the Town Hall, the Museum of Naïve Art, the Zoltán Kodály Pedagogical Institute of Music (honoring one of Hungary's greatest composers) and the Ornamental Palace. We stayed at the pension Fabian Panzio, which is recently constructed and run by a very pleasant family. The owner speaks German, and her daughter speaks English.
On August 10, it was on by train another 100 kilometers to Szeged, where we stayed at the pension Kata Panzio, another gracious facility, again with the owner speaking German, and a daughter speaking English. Thousands of people were flooding into town via train, bus and car. The city's streets, plazas, and parks were filled with pedestrians, vendors' booths, and bands.
The Hungarian weather had been reasonably clear and quite hot up to this point of our trip. However, on the evening of the 10th, I saw flashes of light outside my window. Hoping that it was a fireworks show at the festival downtown, I was dismayed to see heavy clouds and an intense lightning display. The morning of the eclipse, there was an early-morning rainstorm, then some clearing, then mid-morning showers, and more clearing.
We decided to watch the eclipse from steps on the concrete flood wall by the Tisza River near the Inner Town Bridge and the Móra Ferenc Museum. Viewing conditions were probably not the best in the city, but I wanted to be part of a large crowd for my first eclipse. Many businesses had shut down, and thousands of people had crowded into the downtown area. We arrived shortly after first contact. I do not own a telescope suitable for solar photography or any elaborate photography gear, so I had only binoculars, my #14 welder's glass, and a point-and-shoot camera.
As the eclipse progressed, the sun continued to go in and out of heavy, fast-moving cumulus clouds. As totality approached at 12:53 local time, the suspense mounted. However, less than a minute before 2nd contact, the sun emerged from behind a cloud, and stayed out until after totality ended. The corona was apparently somewhat obscured by haze, and Venus and Mercury were hidden by clouds. However, we did see all the wonderful prominences for which this eclipse will be remembered. I was too excited to turn around to look for stars in the fairly clear northern or eastern skies. We heard some kind of group chant begin about the time the first diamond ring appeared. At second contact, there were thousands of cheers, exclamations of awe, and applause, of course. After totality, people appeared glued to their seats in a state of stunned amazement, not wanting to move.
Afterwards, there was a huge free-form street festival all over the downtown area. In spite of the fact that there were thousands of people involved, and great quantities of beer and wine were being consumed, the crowd remained very orderly and friendly. The next morning, when my sister and I returned downtown, all the trash had been removed, most of the visitors were gone, and the city was returning to normality.
I have no dramatic solar photographs, but
there are some scenes around the city taken after totality which can be
viewed from the following page:
Szeged
Eclipse Day Photos
I also have photos of two other important
events for me in 1999.
Richard Watts
Mentone, Calif., USA
rswatts@worldnet.att.net