Annular Solar Eclipse

The Annular Solar Eclipse in Kenya was a bet with myself. I wanted to spot the exact observing location as precise as possible, based on calculations by Xavier Xubier and NASA. The location was pinpointed with 2 m accuracy (!!!) inside a corn field just outside Embu village, about 100 km north of Nairobi in Kenya. As a result of such a precise calculation, the observed solar annulus was perfectly symmetrical and the photographs are really amazing. Measurements on the photographs afterwards showed that the solar ring was equally thick in all directions, down to 1/4 of a pixel accuracy. Observations started at 7 am, when the local residents started waking up and came to see the new "visitor", who install several weird equipment on their corn field... One of the tasks during the Annular Solar Eclipse was to test environmental variations and compare them with those recorded during Total Solar Eclipses.

The "Ring of Fire" or the annulus around the lunar disk is the reason why such eclipses are called "annular". This phenomenon was a real surprise for the local residents, who examined curiously my equipment, while they had the chance to observe the eclipse, take part on the actual digital recording and enjoy the event with their friends and family.

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