NEWS
Andreas Gada joins us as our Solar Eclipse Advisor for our Mongolia Total Solar Eclipse trip on 1st August, 2008.)
Andreas is a passionate eclipse chaser who has experienced and photographed eleven total solar eclipses. He is an avid amateur astronomer who has been involved in astronomy since his teens. He is one of the founders and a Past President of the North York Astronomical Association, a small amateur astronomy club based in Toronto, Canada. In 1982 he started Starfest, Canada's largest (800+ people) annual amateur astronomy convention and Star Party. When not working on Starfest, he enjoys doing astrophotography and puttering in the "dungeon" (his basement machine shop), machining telescope parts.
On February 26, 1979 he photographed his first total solar eclipse from the edge of the runway at the Gimli airport in Manitoba, Canada. It was a cold winter day, -25°C, with high cirrus clouds threatening to obstruct the view. Fortunately they did not and he was able to capture some awesome images of the eclipse showing a luscious pink prominence licking the edge of the sun. No sooner had the eclipse ended than a cry was heard, "Africa February 16, 1980, four minutes of totality!!!!" Thus began a life-long adventure of chasing the moon's shadow to exotic places.
Over the years some of his images have been published in newspapers, astronomy magazines and textbooks. In 1999 some of his images were used in "Hooked On the Shadow" an award-winning documentary about eclipse chasers www.eclipseguy.com His images from the March 2006 Libya eclipse can be found at www.nyaa.ca
PRE TRIP ECLIPSE PREPARATION
Preparation for observing or photographing a total solar eclipse begins by determining what you wish to accomplish during the eclipse, especially during totality. If you only want to observe totality with the naked eye or binoculars, and soak in the atmosphere of this dynamic event, then your equipment requirements and support logistics are relatively minimal: binoculars and two solar filters. On the other hand, if you want to create a high-resolution time-lapse sequence of the eclipse from first contact to last using a computer-controlled camera, then your equipment requirements and support logistics are considerably more complex.
We will be observing this eclipse from a very remote location in the Altai Mountains. This implies that everything you need to observe or photograph the eclipse must be brought with you.
To help you prepare for this eclipse, a special solar eclipse guide will be prepared and issued to all participants in January / February 2008. This guide will contain detailed information about the eclipse site, what facilities and services will be available, detailed information about the eclipse, what people should look for during the various stages of the eclipse, and how to photograph the eclipse.
Hopefully this guide will provide most of the information you will need to prepare for the eclipse. However, if you have further questions, please ask so we can address them before you arrive in Mongolia.
Gangaamaa Badamgarav has successfully led 3 climbing groups to the Khuiten peak in 2007 season)
With over 15 years of climbing and guiding experience Gangaamaa has climbed all the 11 highest peaks of Mongolia in solo and group ascents. To her record she also has 5642m Elbrus peak in Caucasus, 4506m Mt.Belukha in the Russian Altai, 6206m Mt.Qizi and 7117m Mt.Ninchin-thang-la of Himalayas. In 2006 she led
the Mongolian Women's climbing team to Everest reaching 7700 meters on the "Roof of the World".
