TSE 2008

We headed for western Mongolia for the eclipse on August 1, 2008. We flew from Ulaan Baatar, the capital, to the dirt airstrip at Ulgi in Bayan-Ulgi, Mongolia’s westernmost province. We then took four-wheel drive vehicles (old Soviet-era vans that could be used for the next Mad Max sequel) for 8 hours to reach Hoton Lake, at 6,700 feet elevation. We stayed in gers in this scenic area with the Altai Mountains to the west.

The Altai Mountains have a large population of Kazakh herders, nomads who still maintain the old lifestyle. They may move 3 - 4 times each year, taking their herds of sheep, goats, and horses to new pasture.

We played with partially eclipsed shadows in the hour leading up to totality.

I got a few good eclipse images on this trip too. (My equipment included a Kenko Sky Memo tracker, Canon EOS 20Da, Canon ET-83C 100-400 zoom lens, Maxim DL for image capture and processing, and a Coronado PST.)

We had the chance again to play Mad Max on the outbound trip, when we drove another 7 hours with a special trip through CB’s favorite town, Tsengel (which, for WOW fans, resembles nothing so much as Gadgetzan).

(all of us, together with friend and chief astronomer, Alex Filippenko)