Cairns, the Great Barrier Reef – The Ultimate place to view the Total Solar Eclipse in 2012
Few people who witness a total eclipse of the Sun, fail to be deeply moved by the experience. Afterwards, they search for superlatives. Phrases such as, “the most spectacular thing I’ve ever seen” or “mother natures great show,” flow from the lips of “eclipse chasers.” So, would you like to be there for this “event of a lifetime” in 2012?
A total eclipse will be visible from Cairns beginning just after sunrise on 14th November 2012. Why not combine the experience of this great spectacle of nature with a visit to a hotspot for some of Australia’s iconic attractions? Destination Cairns Marketing in partnership is your local, on the ground expert, ready to handle any holiday accommodation enquiry. Advance bookings are being highly recommended as this event is likely to bring around 20,000 Solar Eclipse fanatics to Tropical North Queensland.
Planning your travel in Tropical North Queensland During the Solar Eclipse 2012
November 14 2012 is an unprecedented event for Cairns, and Tropical North Queensland. It is anticipated that some 20,000 visitors will converge on the city and surrounds for this unique event. Destination Cairns Marketing is the Tropical Norths’ largest tour and accommodation wholesaler. We are based in Cairns and as such we have up to the minute information regarding availability for both tours and accommodation in this peak period. We have listed a number of our most popular day tours, and accommodation houses on the following pages, however if you have any specific group movement that you require assistance with , then we encourage you to contact us via email as soon as possible on events@cairnsconferences.com.au .
Cairns Day Tours - Click here for day tours in Cairns
Cairns Extended Tours - Click here for extended tours in Cairns
Cairns & Surrounds Accommodation - Click here for Cairns and Port Douglas Accommodation
What is a Total Soar Eclipse?
A total solar eclipse occurs when the Moon passes between the Sun and the Earth. Total solar eclipses can only occur at New Moon but they don’t occur every New Moon because the Moon’s orbit is inclined 6o to the Earth’s obital plane. Eclipses only occur when the Moon passes through the Earth’s orbital plane at New Moon otherwise the shadow misses the Earth.
Phases of a Total Solar Eclipse
Cairns 2012 Solar Eclipse – Date and Time - 14 November 2012 – 6.38am (Cairns Time)
There is some confusion over the date of the eclipse because some documents list the eclipse occurring on November 13th, 2012 while others will say November 14th, 2012. Both are correct. It is standard practice to document astronomical events in 24 hour universal time. Universal time is the time (and date) at Greenwich Observatory in England. This allows astronomical observers anywhere in the world to read a document and easily work out the time of the event at their own location without confusion. You will see the letters UT printed with the time when this is the case. In universal time, this eclipse occurs at 20:38 on November 13th, 2012.
Any resource that is targeted at astronomers will use this standard. You need to add 10 hrs to convert UT to Australian Eastern Standard Time (EST) which is the local time zone in Cairns. Expressed in EST or local time, the total eclipse begins in Cairns at 6:38 am on November 14th, 2012. The total eclipse will only last for two minutes. Be there and set your alarm clock or you will need to wait another 11 years to see one in Exmouth, Western Australia!
Path of the Solar Eclipse
The first point of contact of the Moon’s shadow with the Earth’s surface occurs north east of the Kakadu National Park, north west of the Aboriginal settlement of Oenpilli. The shadow travels east across Arnhem Land, crosses into the Gulf of Carpentaria coast at the north end of Blue Mud Bay. It strikes land again on Cape York Peninsula near Wallaby Island. The centreline crosses the Eastern coast 30km north of Cairns about halfway between Cairns and Port Douglas. After that it crosses Green Island before heading south east across the Pacific where it doesn’t touch land again.
The 2012 total eclipse can be seen along the coast from within a 140 km wide path between Innisfail in the south to Cape Tribulation in the north. Outside this area only a partial eclipse will be visible. Just outside the total path, a 99.9% partial eclipse is visible. Be in no doubt, a 99.9% partial eclipse is nothing compared to the spectacle of a total eclipse. If you live nearby, get in the car and drive into the path of totality. The best place to watch the eclipse from is anywhere between Cairns and Port Douglas on or near the coast. The total part of the eclipse eclipse lasts for two spectacular minutes between Cairns and Port Douglas. To the north and south, duration gets shorter and shorter until, near the southern and northern limits, it only lasts for a few seconds.
Path of Solar Eclipse 2012
Any place with a good view of the east horizon will make a great place to watch the eclipse. Venture a few km off the centreline [point 8 on map] and you will find open mostly unfenced agricultural fields. This area, though void of any grand scenery may provide good locations for observers looking for flat ground with almost flat horizons to the east and west at the sacrifice of ocean views. This will naturally depend on the growth state of crops in the fields at that time of year.
Some beaches may become covered by tides as the eclipse progresses. It is possible that a tide will come in during the eclipse. We will post an update on his site when 2012 tide predictions become available next year.
Some beaches north of Cairns do not get covered at high tide. These include Kewarra beach, Trinity beach and Palm Cove. If you are just looking or using a camera and tripod, these beaches are very suitable. Expert observers who bring telescopes should probably retreat inland a few kilometres to shelter from onshore winds. The many open fields between Skyrail and the airport should provide adequate cover. These agricultural fields though unfenced, are private property. Please treat any crop plantings with due repect.
Charter boats will offer cruises to take people out to watch the eclipse at sunrise from the boat or on diving platforms on ocean reefs followed by reef viewing, diving or snorkelling after. These reef and sky tours present a unique way to experience the eclipse. Be aware that the reef platforms are pontoon platforms that will move with the ocean swell. The boats are too small to be fitted with stabilizers. If you are using any sort of telescope, binoculars or camera and tripod, you should probably stay on solid ground. You don’t need to use binoculars or telescopes to enjoy an eclipse. So much is going on around the whole sky many choose to just look with the naked eye. If you just want to look and enjoy, these reef and sky charters might be just the ticket.
Where to view the Cairns 2012 Eclipse
What will I See?
The Sun will rise at 5:34am. A few minutes later the partial eclipse will begin. If you are on the Cairns waterfront, the Sun will remain hidden behind Cape Grafton for 15-20minutes. It will rise over the cape about one third eclipsed. The partial eclipse will take 54 minutes. As totality approaches, the solar crescent will become very thin. Though thin, it is still too dangerous to look at without any eye protection.
About a minute or two before the start of the total eclipse, look to the west. You will see the Moon’s shadow moving across the sky from west to east. West to east may at first seem a little odd. Even though the Moon rises in the east and sets west due to the Earth’s rotation, the Moon actually orbits the Earth from west to east. After New Moon, you see the Moon as a thin crescent near the sunset in the west. Each night, it moves about 12 degrees to the east until Full Moon when it is over in the east opposite the Sun. So the shadow being cast by the Moon also travels from west to east.
5:34 a.m. Sunrise.-partial eclipse begins a few minutes later
6:00 a.m. Partial eclipse about halfway through.
6:38:33 a.m. Sun thins to a tiny crescent then the 1st diamond ring forms signalling the start of totality. Stop using eye protection filters,
6:39:33 a.m. Mid-eclipse corona most visible. Look around the horizon. The Moon’s shadow is covering most of the sky.
6:40:33 Second diamond ring appears signalling the end of totality. Start using eye protection filters again.
7:00 a.m. Partial eclipse half over
7:40 a.m. Partial eclipse ends
During the minute or so before the eclipse, as the lunar shadow swallows the sky, the ambient light will dim dramatically, reducing by a factor of about a thousand. About fifteen seconds before the start of the total eclipse, you can remove your eclipse glasses the Moon’s shadow by now will have moved right across the sky and will be in the east. When this shadow contacts the Sun, the diamond ring will form and the total eclipse begins. The diamond ring is a bright white/pink ring surrounding the dark lunar disk with one dazzling bright point of light.
This light is the last little bit of the Sun’s surface visible through valleys around the limb of the Moon. It won’t go completely dark, more like very deep twilight. Your eyes will quickly adjust to the new low light level. As your eyes adjust, the Sun’s corona will become visible. The corona is composed of very hot electrically charged gas – a plasma. The coronal gas has a temperature of about a million degrees and it stretches millions of Kilometres out into space. The charged particles are distributed along and reveal the Sun’s magnetic field lines similar to the way your science teacher at school might have used iron filings to reveal the field of a magnet.
The corona will appear to grow. This is just an illusion. The outer corona is fainter than the inner corona. As your eyes adapt to the dark, they become more sensitive so you are able to see fainter parts of the outer corona so it seems to grow. Nonetheless, the effect is mesmerizing.
As totality ends, a diamond ring dazzles you as it seems to explode from the opposite side of the Moon to the first diamond ring. This one seems much brighter because your eyes were adapted to the dark. The appearance of the second diamond ring is your signal to put your eye protection back to work. Put on your eclipse shades or use your projector and don’t look directly at the Sun for the remainder of the eclipse. The Moon spends another hour in partial eclipse sliding off the Sun before the event is all over.
What the Total Eclipse will look like
Other Total Eclipses in Australia
Many people think they’ve seen a total solar eclipse when in fact they’ve seen a partial eclipse. Partial eclipses can be seen from a very wide geographic area. Most adults in Australia will have been able to see a partial solar eclipse at some point during their lives but total eclipses must be viewed from within a very narrow path defined by the Moon’s travelling shadow. Total eclipses occur on average about once every 18 months. Because most of the Earth’s surface is either ocean or remote desert or wilderness, you usually have to go to a lot of trouble to see one. From one fixed location, a total solar eclipse can be seen about once every four hundred years.
Over the past eighty years only three total eclipses have been visible from the Australian continent. A total eclipse in 1974, could only be seen from southwest W.A. near Albany. The most widely seen event was in October 1976 when the Coorong, Mt Gambier, most of southern Victoria and the southest corner of NSW. Bendigo, Ballarat, Geelong, Melbourne and Bombala saw a total eclipse. In December 2002, a total eclipse was visible inside a narrow 20km wide path over very remote areas of South Australia between Ceduna and Cameron Corner. After the 2012 Cairns eclipse, the next opportunity to see a total eclipse in Australia is from remote Exmouth, W.A. in 2023. In July 2028, a total eclipse will cross the whole continent starting in the Kimberley crossing many regional towns and centres and finally being visible from Sydney.
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