Annular Eclipse
31 May 2003
Click on any picture for a full sized version

Almost a year before the event, and to Ian's consternation, Eric booked the day of 31 May 2003 off. A guest had booked in for that period to be able to observe the eclipse of the sun from the north of Scotland. EH was not going to miss that camera opportunity!

When more information came in, the event was going to be even more interesting than first thought. The sun was actually going to peep over the top of the earth, and therefore it would be moving in the "wrong" direction of East to West The path is normally a line from West to East across the globe, whereas this one was going to be total in an area across the northern Atlantic, which would shaped like a letter "D".
Whilst it was going to be a total eclipse, the moon was to be at the furthest part of its orbit, and smaller than usual when observed from earth. This was to leave a thin edge of the sun's surface visible, even at totality. It was being billed as "A Ring of Fire"

There had to be some bad news?.. well, the sun was going to be in the late stages of partial eclipse as it rose ... at 03.40am!!
Our relatively new neighbours, Frank and Anne caught the enthusiasm, as, eventually, did Ian who was not going to be left out, so on that fateful morning we all set off in the dark from Auchendean at 02.30am to drive to the coast at Burghead on the Moray Firth. This spot had been chosen by Ian & Eric a week previously as there was no horizon to hide the rising sun. After weeks of clear weather, "Heather the Weather" warned that there may be mist and fog, and sure enough the Spey below us was shrouded as we left. Luckily, it thinned as we neared the coast, but a sea fog was worrying. With a picnic breakfast of muesli bars, croissants, tea, coffee etc, all provided by Anne, we waited and wished the fog away. Sadly, we could only see the sun's rosy glow as it rose, but no view. At the time of totality I took a picture to say "this was the time of the Ring of Fire". Then suddenly, the thinnest deep red crescent appeared through the mist. Whilst everyone shouted, EH was busy with his camera, and the results are here. Well, a small proportion of them! We were lucky that we could see the whole event unfolding with the naked eye, due to the thin mist and high cloud, and it was only in the last 10 minutes as the sun got brighter that we needed the welding visors we had taken for safe viewing.
In the first picture, the dark horizontal band of the sea horizon can be seen, with the reflection of a bird flying by.
The second shows the view as we saw it, with a little of the beach for scale.
The next is the clear crescent, and the last, the sun is getting fairly bright.