The day of the Total Solar Eclipse of 1 August 2008

in Yiwu and at the observing site at the Weizixia camp in Xinjiang, China

E day begins: A billboard announcing the eclipse at the school in Yiwu, a small town some 25 km away from the observation spot, where we stayed - and the Pinyin transliteration of the words for Xinjiang (the province), Yiwu and "solar total eclipse", together with the Chinese signs. The latter expression is pronounced something like "ryttshwuntshy", with the "y"s like the German diphtong ü, intoned very short each time ...

The yard of the Yiwu school on E day morning, looking towards the Karlik Mountains (up to 5500 meters!) - orographic clouds forming over them were always an issue.

Do they know what will hit them this late afternoon? The locals at the Yiwu market - perhaps. The lady at lower right: with absolute certainty! For she is Wang Na (Nina Wang to "longnoses") from Urumqi Observatory who had arranged our trip from Xinjiang's capital Urumqi to Yiwu and on to Weizixia - many thanks to you and your busy staff!

We are now at a brand-new site about 1 km from the small village of Weizixia, very close to the central line: a kind of public observatory / astronomy museum / modern-day Stonehenge had been built here just for the occasion of the eclipse, complete with artificial grass. Around noon mainly Chinese amateur astronomers from all around the vast country had gathered here, busy arranging for group photos ...

... a ritual in which the group brought by Urumqi Observatory (mostly students) participated as well, while the hard-core amateur astronomers who had come from other continents rather put up their equipment at some distance from the action on the desert floor.

Story continues here!