Flying shadows (shadow bands) at the total solar eclipse of July 2, 2019
Channel: Thierry Pauwels
Date: 2019-07-27

Total solar eclipse of July 2, 2019.

An incredible display of shadow bands, but I prefer to call them "flying shadows".  I expected them 30 seconds before and 30 seconds after totality.  To be sure I started filming 2 minutes before totality, but the shadow bands were already there.  After the eclipse they did not seem to stop, and each time you thought it was finished, they started again.  Especially around 09:50 they are again very prominent.  Although I could see shadow bands at all my total solar eclipses that were not clouded out, this display is by far the most beautiful I ever saw.  This could be due to the low elevation of the Sun in the sky, only about 10 degrees, so that the sunlight has to cross a much thicker layer of atmosphere.  The eclipse was in the late afternoon, and the partially eclipsed Sun disappeared behind the Andes about half an hour later.

Totality is from ~01:58 - ~04:15.  Finally I stopped the camera only 12 minutes after totality. 

The recording was done at the observing site of the Urania group from Belgium, Playa Lamaral, Rodeo, prov. San Juan, Argentina, 30d 10' 36".1 S, 69d 05' 53.6" W according to Google Earth.

The film has been processed to enhance the flying shadows by a factor of 8.  This causes some artefacts in the film, such as the aura around moving people.  Note that without enhancement the film would show less than what could be seen on the spot.

I kept the original sound track, so that you can enjoy the excitement of the surrounding observers when the totality approaches.

Many thanks to the organisers of Urania and Dromen, and Werner Hamelinck, our group leader, in particular.  Thanks also for the local people, who arranged for having a beautiful white screen.  They were contacted in advance, so that they could bring all necessary material on the spot.  And finally thanks to Henriette who could resist so long to use the screen for her shadow displays.