On the 10th August 1999 a group of 10 members of the LAS went on an expedition to Penzance to see the solar eclipse, the last one of the millennium. We met at the Ship & Mitre, where we had a meal before taking a mini bus to Manchester to get the train down South.
The train journey was very strenuous because it was 12.5 hours but we had a good time none the less. When the Sun came up on the Wednesday morning the conditions looked good, a nice red sunrise and clear skies.
When we arrived the place was packed with anxious people waiting to see the eclipse, so we walked around Penzance looking for a good spot to see it, then we went to have something to eat.
At 09:30am it unfortunately began to cloud over so we were hoping for a break in the clouds so that we could see the eclipse but it never came.
I was impressed with the fact that it went very dark and it was for two minutes, however it did not seem like two minutes it seemed more like 30 seconds it happened really quickly. It was an unreal feeling. The thing that impressed me most was the way it brought people together, there were church singers right next to us and all along the bay there were fireworks and music. I was, however, disappointed that it did not see totality because of the weather but we did see the 5 minutes. All in all I enjoyed it.
Liverpool Astronomical Society
Sic Itur Ad Astra – Thus The Way To The Stars : 142 years of astronomy
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