Having booked a days leave to view
the Eclipse, failed to get hold of an aircraft to get on the Eclipse
path,
I was not amused to wake to an overcast
sky. However, I packed the old theodolite and headed
off to the firm's car park. Here there
was a Television set and as important, a Kettle.
To my surprise and delight the clouds
parted with about ten minutes to spare and, apart from my position
off track,
I was able to get as many shots as
I wanted of the unfolding spectacle. Here is one of them.
This was taken through the eyepiece
of the theodolite via the supplied filter, the smearing is just
that! The filter was so
small that it got between my greasy
fingers and I was unable to get it properly clean. Why it is a
green filter I dont know,
all the ones I have seen are the same!
The theodolite was one of several I bought Government Surplus,
this one was used by the Army on an "Honest John" missile
system. The bulky canister below the mounting is a Gyroscope,
called a Meridian Finder in the military literature. I have several
accesories for the same instrument marked up as Naval Stores so
I assume the Hilger and Watts No.2 was used by both Army and Royal
Navy.
There are other ways to view the sun
however................parsinomy
Home page......let's go