Observation history of total solar eclipse in the air

1973 the orbital shape of the annular eclipse made Concorde fly in a big arc and stay in the shadow of the moon. On the day of the eclipse, a team of seven astronomers, two assistants and 1 photographer led by Turcat and four crew members made a "supersonic journey". At GMT 10: 53: 30, Concorde flew over Mauritania at 9 degrees west longitude and 20.6 degrees north latitude at an altitude of 16057 meters. At the flight speed of Mach 2.03, Concorde arrived at the umbra of the moon only one second away from the scheduled time, and the eclipse began to unfold slowly in front of people. People looked out from the porthole of Concorde and saw a surreal panorama composed of two parts. The first half of the world is bathed in a dim penumbra, and the second half is covered by the darkness of shadows. The shadow on the edge of the moon slowly swept across the distant land.

When entering the umbra, the edge of Concorde has been immersed in the dark blue of the stratosphere, but the total solar eclipse will slowly paint the plane with a layer of black. The curved leading edge of the wing still shines with dazzling white light, which comes from the reflection of the troposphere. Below, the arc of the earth's surface is clearly visible on the horizon 465 kilometers away.

About 74 minutes after entering this film, that is, GMT 12: 07: 24, the total solar eclipse ended. Concorde stopped chasing the moving moon shadow and began to fly over Niger at a speed of 2206 kilometers per hour, with an altitude of 17602 meters. 45 minutes later, the plane landed at N 'Djamena airport, when the partial solar eclipse was still in progress.