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Show HILL TOP TIMES Page 2 March 9, 1979 m (Private Photos by 1st Ricky C Savage) Diamond ring effect Final Inner and outer corona Total eclipse' Lt. stage Mill men were there when West went dark clouds, and conditions were nearly perfect for eclipse watching. Unfortunately, the great event was still 24 hours away and a big storm was approaching from the west. By 1st Lt. Ricky C. Savage Det. 6, 15th Weather Squadron (EDITOR'S NOTE: 1st Lt. Ricky C. Savage andSSgt. Steven D. Rush traveled 1,600 miles on their own time to observe the total eclipse of the sun Monday, Feb. 26, from a vantage point in northern central Montana. They departed the base Saturday, Feb. 24, determined to find a break or "sucker hole" in a forecast cloud shield which extended from Portland, Ore., to Lake Winnipeg, Canada. The following is a first-han- d account of that expedition.) left Hill AFB after getting a forecast from the base weather station of 16,000-fothick clouds across the entire eclipse track. We decided to go to Helena, Mont., because it was a good strategic location for going east or west. We ot ON SUNDAY MORNING, the weather at Helena was beautiful. There were just a few H We headed for Great Falls because they had better weather facilities than Helena. i at Great Falls and, after the weather stations there, we three checking concluded that Lewistown was the most promising location. We pressed east and the clouds were right behind us. We arrived AT THIS STAGE of the game, we figured the weather forecasters at Hill would be right. The flight service station at Lewistown was forecasting frontal passage with strong winds at 6 a.m. We checked some of the latest observations in the area and found that the break in the clouds, or the "sucker hole," had moved north. We headed for Malta and found a patch of dear sky north of Roy, Mont. We pitched cow pasture and rose at 6 in a farmer's camp am. to see a beautiful sunrise and fair skies. WE WERE ALMOST exactly where we wanted to be. We drove around for a few minutes and found a small hill with good, clean snow on it. We wanted to be the first people to photograph the faint, rippling, shadows often seen on the ground just before and after totality. Scientists still cannot agree on the cause of the phenomenon. wave-lik- e We set up our cameras and we were ready. Our success at photography did not quite match our success with the weather. One of our movie cameras required some g to run automatically and the sound feature of the other camera did not work. (We had planned to record the Bureau of Standards time from a short wave radio in our vehicle.) Nevertheless, we did manage to photograph the shadows and other eclipse last-minu- te phenomena, using conventional and infrared film. AT THE ONSET of totality, dogs began barking and coyotes howling, and we became very excited. The temperature dropped about 10 degrees Fahrenheit and several stars became visible. It was dark overhead but, to the north and south, the sky was bright. The appearance of the eclipsed sun was eerie, and we couldn't escape the realization that colossal forces were at work. The total eclipse lasted only two and one-ha- lf minutes, followed by a brief westerly wind caused by warming air behind the moon's shadow. jury-riggin- WE BOTH AGREED that the time, effort and expense were well worth it. We took on some tough odds and were rewarded with a unique experience." We experienced a total eclipse of the sun. KJEGB cm mm laws 1 (KEQCUB rro frs2lU? (Ests (seed Qinna SCO iH3l Biiii' "cirrnni3fi) dan FkTTq nuv 3 7? TW-H- SEEK 1 13133 3HniLEnl 1 SGR CHXDQCb (BALI 2D 6SBGDDD0E) S95XEEG) 3D fH3n |