WUHAN , HUBEI PROVINCE , CHINA IMAGES

Day 3 - July 21, 2009 Eclipse Dry Run at Jiangtan Park

After again an early heavy breakfast, the group headed back to Jiangtan Park  to make a final eclipse dry run prior to the E-Day tomorrow morning.  Johnny Quinto's family members opted to take  more rest at the hotel. The team arrived at the park at around 7:30am and quickly setup their equipment and they were able to successfully setup all of their equipment before 8:00am.  The setup time is good because they will be at the site at around 4:30am so that their setup site will be secured at an earlier time as for sure many other imagers and observers will try to get the best site at the park as early as possible.  As they were rehearsing, Mr. Chou Guo Qiang joined them at the site and happily showed them an issue of the Chang Chiang Daily News which shows Zed Contractor focusing on his camera with the rest of the ALP Wuhan TSE group setting up at the foreground.  It was such a nice morning greeting for the group and Zed told the group that after the rehearsal he will be going to the newsstand  to buy al the available copies :) LOL

They were able to finish their rehearsal at around 10:00am centering more on the important crucial 9:15-9:35am time.  Temperature that morning was a little more or less 36 deg C compared to yesterday's hot 38 deg C.  They were also able to see a faint Sun Halo which indicates that weather later or next day will not be that good :( After they packed up their stuffs, they headed back to the hotel and get some rest before they had lunch again at Mr. Xie. Zed opted to just rest at the hotel while James, Jett, Jun , Johnny and Andrew had again a good lunch.  Then they  went out to get more food and water supplies as well as batteries and also some more counterweights that Jett needs for his mount's  balance.

At the hotel, ALPer Christopher Go made a mobile phone call from Hangzhou and inform James that they also made a good rehearsal that morning.  He told James that they will setup at their hotel's roof deck because his companion Tomio Akutsu was able to convince the hotel manager to let them setup  there with a condition that they would also be able to look through their telescopes as well. :)  Good compromise :)  After a while, Mr. Ma Cheng called up James and inform him if it is possible for the group to get interviewed by Chu Tian Metropolis Daily . James obliged and they setup the interview meeting at the coffee shop at the 2nd floor of the hotel at around 4:00pm.  When they met, Ma Cheng as well as his manager Mr. Qi joined them on the interview.  The interview lasted more or less around 30 minutes and the news reporter thank the group for their time.

ALP Wuhan TSE Research Team wearing Molecules Official Shirt

ALP Wuhan TSE Research Team wearing Canon Official Vest

Afterwards, Andrew, James and Jun went out to make get some pizzas at Pizza Hut that they will be eating at the hotel while making final last minute preparations for tomorrow's event.  They also monitor the weather condition in the internet as well as CNN weather news.  It was declared that Shanghai and nearby Jiaxing will be in big trouble because thunderstorm and rains are expected to hit there on eclipse day :(  ALP Shanghai group led by Armando Lee and Francis Sarmiento and ALP Jiaxing group led by Edwin Aguirre and Imelda Joson are more proned to be affected by the bad weather unless they moved out of their current positon.  Hangzhou and Wuhan, on the other hand, will also be affected by scattered clouds but no rain expected on their sites.  James was able to communicate with Armand through Yahoo Messenger and Skype and James informed him about their situation but Armand say they decided to stay put at She Shan Mountain, Shanghai and take the risk.  James asked Armand if he can provide Imelda's Skype number as they were the only ALP Group that has not communicated with the Wuhan base.  Unfortunately, he told James that Francis has her Skype number only and he went out to bar hop with his friends.  He  also informed James that they were also able to make good rehearsal that morning.  As they were communicating, he told James that they were experiencing mild rain already that evening.  Since they will stay put at their chosen site, James wished them good luck and good weather tomorrow.

Jun went to sleep early that evening while James almost didn't sleep that evening and was also doing Yahoo Messaging with Andrew who  was on the other room.  On the side note, Andrew's sister ALPer Berenice Viola Chan and their mom Elaine Chong was expected to arrive in Wuhan from Guangzhou late in the afternoon but their flight was delayed so they were only able to arrive in Wuhan almost around midnight :(  While at the hotel, James also tweak his Vixen mount motors which was a little loose during the dry run that morning and was able to make final calibration that evening as well.  James also ask the hotel  information to give them an early 3:30am wake up call so that they can be up and going to the observing site as early as 4:00am to secure their observing site inside Jiangtan Park. Packed Breakfast Bags were also prepared for the team members to bring to the site.

Zed: " Yesterday, there were two cams, now my system got three cams now :) "	ALP VP Jett Aguilar is all set and ready to go with his Canon imaging system.	(L-R) ALPers Jun Lao and Johnny Quinto posed beside their eclipse still and video equipment.
ALPer Andrew Ian Chan standing beside his eclipse imaging system.	ALP Wuhan TSE Expedition Team Leader / President test and calibrate the focus of his Canon imaging system.	ALP Wuhan TSE Expedition Team Leader James Kevin Ty showing his vest that contains the previous total solar eclipse that he had observed.
ALPer James discussed with the Jiangtan Park Security Officer on the team's layout of equipment on E-Day.	Fisheye view of the Sun's position in the sky for tomorrow's total solar eclipse	ALP Wuhan TSE Reserach Team posed and raring to go for tomorrow's E-Day!
ALPer James Kevin Ty inspects his fellow team members' equipment during their final eclipse dry run prior to E-Day.	ALPer James Kevin Ty posed with Miss Joyce Zhang of Guandong Astronomical Society	ALPers shown here bringing their heavy imaging equipment back to their waiting air conditioned bus.

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