This is a short report of the partial Solar eclipse on the morning of May 31st 2003.

During our vacation we stayed on the Emberger Alm near Greiffenburg in Austria. This location is located between 1700 and 1800 meters above sea level. The coordinates are 46.46N and 13.12E. On the early morning of May the 31st 2003 a small group of amateur astronomers from the Netherlands, Germany and Switzerland joined to observe the partial solar eclipse. Different telescopes and digital cameras were used to witness and record the event. Here you will find a small report of the partial solar eclipse.

The pictures 1, 2 and 3 were taken by Jens Leich from Germany with a Toshiba PDR-M60, 2.1 Megapixel. He shot the pictures 2 and 3 in black and white, using his telescope, a 130mm Astrophysics Starfire, focal lenght 838mm, grey filter ND3, 30mm Baader Eudiascopic Eyepiece. The camera was hand-held. If you would like more information on these first three pictures, or the equipment Jens uses, please contact him via e-mail: j.leich@t-online.de

The pictures 4, 5 and 6 were made with my Nikon coolpix 775. Picture 4 was made through a Meade ETX 70mm focal lenght 350, Meade ND5 filter and a Koenig 20mm wide-angle eyepiece (equipment from Mathias Derks from Germany). Picture 5 was made using Jens Leich's equipment (same as pics 2 and 3). The Nikon coolpix 775 was hand-held.

1.This picture was taken at 3h27m UT. The Sun lit the eastern sky already, but was still behind the mountains.

2. This picture was taken at 04h03m UT. The Sun rising above the ridge, the partial eclipse beautifully visible. The clouds created a kind of mysterious atmosphere

3. This picture was taken at 04h07m UT. The clouds were slowly vanishing and just near the edge on the left, through the clouds, a sunspot became visible. There is also a Sunspot visible near the edge on the right.

4. This picture was taken at 04h.13m UT. the clouds were gone, both sunspots clearly visible.

5. This picture was taken at 04h.17m UT. On the left the last bit of the partial solar eclipse is visible. One minute later it was over.

6. This picture was taken at 04h.30m UT. The partial solar eclipse was over. May 2003 has been a good month for observing. After the Mercury transit and the Lunar eclpise, I also was lucky enough to witness the partial solar eclipse