Thread by @cosmos4u

How the annular solar #eclipse trip to #Oman began in the wee hours today: With an accident, a closed track, cancelled trains, a EUR 50 taxi trip to another station, but I'm moving, kind of.

https://twitter.com/Regio_NRW/status/1208232490613313536

Hey, something good came out of the train trouble this morning: @DB_Bahn offering free coffee!

@DB_Bahn Sunrise behind the plane that will soon take us from Frankfurt to Muscat, Oman. Further destinations there include Nizwa, a camp in the desert and the island Masirah for the eclipse on the 26th.

@DB_Bahn Made it to Oman, now in a hotel near Muscat with free wifi! First trip impression here: Artificial - and self-luminous -Palm Island off Dubai, from the otherwise uneventful flight.

@DB_Bahn The very first impressions of #Oman in daylight - and the climate, at winter solstice: Wow!

@DB_Bahn What's *really* important in the Middle East today ... The last page of the Times of Oman today. ;-)

@DB_Bahn First 'touristy' visit of the Oman eclipse trip: The great modern mosque near Muscat. Too large for the cellphone lens ... Later in a fascinating old mountain village, now arrived in Nizwa, going to the old town shortly. Better pics still in real camera. ;-)

@DB_Bahn First X-mas tree sighting in Oman! In the lobby of our Nizwa hotel ...

@DB_Bahn Afternoon visit to the Nizwa souk and old town. Most bizarre souvenir seen: An Oman-themed snow globe glued to back of a turtle ... While the air is full of frankincense.

@DB_Bahn Nice 3D map of #Oman seen in a Nizwa souk sweets shop: Here's a slant view of the northern mountain range we are in right now.

@DB_Bahn A lot more #Oman views today 1/n: Misfah al Abreen, a village deep in the mountains.

@DB_Bahn In northern #Oman today 2/n: The mud buildings (almost) ghost town section of Al Hamra and a date palm plantation with falaj irrigation next to it.

@DB_Bahn In northern #Oman today 3/5: Views from the roof of Jabreen Castle near Bahla towards the north, with the highest mountains of the country.

@DB_Bahn Northern #Oman's Jebel Akhdar - which not only sounds like a place from Star Wars but in places would have been a perfect setting for #TRoS ... Which calls for panoramas that will come in the final tweet. 4/5

@DB_Bahn Final northern #Oman cellphone views from today 5/5: Panoramas (which must be clicked to spread out) of Jebel Akhdar at 2000 meters in late afternoon light. Will finally start going through the pictures from the trip with the real camera tonight ...

@DB_Bahn Dramatic scenes at the breakfast buffet in Nizwa ... ;-) #Oman #eclipse minus two days!

@DB_Bahn Colorful refraction effects at the moment of sunset over a distant sand dune in #Oman - the first quasi-astronomical result from the ongoing annular eclipse trip, documented in a sequence in bonnstern.wordpress.com/2019/12/25/gru…

@DB_Bahn Some sky photography last night in #Oman's desert, all with a simple camera on a tripod - see bonnstern.wordpress.com/2019/12/25/wus… for what was possible in spite of light pollution from a desert camp.

@DB_Bahn The day of #ASE2019 - the #annulareclipse - has broken over #Masirah island in #Oman. And the cloud situation towards the Southeast is ... Interesting. ;-)

@DB_Bahn Masirah island in Oman just got served a breathtaking rise of the already partially eclipsed Sun, with cloud shadows even. Now relaxing a few minutes while it hides behind a cloud - should come back in time for the annulus. Hi-res pics in about an hour.

@DB_Bahn The Masirah situation 20 minutes before annularity ...

@DB_Bahn Totally crazy annular eclipse success on Masirsh island, Oman! We saw the complete ring phase through a patch of thin clouds in the middle of this monster. Will process the tons of real camera pics now ...

@DB_Bahn That was the #AnnularSolarEclipse a.k.a. #ASE2019 as seen from the north of Masirah island, #Oman, this morning: see the whole dramatic story - with the happy ending an hour ago - in a first series of 45 pictures in bonnstern.wordpress.com/2019/12/26/rin…