After the site survey, we selected this location to view the eclipse. It would permit wide angle photography of totality directly above the moai, and had as good a chance as any other site on the island of clear weather. We had to shift our site a few metres to the side at the request of some seriously equipped photographers uphill of us who were recording a time-lapse sequence of the entire eclipse: glad to oblige.

Eclipse morning dawned beautifully, but then, as Easter Island is wont to, went all “variable”, including this downpour as we were getting ready to saddle up to head for the eclipse site.

But not to worry! If you don't like the weather, wait fifteen minutes! Or, in this case, shortly before we departed for the eclipse viewing site.

We'd carefully plotted the course of the Sun to be above the moai at totality, so we weren't worried when the Sun was behind the palm tree just before first contact. In fact, it made for a pretty nice shot. It was windy at the start of the eclipse, but the breeze abated as totality approached.

Here is our Expedition Headquarters. The sheet, held down by the cooler and a bag is intended to image the pulsing shadow bands should they choose to appear.

There's nothing as cool to do during the partial phase as making cool crescent images, and Judy had made a shadow mask with “Rapa Nui” poked through a card. It worked perfectly!

SOHO MDI continuum image of sunspot group 1087: 2010-07-11 20:48 UTC

Now we're into the partial phase. I didn't get photographs of the beginning of the eclipse because it took a bit longer for the Sun to emerge from the palm tree than I expected. Toward the lower right of the Sun's limb two sunspots are visible. These are part of the active sunspot group 1087 which, on July 9th, unleashed a class C3 solar flare. The image at right was cropped from a full-Sun image captured by the Solar and Heliospheric Observatory's MDI Continuum instrument about an hour and a half after the eclipse. I have rotated the north-up Sun image in the clip to correspond to the apparent orientation of the Sun from our viewpoint in the southern hemisphere.

All of these detailed images of the Sun were taken with a Nikon D300 digital camera and Nikkor 500 mm catadioptric “mirror lens”, which provided the equivalent of 750 mm focal length on a 24×36 mm film camera. The same lens was used to photograph the 1999, 2001, and 2008 solar eclipses. Photographs during the partial phase were taken through an Orion metal on glass full-aperture solar filter placed before the mirror lens.

As the sliver of exposed Sun dwindled, the pulsating shadow bands became visible on the sheet we'd laid down on the sand. When they appear (which is dependent on a variety of atmospheric conditions: we saw them in Zambia and here in Easter Island, but not a hint in Iran or the Barents Sea) they are obvious to the human eye but are notoriously difficult to capture on film or video. In the 1940s, before high speed film, some argued they would always be a visual phenomenon only. Well, look at what technology hath wrought! The following video shows the shadow bands, but they're very subtle and it helps to know what you're looking for. The bands go from upper right to lower left on the sheet, and vary in intensity. At the end of the video I've added a slow motion segment which may help pick out the pulsing of the bands. When you see them yourself, there's nothing remotely subtle about the effect, so I hope that trying to dig it out of this murky video will encourage you to go and observe an eclipse with that instrument so perfectly evolved to appreciate it: the human eye.

Diamond ring! (Contemporary eclipse observers tend to call “diamond ring” way too early, tempting observers to rip off their eclipse specs prematurely and spoil their dark adaptation for totality. I'd say, keep on your eclipse specs until you see nothing but darkness, then take them off to see the spectacle in the sky.)

Anyway, here is the moment when the last part of the photosphere is being covered by the Moon. Note the hydrogen alpha red of the chromosphere and prominences along the limb of the Sun and the bead at the top of the diamond ring where the lunar profile allows a bit of the photosphere to shine through a lunar mountain valley. The arcs curving away from the Sun from the diamond ring are internal reflections in the mirror lens used to take this picture; they are not genuine effects.

In the last instants before totality, I removed the solar filter from the mirror lens on the Nikon camera and activated my pre-programmed nine stop automatic bracketing sequence. With a single press on the electronic cable release, I could take nine exposures of the eclipsed Sun ranging from a shot at 1/1000 or 1/500 second optimised for the prominences, chromosphere, and inner corona to one risking blur due to apparent motion of the Sun which would reveal outer corona streamers. This facility in the Nikon D300 is a tremendous gift to eclipse photographers: it allows capturing almost ten times as many images during totality as with manual exposures and setting of the camera, and it allows doing so without looking away from the eclipse to fiddle with dials on the camera. But if there are any eclipse chasers at Nikon headquarters reading this, there's one thing you got wrong, folks! There should be some way to set the shutter dial that both activates mirror-up and multiple exposure mode. As it stands, if you choose multiple exposure, you can shoot all nine bracketed images with one push of the remote release, but you're almost certain to lose some of the longer exposures to vibration due to mirror rebound. If you select mirror up mode, you have to push the release button eighteen times to complete the nine frame bracketed sequence, which defeats the entire purpose of auto-bracketing: speed. Please, Nikon, give us an item buried somewhere in the menus where we can activate a mode which will lock up the mirror, pause to let vibrations damp out, shoot the nine bracketed frames, and then let the mirror come back down. Eclipse photographers will sing your praises, and it should produce better material for high dynamic range images taken in less demanding circumstances.

An instant later, the diamond on the ring has shrunk and the corona is coming out.

Only instants before the photosphere is covered. The corona is revealed in all its glory. Look at those polar brushes, characteristic of an eclipse of the quiet Sun.

As totality enveloped us, Anakena was surrounded by the 360° twilight unique to a total eclipse of the Sun. The eclipsed Sun is out of the frame at the top of this image. The lights in the foreground are idiots trying to illuminate the eclipsed sun with the flashes on their cameras.

A longer exposure in mid-totality still captures the prominence at the 1 o'clock position and shows the polar brushes.

This 1/500 second shot at mid-totality shows prominences and inner corona. The chromosphere, evident in the photos just after second contact (the start of totality) is now covered, but the prominences on the right limb remain exposed. Look at that loop prominence at the 2 o'clock position!

Taken at mid-totality, the eclipsed Sun is visible over the moai of Ahu Nau Nau, silhouetted against the sea. At the right stands Ahu Ature Huki with its lone moai. To the human eye, the sky was darker and the twilight shading around the horizon more prominent than in this 1/4 second exposure.

A longer exposure (almost) washes out the prominences, but highlights the polar brushes. Stretching colour saturation, you can see the green hue of the forbidden line of oxygen in the corona.

And an even longer exposure totally blows out the inner corona, but limns the extended streamers which become so obvious to the dark-adapted eye as the eclipse progresses.

Now we enter the domain of special effects. I've taken nine images from totality, photographed with exposures from 1/500 second to 2 seconds, manually aligned them, and assembled this high dynamic range composite image in an attempt to reproduce the visual impression of the eclipse. Bottom line: the prominences were more evident in the real thing, and the coronal streamers extended further than you can see them here. But this is much closer to what we saw in the sky than any single photographic image. Note that subtle detail of the lunar surface, illuminated by full Earthshine, is visible in this image.

Toward the end of totality a cloud rolled in and obscured the Sun, more or less from instant to instant. Here is an image through the cloud as prominences began to appear on the lower left limb of the Sun with the end of totality near.

In the last moments before the end of totality, we see the chromosphere appear through the clouds. In less than a second, the photosphere would emerge and call an end to the magic of totality—at least until the next time in the shadow!

Sengoku Basara 2 Heroes Ps2 Iso English Patch [ POPULAR • 2027 ]

Applying the patch to a Sengoku Basara 2 Heroes PS2 ISO transforms the experience from a chaotic button-masher into a coherent, hilarious, and genuinely moving drama. With the patch applied, the player can finally understand the tragic rivalry between Yukimura Sanada and Masamune Date, or the absurd spectacle of Hanbei Takenaka defeating armies with a giant floating paper fan. The translation preserves the original voice acting (a crucial choice, as the Japanese voice cast is star-studded with talent like Soichiro Hoshi and Kazuya Nakai) while adding English subtitles. For the emulation community running the ISO on PC via PCSX2, the patched game becomes the definitive way to play—offering upscaled graphics, save states, and a fully accessible narrative. The patch effectively resurrects a dead piece of media, giving it a second life in a new linguistic market.

However, the patch also raises complex questions about copyright, preservation, and consumer ethics. Distributing a patched ISO directly is illegal; the patch itself is a small file that legally requires the user to own an original Japanese copy of Sengoku Basara 2 Heroes and dump their own ISO. This is a significant hurdle. Original Japanese PS2 discs are region-locked and increasingly rare, often commanding high prices on auction sites. In practice, many players turn to downloaded ISO files from abandonware sites, entering a gray area where the moral argument for preservation clashes with copyright law. Yet, Capcom has shown no interest in re-releasing or remastering this specific entry for modern consoles in the West. When a corporation abandons its product, the fan community often steps in to fill the void. The English patch exists precisely because the market failed. It is not a piratical attack on Capcom but a labor of love that keeps the company’s creative legacy alive. sengoku basara 2 heroes ps2 iso english patch

The creation of the English patch by the fan group “Basara EU” (and subsequent community efforts) was a Herculean technical and linguistic task. Unlike a modern PC game with easily accessible text files, translating a PS2 game requires reverse-engineering the executable file, hacking into compressed archives, repointing text pointers, and often rewriting assembly code to support English character sets. Japanese kanji and kana take up less space than English letters; fitting verbose English lines into the game’s original text boxes without causing crashes or graphical glitches is a form of digital archaeology. The patch involved translating thousands of lines of dialogue, weapon descriptions, mission objectives, and the notoriously tricky character-specific idioms. For example, translating the flamboyant Oda Nobunaga’s grandiose, menacing speeches or the chaotic, slang-heavy rantings of Mōri Motonari required not just linguistic skill but a deep understanding of the game’s tone—balancing historical references with over-the-top anime bravado. Applying the patch to a Sengoku Basara 2

In conclusion, the Sengoku Basara 2 Heroes English patch for the PS2 ISO is far more than a translation file. It is a key that unlocks a locked vault of pure, unhinged creativity. It demonstrates the power of fan communities to bridge cultural and linguistic gaps long after official support has ended. By enabling English-speaking players to fully experience the game’s chaotic battles, complex characters, and irreverent humor, the patch transforms a forgotten Japanese exclusive into a living, playable piece of gaming history. It stands as a proud example of how grassroots preservation can rescue art from the brink of obscurity, proving that even for a bombastic game about samurai rock stars, the most heroic act of all is simply making sure everyone can understand the story. For the emulation community running the ISO on

In the pantheon of action games from the PlayStation 2 era, few are as unapologetically extravagant as Sengoku Basara 2 Heroes . Developed by Capcom, this 2007 title is a sequel and expanded re-release of Sengoku Basara 2 , offering a heightened, rock-and-roll interpretation of Japan’s Warring States period. It is a game where the legendary samurai Date Masamune wields six swords simultaneously while shouting English catchphrases, and Honda Tadakatsu is reimagined as a steampunk gundam. Yet for over a decade, this masterpiece of “spectacle fighters” remained largely inaccessible to Western audiences. The fan-made English translation patch for the Sengoku Basara 2 Heroes PS2 ISO is not merely a piece of software; it is a critical artifact of game preservation, a triumph of fan-led localization, and a testament to the enduring demand for niche Japanese action games.

First, to understand the patch’s importance, one must appreciate the game’s original context. While Capcom released the first Sengoku Basara (retitled Devil Kings ) in North America, the localization was a disaster. It stripped the game of its Japanese historical identity, renamed characters arbitrarily, and removed the very charm that made it popular. Consequently, Sengoku Basara 2 and its Heroes expansion never received official Western releases. For English-speaking fans, the PS2 ISO of Heroes became a coveted but frustrating file: a whirlwind of flashy combos, dramatic cutscenes, and a dense narrative about feudal loyalty and ambition, all locked behind a language barrier. Players could mash through the musou-style battles, but the heart of the experience—the character interactions, the absurd humor, and the narrative stakes—remained inaccessible. The ISO was a beautiful, silent film waiting for its intertitles.

A herd of horses was deeply puzzled by the eclipse. They stampeded, missing our tripods—thank goodness.

Dang, I heard there's a stampede going on around here. Something about a serpent eating the Sun. Anybody know where it is? I love stampedes.

Sengoku Basara 2 Heroes Ps2 Iso English Patch [ POPULAR • 2027 ]

Easter Island

July 11th, 2010

Totality at Anakena

Sengoku Basara 2 Heroes Ps2 Iso English Patch [ POPULAR • 2027 ]