2008 Total Solar Eclipse travel information by Mark Sukhija

Sadly we won't be able to see the eclipse on the 1st August 2008 as we have other commitments in New Zealand and only a limited amount of holiday time (sadly.) However, I have included some information which, I hope, will be of use to others hoping to view the eclipse. I have concentrated my investigations on the Russian segment of the eclipse as this is the bulk of the period of totality and is where the point of greatest eclipse occurs.

Eclipse 2008 in Russia

There are numerous possibilities to view the eclipse from Russia. I've included some commentary on what I've found out so far about getting to these places. No information on the climate has yet been included and I cannot provide more specific location information than what I've given below.

• Nadym - Nadym, in the Yamalo-Nenets Autonomous Okrug in northern Russia, is the closest place of any significant inhabitation that I've identified thats close to the point of greatest eclipse.
• Nizhnevartovsk - Nizhnevartovsk should afford totality of around 2 minutes 25 seconds and is fairly close to the centre line of the eclipse.
• Novosibirsk - Totality in Novosibirsk should be around the 2 minute 20 second region. Novosibirsk seems to be more accessible than the other destinations I've outlined here as it's on the Trans-Siberian Railway and, therefore, accessible with an entry to Russia in Moscow, St Petersburg or Vladivistok. Novosibirsk is also about as close to the centre line of the eclipse as you're likely to get.
• Barnaul - Barnaul offers a shorter eclipse than Novosibirsk at around the 2 minutes 17 seconds mark but seems to have had an interesting history which may provide for some interesting sight-seeing when the sun comes back!

Eclipse path

The 1st August 2008 eclipse will reach a maximum duration of 2 minutes 27 seconds over Russia. The path of the eclipse starts in Nunavut (Canada), the eclipse will continue through Greenland, the Arctic, Russia, Mongolia and China.

The 1st August 2008 eclipse will reach a maximum duration of 2 minutes 27 seconds over Russia. The path of the eclipse starts in Nunavut (Canada), the eclipse will continue through Greenland, the Arctic, Russia, Mongolia and China.

• Figure 1 - Orthographic (Global) Projection of the 2008 Total Solar Eclipse
• Figure 2 - Overview of the 2008 Eclipse Path
• Figure 3 - 2008 Eclipse Path Through Nunavut, Canada
• Figure 4 - 2008 Eclipse Path Through Greenland, the Arctic and Northern Russia
• Figure 5 - 2008 Eclipse Path Through Russia
• Figure 6 - 2008 Eclipse Path Through Mongolia and China

Eclipse Predictions by Fred Espenak, NASA's GSFC

We have also republished detailed NASA maps of the eclipse path in Arctic Canada, Arctic Canada and Greenland, Svalbard & Frans Josef Land, Noyaya Zemlya (Russia), Nadym (Russia), Central Siberia (Russia), Novosibirsk (Russia), China, Russia & Mongolia, China & Mongolia, China (Wuwei), China (Xian)

Eclipse Predictions by Fred Espenak, NASA's GSFC Maps were reproduced from NASA. Textual commentary is by Mark Sukhija who is not from NASA.

Information on the 2008 Eclipse

There are numerous sites on the web which deal with eclipses. Some deal with the subject in general, whilst others offer extensive technical details. I've tried to include a broad cross-section of sites here.

• Eclipse 2008 from Eclipse-Chasers.com - commentary on weather factors affecting the 2008 eclipse
• NASA 2008 Eclipse page - excellent page on the 2008 total solar eclipse

Further reading