Why chase eclipses?

Total solar eclipse as seen in Turkey by Paul Evans of Larne, Northern Ireland Totality in 2006 as seen by Paul Evans in Turkey. Image is Copyright © 2006 Paul Evans. Image reproduced with kind permission.

Solar eclipses provide excellent and spectacular opportunities for travel. This year we went to China for the eclipse 2009 which was a truly exciting and enjoyable trip in a country I've never visited before but hope to return to. In the coming years, we'll be visiting Australia in 2012, Spitzbergen in 2015 and the United States in 2017. We're also talking about Indonesia in 2016. You don't get a whole lot more diverse than that.

Total solar eclipses are not just for astronomers. Of course, professional and amateur astronomers will be there with all their kit to study the eclipse but for those interested in travel there are many oppurtunities too. BUT, a total solar eclipse is one of the most spectacular natural phenomena known to man and, to my mind, impressive enough to make as much effort as possible to see.

As every eclipse is different both in length and location you will not have the same experience for two consecutive eclipses. For example, for our trip to Ceduna on the coast of South Australia in 2002 totality was just over 30 seconds. At Jaghboub in Libya, totality was 4 minutes. At Ceduna, we witnessed landfall of the eclipse - ie we watched the eclipse approach Australia from the ocean. Birds went to sleep in Ceduna and China in 2009 but there's no birds at all in the Libyan desert.

Upcoming eclipses

The next total solar eclipse is on 11 July 2010 in the South Pacific which, due to the current economic crisis, we'll have to miss. But I will be in Australia for the Queensland eclipse in 2012 and will be spending some time in Brisbane, Cairns and Port Douglas.

I've also started making investigations with a view to seeing the 2015, 2016, 2017 and 2019 eclipses. But these latter three are very much in the preliminary stages and really are only being investigated at the moment.

Eclipse memories

As a child, I remember seeing a solar eclipse. At the time, I was interested in astronomy and utterly fascinated by the spectacle. As time progressed, however, my interest in astronomy waxed and waned until 2002 when I experienced "The Eclipse in the Outback" in Ceduna, South Australia with two friends and the Astronomical Association of Queensland. I was hooked again and vowed to see another, which I did in 2006 in Libya. And many more thereafter.

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