Friday's remote solar eclipse will be on Internet
WASHINGTON (AP) - July 29, 2008 The total blotting out of the sun, which occurs when the moon's
dark inner shadow falls on parts of the Earth, can only be seen in
mostly remote places: the northeastern edge of Canada, the tip of
Greenland, parts of Russia, China and Mongolia, including the famed
Gobi desert. For those who can't be there, it will be shown live on
the Internet.
Some of the areas where the eclipse will last the longest -
including parts of the Arctic - have a 75 percent chance of bad
weather that will make it tough to see. This eclipse at its peak
will last for 2 minutes and 27 seconds.
Yet eclipse chasers can't wait for the sky to darken, animals to
howl and people to stare in awe.
"It's so rare and unusual, it's unfortunate to pass up any
chance," said NASA astrophysicist Fred Espenak, who has been
chasing eclipses since 1970 and has his own Mr. Eclipse Web site
and a NASA solar eclipse Web site. Espenak will be in northern
China to watch the eclipse with a tour group.
The Olympics, which start a week later in Beijing, are making it
expensive and difficult to get plane tickets and hotel rooms,
Espenak said. And the world's economy and fuel prices are making it
even tougher, so fewer people are going, said Richard Fienberg,
editor emeritus of Sky and Telescope magazine and spokesman for the
American Astronomical Society.
Past eclipse tours cost around $1,000 to $2,000, but many of the
China tours are $3,000 to $6,000, plus airfare. To join Fienberg on
a Russian icebreaker that includes a North Pole stop costs about
$23,000.
There is a a cut-rate closer to home option.
"The northeastern part of Maine will see a little bit of this
eclipse right at sunrise," Espenak said.
And the eclipse can also be seen remotely. Museums, such as the
Exploratorium in San Francisco, will have eclipse events. NASA, the
Exploratorium and others will broadcast the eclipse live on the
Internet. It reaches its peak at 7:09 a.m. EDT.
Next year's total solar eclipse - July 22, 2009 - will be more
southern and last the longest of the 21st Century: 6 minutes, 39
seconds. But it will be during monsoon season and can be seen, only
if the weather cooperates, in India, Nepal, Bangladesh, Bhutan,
Myanmar, China and the Pacific Ocean.
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On the Net
NASA's 2008 solar eclipse web site:http://eclipse.gsfc.nasa.gov/SEmono/TSE2008/TSE2008.html