Total Solar Eclipse 2009

Morning everyone!

The 2008 total solar eclipse eclipse has not yet occured but it's now also time to start considering the 2009 July 22 event. I know a couple of people have already made plans to observe it from China.

Fred Espenak's page on the TSE is sunearth.gsfc.nasa.gov/eclipse/SEmono/TSE2009/TSE2009.html

A very attractive trip is being offered at this site: www.astronomyvacations.com ... two of us have already booked the cruise.

Also, it's worth keeping an eye on this option: xjubier.free.fr/en/site_pages/Solar_Eclipses.html

www.explorers.co.uk is a respected eclipse tour company which I travelled with before to view the 2001 June 21 eclipse from Zimbabwe.

Paul Maley's group also offer very nice tours www.eclipsetours.com/ (many people know of Paul from his asteroid occultation expeditions and he is also a leading expert on satellite observations).

All the best,

John

Hi John,
Thanks a million for those links, I'm looking at the cruise ship one and given the dollar euro conversion rate at the moment, it would be tempting, what are the weather prospects on the eclipse cruise ?
I was also considering a trip to Shanghai and working my way to the eclipse path from there by car.

Morning everyone!

Hi John,

The 2008 total solar eclipse eclipse has not yet occured but it's now also time to start considering the 2009 July 22 event.

It is never too early and there certainly is lots of fun planning for these events.

I know a couple of people have already made plans to observe it from China.

+1 more = 3

Fred Espenak's page on the TSE is sunearth.gsfc.nasa.gov/eclipse/SEmono/TSE2009/TSE2009.html

A very attractive trip is being offered at this site: www.astronomyvacations.com ... two of us have already booked the cruise.

Also, it's worth keeping an eye on this option: xjubier.free.fr/en/site_pages/Solar_Eclipses.html

www.explorers.co.uk is a respected eclipse tour company which I travelled with before to view the 2001 June 21 eclipse from Zimbabwe.

These are GREAT links. Can I have your permission to copy and paste these links on our club's website ina few months when I will be preparing a webpage dedicated to the 2009 eclipse (similar to what we have now for the 2008 eclipse)?

Paul Maley's group also offer very nice tours www.eclipsetours.com/ (many people know of Paul from his asteroid occultation expeditions and he is also a leading expert on satellite observations).

The total solar eclipse in 2010 involving Easter Island looks really GREAT and I suspect I will be there as well ... I should blend in well with the natives. :mrgreen:

Hi,

I would also recommend Travel-Quest International, see:

www.tq-international.com/index.htm

I traveled with them to Libya in 2006. The Sky&Telescope people go with them.

They will also take you into space!


John

This sounds great - I have been diligently saving for an eclipse trip in '09 but wasn't sure if there'd be an organised trip from Ireland.
I am going to ring the travel company this arvo - before I do, are there any female travellers interested in this trip who'd be willing to share a room?
What's the time diff between here and California?
John, did you find out anything about flights from Ireland to Beijing?

Hi all,

No problem Anthony using those links. Will you be in Shanghai for the 2009 event?

The big factor with the ship-board trip Dave is mobility. If prospects don't look too good beforehand it can be repositioned somewhere along the track where the weather is better. Fred Espenak's site has a table of weather prospects about half-way down the page I think. The gloomy forecast over a large part of the track because of it being monsoon season certainly makes the cruise option very attractive. That said, the weather is fickle and you could be lucky from anywhere (i.e. in Antalya the general pattern each day was cloud forming over the Taurus Mts. in the morning and spreading towards the coast by evening).

I heard last night our planned ship had a fire on-board in 1991. There is also a 5% chance of a typhoon out in the Pacific and Kobe (one of our overnight stops) previously suffered an earthquake. Add to that the possibility of a N. Korean invasion on one of our other overnights when in S. Korea then it could be an eventful trip :lol: :lol: :lol: