Annular Solar Eclipse 2010

AWESOME!

Any possibility of making it to Kenya? With/without running shoes?

Anthony.

I just checked with Egypt Air surrounding a "last-minute" reservation (vis a vis Oct 13-17) and the price is 409 euro. Interesting!

Anthony.

ayiomamitis wrote:
astrophotography from the equator[/quote]

:ohmy:

Aww bloody hell.
Now I really want to go!!!

Have you checked it out in starrynight, OMG, the southern cross, Eridanus right down to Archenar, alpha centauri and a blizzard of unseen DSOs!! oh man !!:ohmy:

The key to this trip is to get a decent house to rent in a remote area that will allow deep sky imaging with power and a flat horizon. Roads are terrible so getting a hotel in the city centre would not be a good idea. There is a nature reserve just a few miles south of the city. THis would make a good place for the eclipse.

However, for night sky imaging, we would need to get well away from the city lights.

Michael.

Michael,

The nature reserve is something I looked into and it is ideal for the eclipse. It is also a mere 7 km south of the city.

As for imaging, I can't really think that Nairobi would be that much light-polluted and especially seven kilometers to the south and the nature reserve. Furthermore, the southern sky is the ultimate target which means one would have their back on the city anyway and at a distance of 7+ km.

Another possibility I looked into is Mt Kenya to the west. Fred Espenak and Jay Anderson are going there (west side). Here I would expect very good darkness. However, travel in Kenya is characterized with dirt roads which translates to longer trips than what one would expect otherwise.

Anthony.