The next true total solar eclipse is in 2008, starting from the extreme northern part of Canada, going almost over the north pole, through the northern part of Greenland, Siberia, Mongolia, ending at sunset in China.
A great site for eclipse information is this one .
We were on an expedition organized by Ring of Fire Expeditions, and the group was chock full of experience astronomers and photographers, so we hope to be able to borrow good photos of the actual event. Soon I should have access to our own photos, which will include other Libyan scenes.
Camping out in the desert was not at all what I’d thought it would be, though. We had anticipated quiet and solitude, and zenith-to-horizon stars at night. That’s what our Libyan tour operator had set up. But then the Libyan government decided it would be better and safer if all the eclipse chasers (or at least foreigners in organized groups) were gathered into a number of camps. So we had running water, clean toilets, food, and electricity. We also had humungous super-bright lights. We were “greeted” on arrival by pounding rock music, which continued until well after 2 a.m. the night before the eclipse, punctuated by fireworks. We did not see any more stars than you could see in many rural areas in any country in the world. It was impossible to walk far enough away to avoid the lights. Driving away from the camp for this purpose was also not permitted. You would not have wanted to be ON the paved road when some other vehicle came roaring by. You could not pull off the road without risking getting stuck in loose sand.
We had many interesting discussions with our Libyan tour guide. Ask me any question you like about Libyan life, and if we talked about it, I’ll tell you what he said.
I did get sick, though. Not in Libya. In London, where we stopped for a couple of days on our way home. Probably just a bad cold because I had forgotten how variable the weather is in England. Silly me, I had thought that it might be warmer in midday than at daybreak and went out with insufficient warm clothing. Or it might have been the pub food, since colds don’t usually cause me this much digestive discomfort. Or it could have been both.
Still, given the rarity of these events, the 4 minutes of totality were well worth the few temporary issues.
