Re: The Sun is Going Away For Awhile, Don't Panic

[TELECOM Digest Editor's Note: The one almost total solar eclipse I
> can recall did not cause absolute, total darkness in the USA (I was > living in the Chicago area at the time). It resulted in what appeared > to me as a sort of 'twilight' condition; the sky was extremely _blue_ > and transparent. After eight or ten minutes of that, things returned > to normal. Does that make sense? Does anyone know exactly where the > eclipse will cover on March 29, and to what extent and for how long? PAT]

According to , "On Wednesday, 2006 March 29, a total eclipse of the Sun will be visible from within a narrow corridor which traverses half the Earth. The path of the Moon's umbral shadow begins in Brazil and extends across the Atlantic, northern Africa, and central Asia where it ends at sunset in western Mongolia. A partial eclipse will be seen within the much broader path of the Moon's penumbral shadow, which includes the northern two thirds of Africa, Europe, and central Asia." There's a map on that page, which is not the best one I've ever seen.

A telecom tie-in: The Exploratorium in San Francisco is sending a TV crew to Turkey, whence the eclipse will be broadcast live:

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. You can watch it on the web around 2am Pacific Time, or watch an archived version later. You can also go to the Exploratorium and watch it, presumably on a much bigger screen. You can watch Turkish dancers while you're waiting.

The next one over the continental US won't be until 2017.

Jack Hamilton California

Qui vit sans folie n'est pas si sage qu'il croit. Francois VI, duc de La Rochefoucauld