Tootfinder

25 years ago #OTD I observed a long Total #SolarEclipse in #Zambia: lots of pictures in the albums https://www.geocities.ws/skyreports/zam2001/index.html = https://web.archive.org/web/20130529024154/http://www.astro.uni-bonn.de/~dfischer/skyreports/zam2001/ and a long story (in German) in https://www.geocities.ws/skyreports/zam2001/bericht.html = https://web.archive.org/web/20120527054554/http://www.astro.uni-bonn.de/~dfischer/skyreports/zam2001/bericht.html

Today ESA ran a media briefing about the 12 August Total #SolarEclipse: a recording just dropped at https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kRWD3D_thFA

Here is another documentary about the looong 11 July 1991 total #SolarEclipse, this time set in La Paz, Baja California Sur, Mexico (where yours truly had been, too): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_p5cbMrdb5w - many prominent eclipse chasers and scientists make an appearance, too many of them already deceased by now. And there is also a Canadian documentary at https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=R6qu8vFzvbA - with material from many places including the best corona (and prominences) in minutes 19-22.

35 years ago today a particularly long total #SolarEclipse hit Hawaii and Central and South America - of which astronomers on #MaunaKea made ample use as the legendary #WGBH documentary "Eclipse of th Century" shows: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JRI5FEQbn7o = https://archive.org/details/EclipseoftheCentury (my favorite scene is in minute 45-46 when astronomers rush out of a telescope control room during totality to marvel at the eclipse with their own eyes). See also https://diary4dan.wordpress.com/2016/07/11/heute-vor-25-jahren-bei-der-riesen-sofi-in-mexiko and https://skyweek.wordpress.com/2026/07/06/das-sind-die-asteroiden-torifune-kamoʻoalewa ("Eine ungewöhnlich lange Totale Sonnenfinsternis") for further memories of that event I've found online 10 years ago and today.

Happy outcome of the #SolarEclipse 2026 dress rehearsal at the #planetarium in #Bochum, Germany, today: the whole event from beginning 14° high through maximum eclipse in 6° elevation down to 3° can be folllowed without obstruction from a specific - and covenient - zone on the premises. This picture was taken at the very 'moment' of maximum eclipse with the Sun in my back: whereever it's shining here, it could be seen. Not ideal for telescopes or big tripods, but many people with eclipse glasses and handheld cameras could be served. Only the weather on 12 August has to be as gorgeous as today ...

The total #SolarEclipse on 12 August will be a low affair both for totality watchers in Spain (let alone Mallorca) and for maximum partiality watchers in Central Europe, so making sure you'll have a free horizon for solar elevations below 10° in the right azimuth is essential. And now is the time to test the location you have in mind as on the evening of 12 August the declination of the Sun will be 14°47' while on April 29 and 30 it will be 14°38' and 14°56', respectively, i.e. 9 arc minutes or 1/3 solar diameter lower or higher. So if you see the low Sun both today and tomorrow (and don't expect any more vegetation or buildings to materialize in the next 3 1/2 months) you can be sure that you can also see the totally or maximally eclipsed Sun on 12 August. (This dress rehearsal idea has already been promoted - e.g. in https://www.rac1.cat/meteo/20260428/341109/dimecres-pots-anticipar-gran-eclipsi-agost-lloc-veura-dia.html - in Spain.)

RE: #SolarEclipse here: for public safety they should have renamed it "Looking into the Sun only with a certified filter!"