So I remembered that I should mark where and when next Total Solar Eclipses are going to take the place, so that I could plan some future trips and re-caping past Total Solar Eclipses.
29 March 2006
Egypt is the place where my first Total Solar Eclipse of 4min 7s observation took place. It was close by Libyan border in El Salloum desert. Quite an interesting experience to see the eclipse in the fields of sand! Unfortuantely there were no sand dunes, but it was raining a night before!
22 July 2009
China was second Total Solar Eclipse that I have observed with a duration of 6min 39s – the longest in XXI century ever been or to be.
13 November 2012
Location: Pacific Ocean, not far from New Zealand. Best place to observe is the ocean or in Australia, Oak beach town (south), just the problem is that there the eclipse will be very short. Duration 4 min 2 s (So worth it!). The tickets around 25,000Lt (~£6250)! Sounds like a nightmare! Is that a private Jet? Hope there exists cheaper ways to get there.
20 March 2015
The best place to observe is to the north of Norway. There are two choices: take a boat from Faroe islands to the South (I have no idea what islands are there!) or to try to get to Svalbard. Flight around 2000Lt (~£500). Eclipse duration around 2 min 46s. So short!
- I saw this video below and I felt goosebumps all over my body! So amazing!
Faroe Islands – Vintage vehicles from kovboyfilm on Vimeo. - The next one is even more amazing! This is Svalbard island:
Svalbard time-lapse (Klimaty Svalbardu) from saymonfilm.pl on Vimeo.
Svalbard from Rød Tråd on Vimeo.
Ski For Nature: Svalbard from Colin Witherill on Vimeo.
9 March 2016
That one is in Pagimana, Indonesia. I guess I could get to Maluku Utara island as well. Duration 2 min 18s.
21 August 2017
This is a great time for holidays in USA! The Eclipse in Kentucky state, not far from Nashville Clarksville. I heard that name Nashville somewhere in the movies. Duration 2 min 40s.
More about my experience you can read in:
2 July 2019
The best place to observe in Chile near Coquimbo. Duration 2 min. Even better in the ocean… There almost 4 min. Well this would happen unless I would have my private yacht until that time haha. However, it is a South hemisphere and this is the end of the winter so can be bad weather for observation.
4 December 2020
The location for this one will be in Argentina, not far from Sierra Colorada. It looks like a desert in there (almost like Egypt again!). Duration 2 min 9 s. Ideal place, and it is going to be summer there and summer in Northern hemisphere!!! Perfect time for holidays! I need to find out what is the weather like in there at that time and if it would be clear skies for observation, but I think it would be great!
8 April 2024
The best location to observe North Mexico, but quite far to travel from Cancun. Around 34h by car from Cancun to the required location of Dolores Hidalgo settlement. Alternatively in the south west of USA near San Antonio.
Coordinates of maximum duration: 25°17.2’N 104°08.3’W
12 August 2026
The best place to watch in North Sea. I guess out of the question. However, it should be also visible in South East of Iceland too. Spain is not ideal as it is close to sunset, so clear horizon will be needed, also atmospheric distortions probably will be impacting the view too.
Coordinates of maximum duration: 65°50’N 025°29’W(duration 2min 18.2s) in Greenland sea, around 30km west from Iceland shores (around 50km from Flateyri Harbor).
Coordinates of greatest eclipse: 65°13.5’N 025°13.7‘W (duration 2min 18.2s) in Greenland sea, around 30km west from Iceland shores (around 40-50km from Rif höfn port).
Probably best spot from the land is Svörtuloft Lighthouse (duration 2min 10.0s, overcast 10.2, sunny 1.4 days in August) or Látrabjarg in Iceland (duration 2min 13.2s, overcast 10.2, sunny 1.4 days in August), which will be on the edge of the shadow and will have shorter duration, but still will see the totality of the eclipse according to this NASA chart. However, weather prognosis doesn’t seem very promising for the time of the year. So maybe better option even though for a shorter of duration would be Spain.
Burgos in spain has 0 overcast days and 7 sunny days in August (duration 1min 45.7s), closer to the cost Oviedo doesn’t look promising as high chance of overcast (4.3 days) and not many sunny days (just 1.2) in August. Leon on the other hand has 11.3 sunny days and almost no overcast (0.1 days) chance. Other options are Calamocha, which is similar like Leon, or Peñiscola by the coast (a bit worse than Calamocha). So maybe somewhere near Leon would be the best spot with a good vantage point.
For more details checkout this Xjubier interactive map.
2 August 2027
The best location to observe is Egypt. I might consider once again to observe from Egypt. Alternatively it will be visible in Libya as well, but as I can see it is advised against all travels to Libya due to ongoing clashes between rival armed groups, so Egypt is definitely safer.
Coordinates of maximum duration: 26°49’N 031°08’E (duration 6min 23.2s), near Sohag, Egypt
Coordinates of greatest eclipse: 25°30.3’N 033°11.0’E (duration 6min 22.6s), around 50 km to the East from Kiman Al Matanah (middle of desert), Egypt.
In my opinion the best spot to observe it from reachability prespective would be Al Ash She (duration 6m 22.7s) or even Luxor (duration 6m 20.5s) as it is close to the central path and having this historical landmark in the view during the eclipse would be an amazing experience.
You could also venture to Barrâmîya, which has a road from Edfu leading to it and duration of eclipse there will be 6min 22.1s. Probably higher probability to see the eclipse further from poluted cities in the desert like Barrâmîya as there are more than 1.3 million people living in Luxor and it does shave a smog, so the sun might be not visible.
Both cities Luxor and Barrâmîya has a low chance of overcast, but as mentioned Luxor might have a smog, which will impact visibility.
For more details checkout this Xjubier interactive map.
22 July 2028
The naximum duration on land in North Australia. Alternatively it will be also visible in New Zealand near Glenorchy or Queenstown, but not ideal as duration will be only around 2m 55s, so you loose rougly 2.5 precious minutes of eclipse.
Coordinates of maximum duration: 15°04’S 125°47’E (duration 5min 9.9s) in the middle of Mitchell River National Park, Australia. It might be difficult to reach.
Coordinates of greatest eclipse: 15°34.4’S 126°42.4’E (duration 5min 9.7s), south of Drysdale River National Park and South East of (duration 5min 9.9s) in the middle of Mitchell River National Park, Australia. It might be difficult to reach.
The best spot might be Durack city (duration 5m 08.5s), Australia as it has the road so it would be easier to reach it.
Also you could just observe in Sydney, which is close to the central path, but duration will be just 3min 48.9s.
The most important factor should be the a good weather probibility in each of these places and Durack seems has the lowest precipation or overcast probablity in July compared to Sidney or Queenstown, which has a high chance of overcast.
For more details checkout this Xjubier interactive map.
25 November 2030
Once again in the Ocean and reaching Indian Ocean might be somewhat difficult. Alternatively it will be also visible in South Australia or South Africa.
Maximum duration coordinates: 3°36.8’S 71°14.5’E
Coordinates of greatest eclipse:
Best spots in South Africa are near Bergville (duration 2min 29.8s, overcast 3.7 days and sunny 1.5 days in November) and La Mercy (duration 2 min 34.4s, overcast 5 days and sunny 2 days in November).
Best spots in South Australia are Sceale Bay (duration 2min 01.7s, overcast 0.8 days and sunny 7.3 days in November) and Parachilna or Blinman (duration around 1min 53.6s, overcast 0.1 days and sunny 12.1 days in November).
So it seems best chance to see is in Parachilna or Blinman, but a much shorter duration) or to risk it and try to see in Sceale Bay (winning only 8 seconds), also Poochera has a slightly better weather. in November as it is a bit further from the sea.
For more details checkout this Xjubier interactive map.
Useful links
More information about Solar eclipses can be found in official NASA page or directly this link for this next decade.