Responsible travel or just a bit of fun?
Ok, these definitely aren’t sustainable travel options but we thought we would list destinations to ‘sustainably’ fuel your bucket list for the 16 years. So if you’re the type that’s inclined to travel halfway around the world chasing after the phenomenon that is the solar eclipse, or, if you’re just a person that loves travelling halfway around the world to see what’s there – then you’ve lucked out by landing up here.
How am I going to capture this?
It seems to be pretty widely known in the astro-loving community that for at least your first solar eclipse, you should all but forget your camera at home. The reason given is that “a solar eclipse is something that only the eye can behold.” Having missed the satisfaction of engaging in many a ‘moment’ due to camera tinkering I tend to agree here. However, it’s not likely that someone who’s just stepped off a twenty hour flight is going to see things so clearly.
Here is a link to a website that contains some excellent information on both solar eclipse’s and how to photograph them with standard gear, or in their words, literally “any camera.”
So what is so special about a solar eclipse anyway?
Lucky for you I’ve done some reading up and in short, a solar eclipse is literally the Moon getting between the Earth and the Sun which results in the day turning into the night (for a short while anyway.) But it’s far more complex than this and there are a whole host of factors that have to be just right for it to occur. And then there is the small matter of getting there.
A total solar eclipse can only occur:
> During the lunar phase of the New Moon.
> When the Moon is crossing the ecliptic.
> When the Moon’s orbit is inclined 5 degrees relative to this ecliptic (that’s why not every New Moon results in a solar eclipse & not every solar eclipse is “total” solar eclipse.)
> Because the Moon is 400 hundred times closer to the Earth than the Sun & the Sun is 400 times larger than the Moon. Which means they both look roughly the same size when viewed from Earth (that is amazing!)
> On Earth. Because no other planets in our solar system have the same incredible 1-1 ratio between their Sun and Moon.
So without further adieu let’s get stuck into the list and find out where you can view the next 16 years worth of solar eclipses from!
2014 – [Partial]
April 29th – South Indian Ocean, Australia & East Antarctica.
2015
March 20th – Faroes, Svalbard & The North Pole.
2016
March 9th – Indonesia.
2017
August 21st – USA: Oregon to South Carolina.
2018 – [Partial]
August 11th – Northeastern Canada, Greenland, Iceland, Arctic Ocean, Scandinavia, northern British Isles, Russia & Northern Asia.
2019
July 2nd – Chile & Argentina.
2020
December 14th – Chile & Argentina.
2021
December 4th – Patriot Hills, Antarctica.
2022 – [Partial]
October 25th – Europe, Northeast Africa, Mid East & West Asia.
2023
April 23rd – Australia & Indonesia.
2024
April 8th – Mexico, USA & Canada.
2025 – [Partial]
March 29th – Northwest Africa, Europe & Northern Russia.
2026
August 12th – Greenland, Iceland & Spain.
2027
August 2nd – Gibraltar, Egypt & Mecca, Saudi Arabia.
2028
July 22nd – Sydney, Australia & New Zealand.
2029 – [Partial]
June 12th – The Arctic, Scandinavia, Alaska, Northern Asia & Northern Canada.
2030
November 25th – Botswana, South Africa & Australia.
So there you have it. Travel plans until 2030. See you on the road!
Without the help of the following sites i’m afraid this post would have been desperately inaccurate.
References:
