I want to reach out to astronomers, eclipse chasers, and all interested people in Australia about the exciting times ahead regarding total solar eclipses.
Did you realize that 4 of the next 10 total solar eclipses on Earth will have their paths over Australia!
That's right, and they are paired up, 2028 and 2030. Then 2037 and 2038. I am very excited about it. I will be visiting Australia in the future for sure. There is very interesting astronomy, and very interesting alternatives for observing and photographing them. I am already writing about Australia in the 2nd Edition of my book.
Let's start by just looking at the paths.
In 2028, the path starts in the northwest and exits through Sydney. Of course, Sydney would be an exciting city to witness the eclipse, but there is something to be said for being in the northwest close to the Point of Greatest Eclipse; there, you gain totality duration, 5m 10s versus 3 m 48s in Sydney. And at the Point of Greatest Eclipse the umbra is a nice round circle and gives you a more even illumination of the horizon at max eclipse.
Note: I am warning people that this eclipse crosses time zones in Australia, so make sure you have the correct local time for your observing position, and it matches what you think your contact times are!
I have already been working on sky charts for 2028 and discussing them in the book. This may be a good eclipse to image Mercury during totality.
In 2030, the path begins in Africa as a very early-morning eclipse. The path then spends a lot of time over the ocean, ending in Australia as a late afternoon eclipse. There are a couple of interesting things about this path for Australia.
1. The sky chart for Sceale Bay is awesome! The chance to frame Jupiter and Venus with totality. In 2001, Jupiter was visible naked eye at mag -1.93. In 2030, it should be visible at mag -1.75
2. Move inland, to the northeast, and you eventually get to a point in the path where the 4th contact will start to be under the horizon. It is really fun to image an eclipse where the final set of partial phases is cut off by the horizon.
I did this in 2019, in Argentina, and in my book, I tell you exactly how to set up a wide angle stting eclipse sequence.
I have already been working on sky charts for 2030 and discussing them in the book. This is for Sceale Bay on the southwest coast.
The 2037 path is great because the Point of Greatest Eclipse is almost in the center of the country. We had this situation in the United States in 2017. When a path is distributed like this, the western side of the country has a morning eclipse, and the eastern side of the country has an afternoon eclipse. Very cool
This path reaches New Zealand with a respectable total duration of over 2 minutes. However, Auckland is out of the path and only gets a partial eclipse.
Everything I teach in my book is relevant for any eclipse. So, you can be preparing for any of these eclipses now.
The 2038 path crossed the country with a different arc.
This path reaches New Zealand again with a respectable total duration of over 2 minutes. The path is a bit further south than the 2037 eclipse.
Everything I teach in my book is relevant for any eclipse. So, you can be preparing for any of these eclipses now.
Amazingly, Australia gets what the United States had in 2017 and 2024, eclipse paths that cross. So folks who live in the cross don't even need to travel to see two eclipses, weather permitting.
I spent time in the book writing about the risks of being determined to stay at your property for an eclipse just because you live in the path. As these eclipses get closer, I need to study the weather patterns in Australia more.
The 2028 and 2030 paths have a nice broad cross with a lot of square kilometers involved.
The 2037 and 2038 paths have a broad cross over the mainland, covering a lot of square kilometers. And this is actually a double cross because there is a tiny section of New Zealand that is on the coast that gets the cross, also!
Everything I teach in my book is relevant for any eclipse. So, you can be preparing for any of these eclipses now.
The Second Edition of the book is now available.
The paperback book should be available to be printed from the Australian Amazon site.
The PDF download is available globally.
Digital versions will soon be available for Apple Books and Google Books.
