Made Good Morning America, we almost kicked Rob off the plane for tv production antics... but, he became an eclipse chaser so, now he's all good.
https://www.goodmorningamerica.com/news/video/closer-ring-fire-solar-eclipse-78193548

Recap from Sky and Telescope Magazine.
https://skyandtelescope.org/astronomy-news/chasing-the-sun-at-39000-feet/

Thanks for posting all this. I have been reading this from the beginning but never posted. Maybe I missed it, but what is the deal with the change of plans from landing and doing bus trip to optimal spot... I assume Canada is still locked down from CoronaFear, so you could not land and had to watch from airborne. Was the flight full and people crammed in windows? Can you elaborate on the plan change, and what it was like, including the vibe and how it was different than your other trips? When is the next one?

edited to add: I misunderstood your earlier post about the travel restrictions. I thought renting an airbus was some way around the travel restrictions, and the arrow map path I thought was your bus trip route, but just realized it was the flight path. Still interested in hearing more about it, and saw the next one is in December... where?

Tabasco said:

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Thanks for posting all this. I have been reading this from the beginning but never posted. Maybe I missed it, but what is the deal with the change of plans from landing and doing bus trip to optimal spot... I assume Canada is still locked down from CoronaFear, so you could not land and had to watch from airborne. Was the flight full and people crammed in windows? Can you elaborate on the plan change, and what it was like, including the vibe and how it was different than your other trips? When is the next one?

edited to add: I misunderstood your earlier post about the travel restrictions. I thought renting an airbus was some way around the travel restrictions, and the arrow map path I thought was your bus trip route, but just realized it was the flight path. Still interested in hearing more about it, and saw the next one is in December... where?

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Yes Canada is in lockdown and cloud prospects were pretty iffy. Original plan for me was to view from the ground in Iqaluit, Baffin Island. The flight was the workaround to get "into" Canada without touching the ground. US DOT and Canadian govt set up basic rules and FAA allowed the flight to go from MSP to MSP (but technically flight was labeled to fly to DLH - Duluth). Funny how FAA commercial destination had to be another airport!

No more than two people per row. I shared the exit row with a new friend and we had plenty of room. They staggered us for take off and then we all moved over to the right side of the plane at 39,000 ft. They flew manually and tipped the wing 5 degrees to allow for viewing unobstructed by the wing. Probably the first Airbus pilots to actually get to FLY an Airbus!?

The vibe was very festive, especially after the eclipse considering we went through TSA at 2am and most were feeling asleep still! Champagne was distributed to all after and the convos and laughter continued. Like-minded folks united by a cosmic event... nerd bird!

The next one is a Total on 12/4/21 near The Drake Passage and into Antarctica.... several folks are flying. I'm taking a cruise to Antarctica to continue on the path of touching all 7 continents.

We may have clouds out by South Georgia Island for totality, but they all come with cloud risks (even flights are not guaranteed as we missed sunrise yesterday due to big storms).

Check that Sky and Telescope Mag article for more details. They did a decent job of recapping the event.

Hope this helps clear up some of the confusion.


EDIT: Not just West of South Georgia Island. We will be just East of Coronation Island.

Actual flight path! Thanks be to the pilots!

Detailed recap of 6/10/21 eclipse written by Expedition Coordinator for the NASA Johnson Space Center Astronomical Society, Paul Maley.
https://pauldmaley.com/2021-annular-solar-eclipse-flight/

Post flight tarmac shot of Ring of Fire Expeditions members aboard this flight :

Keep the updates coming, I love reading your posts. I had no idea about the lunar eclipse this Friday and I am definitely going to try and check it out

Bump

Update on 12/4/21. Unfortunate results. We sailed halfway to South Georgia Island to intercept the total solar eclipse path but were clouded out. We thought we had a lucky hole in the clouds but it closed up right at totality! It got very dark for 2 minutes (darker than it does at night around here in December). 9 out of 10 cruise ships got clouded out (Nat Geo boat saw it). Only other successes occurred on a $50k per person central Antarctica expedition and on 2 flights through the path. My friend from Germany was on that land trip and got excellent data!

Spirits are high and plans are being made for the next one! Lectures everyday by brilliant phds and nasa scientists on a wide variety of topics kept us occupied.

Now in El Calafate for a 3 day glacier tour. Finally off the boat (Ponant Le Boreal). The food and drink were fantastic, but the seas were brutal. No imaging on my end. Took a cool vid with a dji action 2 (basically, a go pro plus), but it only shows the skies getting dark and light again.

So, below is a shot of my rig, then a composite of several exposures by my buddy. Also a shot of his plane that landed on Union Glacier. Amazing!

Path of 12/4/21

Path

Highly detailed review of the expedition to witness the Total Solar Eclipse of 12.4.21:

https://eclipsetours.com/2021-antarctica-total-eclipse-results/

Thanks for posting, enjoying the show

Clear skies all damn day and this effing storm rolls in to cover everything

btw, anyone know what that star/planet is at about 10:00 just adjacent to the moon?

Nice! Going to Western Australia next spring for the total solar?

wessimo said:

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Nice! Going to Western Australia next spring for the total solar?

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Indeed! NW near tip of the peninsula … staying in Exmouth. Doing 3 days in Exmouth, then back to Perth (& Fremantle), then back to the east for Whitsunday Islands for the Great Barrier Reef. Going via AstroTrails UK. They have plenty of packages to fit your commitment! https://www.astro-trails.com/

And here we go! 4.20.23. Exmouth, Australia. Here's a cool Melbourne radio discussion about the coming event!
https://www.abc.net.au/melbourne/programs/theconversationhour/the-conversation-hour/102053362

A couple friends are going with the company you recommended (Astrotrails). I think they are flying up from Perth the morning of the event and back to Perth later in the day. Wish I was going.

Blasta Brewing is worth a stop if you are in the neighborhood.