Sky & Telescope November 1999 [antikvár]

LJspectrumOn to a Third SarosThe Moon's shadow was still racing toward the eastern horizon when my brain inexplicably began to calculate: 1999-1963 = 36; 36/2 =18 = 1 saros cycle. Suddenly 1 realized that I'd been around the eclipse block exactly twice, from Maine in 1963 to Turkey in 1999. It's been a huge hoot logging a dozen or so consecutive totalities. I hope I never find out what it means to miss one, and I wonder who has the all-time record for stringing eclipses along.Planning, of course, is everything. Being an amateur meteorologist has certainly helped my quest for clear skies. Nowadays, with weather satellites aloft and climatologi-cal databases ever more robust, it's hard to see how anything but outright bad luck can skunk an eclipse chaser who picks a syzygy carefiil-ly. In August, for example, we had a textbook example of climatology predicting accurately where the winners and losers would be (see the images on page 123).It's a cliche that every total solar eclipse is unique. Certainly, the Sun's corona changes always. But how about the eclipse experience? Does it change too? Yes, of course but not always.Contrast the 1983 eclipse in Java to this year's in Turkey. Both occurred in Muslim countries. The strait-laced Javanese disappeared inside their houses; streets were empty at totality. The progressive Turks, on the other hand, partied I'm sure the city of Elazig wiU never see such gridlock again!Our Stterly fascinated by equipment seemingly from Mars, views through our telescopes, and the opportunity to practice English. Amazingly, despite chock-a-block people and unattended valuables lying around everywhere, there was no confrontation or theft.To me this episode was bittersweet. Many Americans who had joined our tour canceled, fearing possible terrorism after the trial of Kurdish leader Abdullah Öcalan. Perversely, in the months and weeks before we left, insanity struck home in Littleton, Colorado, and Atlanta, Georgia. We worry much about violence, and we truncate life's experiences because of it.What we ignore is nature's unpredictable and omnipresent threat. Twice I've gotten caught up in an earthquake while on travel to an eclipse. The one in southern California in 1991 was pretty ho-hum; the one in Turkey was tragic. Perhaps I should take a hardhat with me on my next eclipse trip. But I won't, because it's much more fiin to grab a brass ring while unencumbered by superfluous physical or mental baggage.