Total eclipses from now to 2019 - which one is the best trip?
July 22, 2009
Parts of Asia enjoyed a long total eclipse last night, and readers of the travel media may remember months and months of ads pushing the event - for specialists such as Wendy Wu, which registered chinaeclipse.com as a dedicated eclipse tours website, this was a nice selling point.
So when is the next bankable total eclipse? With ocean covering 70% of the Earth's surface, landfall can be scarce, and even when it happens isn't always in an attractive destination.
Here's a quick map and list. Locations and times are for places that will see the total eclipse, and the map is a sketch - click each line for a link to precise details from NASA.
View Total eclipses 2009 - 2019 in a larger map
2010: Southern Chile and Argentina, 2-3 minutes
2012: The tips of Queensland and the Northern Territory, 2-3 minutes
2015: Faroe Islands and Svalbard archipelago, 2-3 minutes
2016: Parts of Indonesia, 2-3 minutes
2017: Central US, 2-3 minutes (the only eclipse of 2009-2019 in which the point of Greatest Eclipse is on land - it falls in the south of Kentucky)
2019: Central Argentina, 2-3 minutes
So which ones do you think have most potential for attracting travellers from the UK? Australia, Indonesia and the US?
Homepage pic: Top Photo Group / Rex Features
Nathan Midgley
