Where will you be on 11 August 1999?

by Martin Mobberley

It seems like only yesterday that I was elected to membership of the BAA, at the age of eleven. After receiving a warm and friendly welcoming letter from Lydia Brown I soon persuaded my father to take me to Lunar Section meetings, where I was in awe of Patrick Moore and open-mouthed at Henry Hatfield's lunar photographs. Twenty-eight years on I find myself in the President's chair. My father still helps me with my hobby and Patrick and Henry occupy the PRO and Treasurer posts respectively. In this rapidly changing world it is reassuring (to me at least) that some things are the same now as in 1969, the year that men first walked on the Moon and I became obsessed with astronomy.

But, inexorably, time marches on and in particular, total solar eclipses wait for no man. My strongest impressions from totality in Chile and India are of being in a unique place at a unique time for an event that could not be repeated; every second should be savoured. If you have never seen a total solar eclipse, these words will seem boringly obvious; if you have seen one, they will bring the memories flooding back. We are now less than two years from the Cornwall eclipse and, thanks to the tireless efforts of John Mason and Howard Miles, we have secured an excellent site at Truro for this event. We are most fortunate that John has agreed to coordinate the week-long BAA 'meeting of the century'; a formidable undertaking which only someone of John's calibre could organise successfully.

But let no-one be under any illusions about this eclipse. This takes place in cloudy Britain and anyone reading Howard's paper in the December '95 Journal can see that the probability of clear skies in Cornwall on 1999 August 11 is slim, and the probability of a grid-locked road system is high. If you really want to see a total solar eclipse and this is your best hope, don't kid yourself. Only moving down the track as far as Bulgaria/Romania or Turkey will give you a really good chance of clear skies. Travelling into nearby Europe, or even Alderney, may increase your chances slightly but if you are going to travel abroad anyway, why not increase them a lot?

For those of us who have seen a total eclipse and plan to see many more, Cornwall in '99 is a calculated risk; the only chance we will have to stand on British soil and experience totality. But if 1999 August 11 is your one and only eclipse chance, start thinking NOW about where you want to be in 20 months time. Looking on the positive side, the BAA 'meeting of the century' will undoubtedly be a most enjoyable event and will be followed (August 14-16) by the International Workshop on Cometary Astronomy at Cambridge, definitely another event for the diary. Personally, I am dreaming of a cloud-free Cornwall, massive prominences during totality and a Perseid fireball heralding the arrival of the diamond ring... Well, I can dream.

But we have 1998 to deal with first. The new year brings a Caribbean eclipse for some, Comet Tempel-Tuttle, and the prospects of exciting Giacobinid & Leonid meteor showers in October and November. May I take this opportunity of wishing all BAA members a happy Christmas and clear, dark skies in 1998.

Martin Mobberley

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