My whirlwind tour to the 

 North Pole and back for 

 175 seconds of totality 



As regular readers of my "Skylog" column are 

 aware, a total solar eclipse was predicted for 

 August 1 , 2008, one whose track would stretch 

 from northern Canada across the Arctic Circle 

 and into Siberia and China. Although I had 

 traveled to witness nine previous eclipses, I 

 figured I would have to forego this one — hard to reach 

 from my home base near New York City. Even a trip to 

 Novosibirsk — a readily accessible major city in Siberia, 

 directly in the path of the eclipse — didn't seem worth the 

 investment of time and money. The likelihood of clear 

 skies there was little better than fifty-fifty, given the usual 

 weather patterns at that time of year. But then, in late June, 

 I was presented with an opportunity to observe the eclipse 

 from a most unique vantage point. 



Once or twice a year, a German tour company called 



1 Dusseldorf 



Flight from Germany en route to the North Pole intercepted the 

 Moon's shadow at 9:41:33 a.m. Greenwich Mean Time. During the 

 brief "totality run" the aircraft flew northeastward, broadside to the 

 Sun, to provide a view of the eclipse from the passenger windows 

 on the right side (it being morning, the Sun was in the east). 



36 naiurai HISTORY October 2008 



