The Total Solar Eclipse in Pictures from Novosibirsk

Yesterday I was able to witness a total solar eclipse here in Novosibirsk Russia. First, I must confess that leading up to the day of the eclipse I was not as excited as everyone else was. I planned to watch it with friends, but knowing it would only last a couple minutes, and it is just a spot over the son. Well, it was a lot more interesting than I expected. It was very interesting and if you ever get a chance to witness a total solar eclipse, don't miss your chance!

About Solar Eclipses
There are three main types of eclipses: Partial, Annular and Total. A total eclipse covers the sun completely.
According to the Saros Cycle, which is an accurate way to predict eclipses, an eclipse will reoccur nearly exactly the same way every 18 years 11 days and 8 hours. It is not perfectly accurate but close. Although all conditions are nearly identical (e.g. the moon at nearly the same distance from Earth and at the same time of year), since it is not a whole number of days difference, the earth is rotated differently and thus the eclipse is visible from different parts of the globe (each successive eclipse path is shifted by ~120º westward). However, the same eclipse returns to about the same geographic region every 3 saroses (54 years and 34 days).

About the Solar Eclipse of August 1, 2008
It was a total solar eclipse. It was visible from northern Canada (Nunavut), Greenland, central Russia, eastern Kazakhstan, western Mongolia and China. The greatest eclipse duration was reached near the town of Nadym in Northern Siberia Russia (about 1300 Kilometers from Novosibirsk where I was).
The last solar eclipse was on September 11, 2007. The last total solar eclipse was on March 29, 2006. The next solar eclipse is on January 26, 2009. The next total solar eclipse is on July 22, 2009.
The best page for information on this eclipse is NASA's page. Wikipedia also has a nice short page with more information. There is also a page in Russian here.

Photos of an Eerie Feeling
What was amazing, was just how dark it was! Before the eclipse, even just a couple minutes before the total eclipse it was bright outside. Almost like a normal day:


Then for two minutes it was pitch black outside like the middle of the night. Even street lights and building signs came on, it was noticeably colder and people even shot off fireworks!


Just reminds one how important the sun is. Two minutes later it was a bright sunny day again.