Until August 1 of this year, the thought of a bow tie might have conjured up visions of James Bond, roulette wheels, champagne, and the sort of sparkling diamonds of which Harry W. would be proud. But now, mention a bow tie, and I will wax poetic about my first full solar eclipse, a bow tie eclipse to be precise. Although, let me be clear, there is more than a little of Russian roulette about a solar eclipse. There are the pre-eclipse jitters. They can start anywhere from two years to six weeks before the event. And, in China, well, anything can happen, they say.As we traveled to Yiwu, a small city in northwest China’s Xinjiang province, through the fertile Barkol grasslands, the Karlik Tagh mountain range acting as our escort, we held our breath at a series of security checkpoints. There was more than a little hand wringing as our solar fate lay in the balance. At last, successfully positioned on our own plot of strategically located eclipse-viewing real estate, still we nervously paced under the glare of the late afternoon sun, waves of heat pelting us, the plain ringed by some rather glorious mountains. Squinting up at the firmament, we paced some more as the clouds scudded and careened across the sky, and yes, sigh, impeded our view of the sun. We were poised, each of us with our respective “instruments,” novices and professionals alike, in that stomach-lurching moment just before first contact wondering if our throw of the dice would be successful. Would the clouds part and allow us to view every second of totality when it arrived? Nothing less would do. And, with the warm-beer breath (alas no champagne, just delicious warm beer) of the obsessed and anxious we blew on the dice and were favored. But wait. “You say, “what about diamonds?” Mais oui, biensûr, two of them, one just before totality and one just as it ended, glimmering, shimmering, flawless diamonds of which Harry would have been proud. So, you see, James has nothing on intrigue and glamour. The glow which is created by totality is compelling and perhaps even addicting. The corona, the chromosphere, the prominences, the previously mentioned diamonds…
Well, you will have to see for yourself. Once you have tasted this rare light, these remarkable sights, the quest can only be for more. Every experience a fingerprint…Nothing repetitive, nothing certain, you are always on the edge of your seat even as you find yourself basking in the fathomless and infinite. For further and far more scientific and reliable information about eclipses, please visit: http://www.eclipser.ca. To view a total eclipse, join Far Horizons and the illustrious Dr. E.C. Krupp in China on July 22, 2009. Every lifetime deserves at least one total eclipse. But I am greedy and want more!
