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The #1 App In 2017 For Timing The American Total Solar Eclipse!
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The December 4, 2021 total solar eclipse starts in the ocean of the coast of Antarctica before sweeping across the land in an arc and reaching the ocean again to finish the path. The Point of Greatest Eclipse is located just off the coast on the western side of the path. The totality duration in the region of the Point of Greatest Eclipse is approximately 1m 54s.

This eclipse has limited ground-based observing opportunities, but there is a camp at Union Glacier that is located in the path of the eclipse.

There are a number of antarctic eclipse cruises that will try to observe the eclipse from the ocean.  But the weather prospects for the entire path are not desirable.  These cruises are also exorbitantly expensive.

Needless to say, this eclipse is only for the die-hard eclipse chasers or adventures that have always wanted to book an antarctic visit, and the potential to see the eclipse was an added interesting benefit.

Jay Anderson who runs the website Eclipsophile has a nice overview of this eclipse and it can be found HERE.

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The next reasonable eclipse following Antarctica will be an interesting hybrid eclipse in the region of Australia. A hybrid eclipse is an eclipse than begins on Earth with an umbra that is too short to reach the surface of the ground, so it is beginning as what would be an annular eclipse. But then, because of the geometry of the umbra, and the curve of the surface of the Earth, the umbra does reach the ground and there is a path of totality. After the path of totality ends with the umbra lifting off the surface of the Earth, there still is a portion of the eclipse with a short umbra as if it was an annular eclipse. Therefore the term "hybrid" meaing that the eclipse as seen from Earth is partial - total - partial.

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