How do eclipses occurs? This talk discusses the basic geometry of eclipses.
The talk also discusses the powerful and ever prevelant myths and superstitions related to eclipse, since generations, in Indian context. How to safely to view the eclipse, various simple methods can be adopted. Overall basic information a lay person would need to observe a total solar eclipse scientifically.

Countries the size of India can expect around a dozen solar eclipses to cross them every century. Unfortunately for us, India suffers a shortage of central solar eclipses this century. Charts of all 24 eclipses from 1800 to 2100 will be shown together with their Saros numbers and duration. Animations of the Moon’s shadow crossing the Earth will also be shown.
I have chosen to outline the preparations and results from the three total eclipses 1868, 1871 and 1898 for the following reasons:

• The 19th century had over twice the number of central eclipses than occur this century
• Travel had become easier
• Photography was now possible
• It was unknown whether the corona was to do with the Sun, Moon or an Earth-based effect
• Serious scientific results could still be obtained

Details of these three total eclipses have been gleaned from my personal eclipse book collection.

After my talk I will present one of my lunar eclipse books to S.P.A.C.E: Eclipses of the Moon in India by Sewell, published in 1898

Location is one of the most important factors in selecting a viewing site for a solar eclipse and careful planning is required to increase the chances of success as last year in Antarctica. Having good and flexible mapping tools is in this regard very important.
Since 2005, stunning new cross-platform applications - Google Maps and Google Earth - have become freely available. Solar eclipse tracks, weather and air pollution data can be overlaid onto the imagery of these free applications and this has become a key tool for solar eclipse enthusiasts.

This presentation will review the available data, its accuracy and the accuracy of displayed eclipse track calculations. We'll have a look at interactive local circumstances calculations and at the Five Millennium Canon of Solar Eclipses web tool which let you explore nearly 12,000 solar eclipses. To finish we will see how such tools were used to prepare for the 2008 annular expedition in Antarctica and how they can be used to plan for the 2009 and 2010 eclipses.

How I got started in planning eclipse tours; the previous types of itineraries I have done on all the previous trips, and what/why decisions are made in advance; using my 2009 tour as an example, how the tour is actually put together; all the strategies used to prepare for a SUCCESSFUL tour, and specifically, the importance of contingency plans to account for a failed schedule/transport/hotel and the most important contingency... WEATHER; the use of Fred Espenaks bulletin in putting a plan together; the use of a handheld GPS in picking a location; incorporating Xavier's Google Maps in planning a location; how to travel for free once you have put a plan together; Q/A and group dicussion, allowing people to share theie own experiences, and advise.
A short discussion on the sequence of events to be aware of for the 1st time eclipse viewer, discussed as a timeline from about 12 hours before  C-1 (weather observations), then assuming a clear weather picture, from about 5 minutes before C-1 until right after C-3.

A brief talk on using safe viewers for the partial phases of the eclipse, as well as dark sky eye acclimation.

Eclipses are predictable, but it is the less-predictable weather and the choice of location that dictates if it will be seen. The July 2009 total eclipse over India, in the midst of the monsoon season, comes at an unfavourable time of year, making weather planning critical for success. On the other hand, the annular eclipse in January of 2010 arrives in a more promising season, but lies across southern India where the monsoon-like weather does not fully retreat as it does in the northern regions of the sub-continent. Site selection here is less critical than in 2009, but still requires attention to weather patterns and terrain. Conditions for the eclipse on January of this year will give us a feeling for conditions to be expected in 2010.

This talk will focus on the weather prospects across India for each of these eclipses, providing climatological forecasts, the locations of the best sites revealed by the climatology, and eclipse-day strategies that may help in the hours before second contact. Since the eclipse itself comes with disturbances to the atmosphere, the talk will also discuss the effects on the weather as the shadow of the Moon approaches and passes and bring examples from eclipses of the past.

Digital cameras have transformed astronomical (and in particular eclipse) photography. Just about anyone with sufficient knowledge can take a range of very good images that previously were the domain of experienced professionals. This talk will guide you through camera and lens choice, camera settings, ancillary equipment and the sequences that should be followed to achieve a range of images capturing all the eclipse phenomena. Time permitting; the talk will next concentrate on a few simple processing techniques and ideas to make sure your images show their best.

A total solar eclipse is a natural phenomenon of the immense interest and curiosity to human beings always. As the Moon starts its passage across the face of the Sun, a small "bite" appears on the western edge of the Sun. Gradually, as more and more of the Sun disappears, an interesting effect can be seen: the tiny spots of light shining through the leaves of a tree, for example, show up on the ground as crescent images of the slowly vanishing Sun. While a small crescent of the sun remains in the sky, a curious eclipse phenomenon is often observed. Thin wavy lines of alternating light and dark can be seen moving and undulating in parallel on plain light-colored surfaces. These are so-called shadow bands. The bands form as a result of sunlight being distorted by irregularities in the Earth's atmosphere in a height range of 1 - 2 km. These are best observed on an open floor or wall (light colour or off white screen will show even better). The shadow bands form only just before the totality and immediately after it. Thus in most high elevation eclipses one can have only short glimpses of these bands. It is also important to look for these in the direction opposite of eclipsing Sun. A lower elevation eclipse turns out to be boon for observing the shadow bands as the path length of light rays through the turbulent part of atmosphere from the crescent Sun increases with decrease of elevation. The first very successful shadow band experiment was conducted at Maitri on 23 November 2003. In this presentation I plan to present results of this experiment. As this experiment was conducted at a very extreme weather conditions, there were some drawbacks in the experiment which we should overcome. The nature has provided us with great opportunity that a low elevation total solar eclipse is going to occur on 22 July 2009 in the western part of India. We plan to conduct a campaign of "Shadow band experiment" in Gujarat and Madhya Pradesh. The efforts are on to mobilize more and more students, teachers and the interest public to participate in the observing and making it a great success. I will present plan and a simple layout of the experiment. Shadow band is part of a large community of scintillation phenomenon in nature; it will also be interesting to put shadow band in the gamut of these natural phenomena.

The perfect alignment of the Sun and the Moon in the sky during a Total Solar Eclipse, presents a spectacle of awesome beauty for the Earth observer as well as a rare opportunity for astronomers/scientists to study the Solar Corona in fine detail, TSE observations have also led to other fundamental discoveries. Usually, the celestial view of the event is the major focus. During the entire TSE event, however, neither the Sun nor the Moon is affected due to their alignment. In contrast, it is here at the Earth that the action is – in terms of the effects resulting from sudden disappearance and equally sudden reappearance, over a period of minutes, of the incoming solar radiation reaching the Earth.

Different spheres of the Earth and its environment, from the surface, to the atmosphere and the ionosphere, as also the biosphere etc. respond in their own characteristic fashion to the relatively sudden stimuli created by the TSE. A careful measurement and study of these responses helps in improving our understanding of various aspects of the Earth and its environment.

The presentation would attempt to focus on the utilization of the unique opportunity of a TSE event in the study of Earth and its environment. Details of space based observation campaign to comprehensively image the Earth and its atmosphere during the Oct. 24, 1995 Diwali Day TSE over India, and the ground based shadow band studies during the Nov. 23, 2003 TSE over the icy continent of Antarctica, as also the most recent TSE over the Arctic on Aug. 1, 2008,  would be presented. Plans to observe the TSE event on July 22, 2009 would be discussed.

A total solar eclipse presents a fun, exciting and educational opportunity to teach young people about science.  Since 1994, I have been developing a suite of experiments suitable for this purpose.  In this presentation, I will describe two of these experiments.  The data for each of the experiments can be acquired with equipment that is not expensive, and in such a way that minimizes the attention required during the total phase of the eclipse, leaving the student free to enjoy the spectacle.  The flash spectrum of the solar corona is visible only for a very short time after the moon obscures the Sun's photosphere, but before it obscures the 10,000 km thick corona at second and third contacts.  This spectrum can be acquired by placing an inexpensive diffraction grating over the objective lens of a camcorder.  As an example, a flash spectrum that was acquired during the 2009 eclipse will be presented, and the analysis will be described.  A second experiment involves measuring the changes in temperature and humidity as the eclipse progresses.  I have acquired such data using a Hygrochron (TM), which can be purchased from Maxim Integrated Products (http://www.maxim-ic.com/) for approximately USD 100.  This device consists of temperature and humidity sensors, a microprocessor, memory and a battery, all in a package about the size of a stack of six US dimes.  The device can be programmed well in advance of the eclipse, and will "wake up" at a programmed time.  It will then record approximately 4000 time/temperature/humidity data points at an interval that has been chosen by the user.  Data from several solar eclipses will be presented and discussed.

Chair, International Astronomical Union Working Group on Eclipses

Total solar eclipses give us unique opportunities to observe the lower and middle corona, providing views of parts of the sun that are still not visible from spacecraft. I discuss not only the pleasure of observing total solar eclipses but also some of the scientific projects carried out at eclipses in the distant past and in the near past.

I discuss especially observations at the last three total solar eclipses, including searches for rapid oscillations in coronal loops as a test of theories of how the corona is heated to millions of degrees. I also discuss results from recent advances in high-resolution and high-contrast imaging at eclipses, notably by Miloslav Druckmüller. Further, I remind everyone of the pleasures of observing annular and partial eclipses, with examples.

The million degree temperatures that exist in the Sun's hot corona lead to high degree of ionization of the elements, therefore, free electrons constitute the main component of corona. Their density distribution is a key parameter for any physical modeling of the solar corona. The photo-polarimetric observations of the white-light corona provide the basic input for any theoretical modeling.  The long focal length photometric images of the corona help in detecting faint fine structures, while, wide angle observations provide maps of the large-scale structure. The polarization measurements help in separating out the F-corona from the K-corona, and also provide a qualitative idea about the coronal magnetic field structures.  Results from some past expeditions will be presented along with the plans for the coming long duration eclipse of 2009.

A revolution in the study of the corona came with the space age. In early sounding rocket experiments extreme-ultraviolet (EUV) and X-ray telescopes gave a view of the Sun very different from that previously seen in visible light. X-ray radiation arises from high-temperature coronal plasmas, and with these telescopes the corona can be mapped over the whole solar disk, and not only above the limb as in the eclipses. Until the invention of the coronagraph in 1930, the rare glimpses from solar eclipses were the only opportunities to observe and study the solar corona. French astrophysicist Bernard Lyot developed the coronagraph instrument which made it possible for the first time to occult the solar disk in order to study the inner corona (creating an artificial eclipse). Space coronagraph also allows us to image the outer corona. In this talk I will also discuss on the limitations of space observations and importance of eclipse observations for the study of coronal physics. The interpretation of eclipse data together with space data gives us new insights into earlier eclipse observations, and also allows the study of long-term historical variability of the solar corona, and of the solar magnetic cycle.

Prediction capabilities of modern theoretical simulations for coronal structures will be also presented.

The aim of this talk will be to discuss the physics behind the Sun's corona. As the corona is made up of very thin gas, only a relatively small amount of heat (compared to the energy flux of the Sun) is required to raise the temperature of this coronal gas to 2 million degrees. Since the radiation flux from the Sun is not directly absorbed by the coronal gas, understanding the source of the heat for producing the corona and understanding how this heat is put in the thin gas of the corona are the main questions which have to be answered to explain why the Sun has a corona. It is known that the shape and the appearance of the corona change with the sunspot cycle. Also, space observations show the emission of X-ray and EUV from loops above sunspots. These observations make it clear that the corona has an intimate connection with sunspots.

I shall present a non-technical discussion of how the magnetic fieldgenerated inside the Sun floats to the surface to produce sunspots and then how the magnetic energy above sunspots can get converted into heat to supply the energy budget necessary for the production of the corona.

My small talk is for those who have never seen a total solar eclipse. It describes the sequence of events that occur in the hour long partial phases. Then around the totality time there a a rapid sequence of events happening that are easily missed by the first time eclipse chasers if not especially looking out for it.

I will also show a very short movie. The movie does not look directly at the eclipse but rather what is happening all around you.

This talk will certainly prepare the first timers and tell them what to expect during a Total Solar Eclipse.

The human eye is a truly a dynamic sensor. During the totality the eye can assimilate the bright inner corona and fainter outer corona. Films and digital sensors do not have the capability of recording such a dynamic range of brightness. If you shoot an exposure which is less than the inner portions get properly recorded, as you increase the exposure the inner portions get overexposed and the outer portions come into view.

Various methods have been used, like a radially graded filter, to render the corona as the human eye saw it. In this small talk I discuss a method using a digital camera, shooting various exposures and then combining all images to form one image which resembles corona As The Eye Saw It!

There is  tremendous excitement in the astronomy circles in India about the July 22nd 2009 TSE. It is an eclipse with the longest duration of totality which stands at 6 minutes 39 seconds and will not be surpassed by any other eclipse in the 21st Century. The centre line passes across the ENTIRE breadth of India quite literally - from its Westernmost state of Gujrat to the Easternmost tip in the state of Arunachal Pradesh. The centre line also touches from the narrow chicken's neck, a thin strip of India flanked by Nepal, Bhutan and Bangladesh. Its almost a tailor made eclipse for India.

The path of totality is over 200 KMs wide which is again exceptional and the belt of totality passes from Surat, Indore, Varanasi, Patna and Dibrugarh.

Even at Surat a port city on the western coast  of India, where the eclipse first begins, witnesses over 3 minutes of totality, which is almost twice the duration of totality of the previous eclipse seen in India.