TSE6

Eclipse morning dawns gloriously clear, the Sun rising golden over the mountains to the east, the sea glistening in the west. The Sun is in Pisces, a rather starless part of the sky, so there will be no bright stars near the dark Sun. But Mercury and Venus are nearby and should be conspicuous.

Spent yesterday afternoon in the old Roman town of Side, where lots of eclipse chasers were picking spots where they might photograph the eclipse against a background of a Roman temple or such. No camera for me. It will be all eyes.

The folks I'm hanging with have a spot all picked out on the roof garden of the hotel.

In a few hours the tip of the Moon's shadow will touch the Earth near the coast of Brazil, race across the South Atlantic, Nigeria Chad, Libya, the Mediterranean Sea, and hit us at 1:54 PM local time. Of course, we will be in partial shadow long before that. Most of Africa and all of Europe will have a partial eclipse.

Here's the place in the sky where the Sun will go dark.