Ep#26 - Nick James - AstroTrails UK

Ep#26 - Nick James - AstroTrails UK

Guest: Nick James, veteran eclipse chaser and longtime AstroTrails guide/traveler

0:58 – Welcome & intro: Nick's history traveling with AstroTrails
1:58 – The 2020 Argentina eclipse: pulling off a COVID-era trip via a special educational license, quarantine bubble, and the horse-paddock viewing site
8:36 – History of AstroTrails: from the 1973 Monte Umbi ship expedition to Brian McGee and Julie's growth of the company
16:14 – How AstroTrails plans itineraries, splits groups across sites, and navigates local logistics/contracts
21:59 – Nick's upcoming family trip to Spain for the eclipse, combined with his sister's 60th birthday
24:57 – Video vs. still photography for eclipses: camera gear, high dynamic range, and a new polarization camera setup
31:10 – Plans for the Perseid meteor shower the night after totality
38:34 – Scouting eclipse sites: using tools to check horizon/mountain obstructions
50:16 – Scouting the 2028 Australia eclipse: Sydney vs. the Kimberleys
53:27 – Nick's eclipse success rate: 18 umbra experiences and only a few clouded out
56:44 – Recapping the 2024 Mexico/Texas eclipse and last-minute cloud clearing in Torreón
59:22 – Closing thoughts and looking ahead to Egypt

https://www.astro-trails.com/

Nick's incredible eclipse videos!!:

2020:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HAlzqdfHTT8

2023:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DUniI-DCQKI

And many more:

https://www.youtube.com/@nickdjames

Leticia Ferrer's site: 

https://texassolareclipses.com/

Host Chris Chotas Alexander's Site
https://www.chotachrome.com/
IG: @chotachrome

Totality Talks is created by Leticia Ferrer and Chris Chotas Alexander.  

Totality Talks is produced by Chris Chotas Alexander.  

Transcript

SPEAKER_01 0:15

I'm Letitia Ferrara. And I'm Chris Alexander. And this is Totality Talks, the Solar Eclipse podcast.

SPEAKER_00 0:24

My breath away the whole thing. It's really cool that you can see the corona that you see. The sun kind of stealing out from behind the moon. Literally took our breath away.

SPEAKER_06 0:42

Welcome back to Totality Talks. In this episode, we have Astronomer and Eclipse Guide from AstroTrails, UK, Nick James. Let's jump right in. Hey, Nick James, welcome.

SPEAKER_03 0:59

Thank you. Thank you very much. Pleased to be here and happy Fourth of July.

SPEAKER_02 1:03

Hey, thank you. I'm just going to do a quick intro of what I know. I've traveled with Nick James several times with AstroTrails. He'd been on several of the tours with Ast AstroTrails. Most famously the COVID one. Where we actually made it there. We were the crazy people, risking our lives to see a solar, total solar eclipse. So Nick was part of the group that made that happen, for which I am forever grateful, because I still have my streak of every eclipse since 1998. Or an attempt to see every eclipse since 1998.

SPEAKER_03 1:36

That was an incredible eclipse. I remember that traveling around doing COVID tests, worrying that if anything turned out positive, you'd end up being stuck in Argentina for six months or something. But it was fantastic. Not really. It was really nice. Where we were, it was really good. But that was really AstroTeil's really doing an amazing job of getting us in.

SPEAKER_02 1:58

So can you want to tell can you tell us a little bit of how they managed that? Because that was a lot of. I mean, they were talking to the State Department, they were talking to Argentina.

SPEAKER_03 2:06

Um Yeah, so there was a there was a lot of backroom deals going on there. I mean, but it started off as just a normal eclipse trip. So hundreds and hundreds of people on it. Then it got to the point when COVID started, because the eclipse was in December 2020, and so that, you know, COVID started around March in 2020. So basically it went through a period when it looked like we weren't going to be able to travel. Um, but uh Brian and Julie, who are the the heads of uh Astro Trails, just don't give up. And they had contacts um with with various people on the ground through their local agents, and we managed to get a license, and I think there were only two of these issues for us to go in as an educational trip. It was very educational. Um and uh and yeah, we went in, and it was just an amazing experience because from my point of view, we left UK when COVID was just really flaring up again, so there were lockdowns here. Um I remember flying out of Heathrow, which is one of the busiest airports in the world, and we were the only group there was there was like about 20 or 30 of us in Terminal 5 Heathrow, and that was it. Uh, it was just an extraordinary experience. And when we got to Buenos Aires, we got checked for COVID. Um at that point, you know, if if any of us had turned out to be positive, we'd have all been well, we wouldn't have been turned back, we'd have been stuck, stuck in BA for a while. Um, luckily we weren't. We went on and we went to um uh Barilochi, which is absolutely gorgeous place, um, and then saw the eclipse from this this ranch. Um uh that was it was I remember it would be very, very windy.

SPEAKER_02 3:49

It was a horse farm. It was a foreign farm. And then a wind most windless spot with the horse paddock.

SPEAKER_03 3:56

Uh that's right, yeah. So they moved us to the horse paddock, uh, where the horses had been for quite a while. So it was a typical horse paddock with lots of horsey stuff in it. Um and um yeah, during the eclipse, the horses had been shooed out of the paddock, but they came in afterwards, and the the locals had put out some hay bales for us to sit on. Uh, and of course the horses just came in and started eating them. So there's there's great pictures of people with telescopes and cameras and stuff sitting on hay bales with horses coming and eat eating the hay bales. But it was, yeah, it was an amazing eclipse, and we were so lucky, and and it really was down to the organization of astro trails to actually get us in there. Um, but it was it was probably of all the eclipses I've seen, uh, in terms of not how spectacular the eclipse was, but just how incredible the journey was, that would be that would be at top of the list.

SPEAKER_02 4:45

It was and and that's what Chris and I met on that that that trip. That was the first time it was we had we were we were the crazy people. But what I found it fascinating by that whole story that I'd heard is that the reason we were able to go is that they already had a procedure for groups traveling for football to our to Argentina to play football because they're not gonna give up their football. And so they had like the quarantine process, everybody stayed together, they all stay in a hotel, all the kind of quarantine procedures, that's what we followed going in.

SPEAKER_03 5:25

I I hadn't heard that story, but I know we we did travel around in a bubble basically, didn't we? We we traveled around in a bus. We weren't really allowed, although actually when we got to Barilochi, we were allowed, yeah, we just we just went out. I know I can remember calling home from Barilochi when everyone at home was was locked down, not allowed to leave the house. And there I was in a bar in Barilochi with hundreds of people drinking beer. I mean it was it really was quite an amazing trip that one.

SPEAKER_02 5:50

Well what it's interesting. Well, but with Texas was kind of in that weird state back then. So I actually felt safer in Argentina because they at least had procedures. Every, you know, you got t your temperature taken five times a day. So I actually felt safer in Argentina.

SPEAKER_06 6:05

To get on bus, to get in the hotel temperature correct.

SPEAKER_03 6:08

Yeah, every time we got on the bus, we had a test and we they had a they had these thermal cameras that they pointed out at us. I'm not sure how effective they were, but they, you know, they they did have all of those.

SPEAKER_02 6:18

Well, when nobody got sick on the trip. No, no, we got the trick. No one got sick on the trip.

SPEAKER_03 6:22

And and when we came back, uh I uh again it'd be different for me, but when we came back into UK, we had to have a mandatory 10 days of quarantine flying back in. Um, but it was coming up to Christmas, so essentially we just did that hold up at home with for Christmas. Um but uh yeah, I and it was shortly after that, I think, we got back that that uh South America closed the borders to the UK because the UK had a a really strong strain of COVID, and so uh yeah, we weren't allowed to travel at all. So yeah, the timing was just perfect.

SPEAKER_06 6:55

We got to see it itself was was spectacular. We had those high clouds that we were kind of worried about and they whisked off. And actually, I've got this picture right here back here that yeah, taken from that, and that's when we had those clouds, when we went back and looked at our images later on, we could see shadow bands in those high clouds, yeah, and that was amazing. Seeing the shadow bands in the clouds, and I think it was Andreas Muller that pointed that out. He's like, turn up for you know, saturate or you know, turn up your clarity, and they all pop out, and yeah, so it's my favorite ones.

SPEAKER_02 7:30

And we did have amazing shadow bands on the ground on the ground. We had amazing shadow bands on the ground.

SPEAKER_03 7:37

Yeah, I mean, it was it was like all eclipses, you know, total eclipses, the the the experience is just overwhelming, but it was it was a beautiful one, and I've got some GoPro video of it where you see those clouds go across, and then as they clear, you see the the kind of rainbow colours in the clouds and uh and then the beautiful corona. So yeah, it was it was an amazing. I remember that trip you for so many reasons. The the actual just the experience of traveling, but the eclipse was fantastic too.

SPEAKER_06 8:06

Venus popped out real early. Yeah. Ten minutes before, like great view of Venus, and that wind was something else. That was yeah.

SPEAKER_03 8:16

Yeah, no, it was good. Uh, I think it was that one that there were uh there was a comet as well, Andreas got during the uh totality, and then there was another another bright comet as well there. So yeah, uh there's always something about an eclipse, isn't there? And and that, but that one just was was just something else. It really was.

SPEAKER_06 8:35

Well, tell us a little bit about the the history of Astro Trails and I guess Brian McGee and how that all started and how far you guys have expanded into multiple troops.

SPEAKER_02 8:45

And go back to explorers. Go back to explorers.

SPEAKER_03 8:48

Right, yeah. Well, or or yes, even even even before then. So so I think the the the first big thing. So it started off with Brian and his brother. Uh I were, I mean, uh, this was a long time ago, back in the early 70s. And I think the first big thing they did was um the Monte Umbi trip for the 1973 eclipse, which was the the long uh Saros eclipse in 1973, uh where they basically had a ship um off the coast of uh Africa um to go and see that eclipse. Um and that was there there's an old film you can find on on YouTube of that, uh, and it's basically it was it was mainly in those days Brits doing it. So it was a British company, uh it was mainly Brits. It had uh Patrick Moore, who's you know, very famous uh British astronomer uh of those days on on board the ship. And lots of stuff went on and they got to see, got to see the eclipse. And I you know, there there are people around you meet when you travel to go and see eclipses who were on that Monte Yumbi ship, and it's kind of like the the sort of almost right of passage of uh of um eclipse chasers to be on that ship. If you if you were on that ship, you really were a proper eclipse chaser.

SPEAKER_02 10:05

Well that but that was the Saros 136, which that was the first eclipse I saw in 1991.

SPEAKER_03 10:11

Yeah, so uh we'll come to 91 in a minute, which is my first eclipse as well, but I didn't see it. And I I blame the weather in Hawaii for that, but uh we'll we'll come to that one. But yeah, so it's uh it's that Saros, which is the Saros of course next year for the long eclipse that we have. Um yeah, which we're all I'm sure going to be going to. Um so that's that's kind of where it all started. But of course, in those days, yeah, trouble was you we we we kind of forget these days how how much travel we do and how relatively easy travel is, and in those days it was much more difficult. And so it it kind of there there was that, but but then they they developed into running eclipse trips, but they were still quite small-scale operations and they were still mainly UK-based operations. Um and then, yeah, the first one that I went on uh as a as a as a guest on that trip was the 911 to Hawaii. So I'd saved up all my money. Uh that was, you know, again, going to be a long eclipse. It was gonna be I I was uh really looking forward to it. I mean, it was it was a vast amount of money in those days. Um and uh unfortunately got to Hawaii. We landed at Hilo, so you you could be both sides of Hawaii. We were we were actually at Kona, I think we ended up at Kona, which was on the uh on the Western side, isn't it? Yeah, it's on the dry side. Yeah, uh it's it's on the side that Sky and Telescope said was was the optimum side to to view the eclipse, but unfortunately uh we didn't see it because there was a lot of cloud um both coming up to Eclipse Day and on Eclipse Day. And um for me particularly it was very frustrating because we'd we decided that we would try and get out of Kona um up the coast a bit. Um so we rented a car, uh, we drove up the coast uh and we didn't see it. We got back to the hotel where a few people had stayed, and they'd seen the eclipse miraculously through a hole in the cloud. So and this was my first attempt to see a total eclipse. So you can imagine I was a little bit um yeah disappointed. Yeah. Um but but yeah, that was that was the first trip I went on uh with Explorers uh for Eclipses, and then I've been with been travelling on them both as uh as uh you know guests on or as uh running some of the tours uh ever since then. Um and they've things have expanded massively. So even you know, back in the Hawaii days, it was quite a big thing uh because they they had multiple sites there. They had sites in Hawaii, they had sites in Baja. Um so they they wrote they were starting to run really big programs um with Brian. And Brian is uh, you know, if you've ever met Brian, he's an amazing character. He um I've seen him in the middle of the Libyan desert negotiating with people who've got you know AK-47s and and uh he won't back down. He he's a he's a guy. If you're traveling anywhere and you're in in some kind of place in the world where you you you you know you need somebody who's gonna do that, he's he's your man. So he's he rep he's run it pretty much since then. He now shares it with uh with Julie um who has got a similar kind of attitude and is is again very, very good at um negotiating with people and and particularly for the um the eclipse that's coming up in Egypt, she uh she's an Egyptologist as well. So she knows how to do she knows how to deal with with people in Egypt and how to get the best out of them. So yeah, and and it's just really expanded now. So in originally in the early days, you know, it was real eclipse geeks you'd get on these eclipse trips. Um now it's people who are doing it as part of a you know one of their hundred things to do kind of list. Um and there's a whole range of people. But it the travelling is still travelling is still great fun because you you generally and you you tend to go to places you wouldn't otherwise go to. You know, we've been to well we've been to all sorts of places, been to African countries, uh we met the president of Uganda once on one of the trips. We've been to um we've been to Libya and places you wouldn't go these days. But um yeah. And that's what eclipse chasing does. It gives you the opportunity to go to places you wouldn't otherwise go.

SPEAKER_02 14:48

I met Explorers in 2002 and I joined you guys for the 2002 eclipse. And then we took the train up to Al Springford.

SPEAKER_03 14:58

Yeah. Yeah. That was I Yeah, I remember, I remember that was a great eclipse. So uh so you saw it from Woomerh? Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 15:07

Yep.

SPEAKER_03 15:08

Yeah, I mean again that was another amazing example of a site that you never go to, you know, right in the in the centre of Australia. This this old uh rocket launching base, um that they kind of they put Brian persuaded them to kind of reactivate the old hotel there so that we had a place to stay. And um a great eclipse that was. Again, a very windy eclipse, I remember.

SPEAKER_04 15:33

Yes.

SPEAKER_03 15:33

Um sun very low down, it's set in partial phase after totality. Yeah. But yeah, that was amazing.

SPEAKER_02 15:39

That was an amazing trip. And I love the trip. We went all the way up to Allen Springs and came back with you guys. You we took the train with you guys all the way up to Alice Springs with one of the slides, and that was just great. That was just a great, beautiful trip.

SPEAKER_03 15:50

I remember we managed to drink the bar dry on that train uh which was one of the issues we had they had to stop somewhere and restart. So, you know, eclipse chasers can do that.

SPEAKER_02 16:02

Yeah. Especially after an eclipse. Yeah, just before well just before we're staying sober so we can get all get everything in, and then after that we're we're partying.

SPEAKER_06 16:10

Yeah, yeah, yeah, definitely. Well you guys you guys do so many itineraries per eclipses. Why don't you take us through that kind of planning? How do you decide where to go and do you just split the land and the sea and you know how does that process happen?

SPEAKER_03 16:30

Yeah, I mean part of that uh again, so I'm I'm I'm I'm involved from the point of view of um checking out the sites and and checking out the characteristics of the eclipse and sites and that kind of thing. But most of that work's done by the AstroTrails people and they've got they've got uh a reasonable team who do that. Um I mean, I guess part of it is is logistics. When you've got a very, very large number of people that you want to take on a on a trip, is you want to split them across multiple sites, um, because you know hotel hotel rooms are are potentially difficult to get for it for enough people. Um but also I think it it offers people the opportunity to choose places that they'd be interested in going and um and different experiences. So if you look at the one that's coming up for um the one in next year, the the the one the long eclipse over Egypt, there's a number of different options there. Um and I think it's kind of a personal choice as to whether you want to go and get the longest longest eclipse that you can in Egypt, um, where the weather in the middle of the summer in August is gonna be pretty searing, hot sun, and whatever, but you've got the opportunity to see an eclipse from an amazing site like Luxor, or or to choose sort of sites along the North African coast which are gonna be probably a little bit less stressful uh to get to. Um so I think, yeah, it it's offering it's offering people the the choice of different sites as a way of kind of uh different people have different uh requirements for what they need. Um it it does mean though that the the amount of work involved just becomes huge. Um and one of the things that amazes me about AstroTrails is they manage to keep on top of all this. I mean I know I know both Brian and Julie very well, and I know how stressful it can be. And particularly we all know that with Eclipses that you can have agreements with people um for hotels and other facilities that uh that can mysteriously disappear when those people realise they can make more money um in other ways. And so one of the one of the advantages of of having travelling with a company rather than travelling solo is that the company will have contracts in place and that kind of thing, which makes it more difficult for people to do that, but it still happens. And and I've been involved in situations where there've been last-minute things coming, you know, just a few weeks before you're taking 400 people to a place that where where things change. And so I know it can be very, very stressful. So I'm I'm lucky. I kind of I I'm outside of the wall of that. I I deal with the kind of scientific stuff and whatever, and but it's Brian, Julie, and the team at AstroTrails who do all that really hard work to make sure that when when people get there, there really are hotel rooms for them to stay in, and there really are buses to move them around, and and there are flights to move them around as well.

SPEAKER_06 19:33

Fingers crossed for 27. Yeah.

SPEAKER_03 19:35

Well, yeah, the the it generally works, both. It it generally works really well.

SPEAKER_02 19:40

Yeah. Well, the one thing I do want to say is that for those of you who are considering an eclipse trip with a tour group, they do earn their money. They're not cheap, and I get that, they're not cheap. But especially if you're going to someplace like that you don't that you're uncomfortable with, like Egypt, or even just Australia, which is, you know, the other side of the world. You know, it's great to go with somebody who knows the pe who knows how gets everything set up and they can just enjoy the eclipse and learn. So maybe you can go back on your own next time.

SPEAKER_03 20:10

Yeah. Yeah. I mean it it's uh uh there are lots of places you could go, you know, you could go solo to, but but there are a lot of other places where I it would be really difficult to do. And given that you're you're going to see the eclipse and you've got lots of other things on your mind, trying to deal with all the other stuff uh is would be really hard. And I think they they definitely know what they're doing. You know, there are other tour companies, I won't mention who they are, because there are some really good eclipse tour companies too, but there are other ones, there are other ones where it's really the eclipse is really just a kind of sideline on on top of normal travel companies, and so they they don't have the level of knowledge um to to get people to to the right place or or to you know check out the weather conditions, that kind of thing.

SPEAKER_02 20:57

So well, uh to me with commitment and and 2020 proved the commitment.

SPEAKER_03 21:01

Yeah, yeah. Yeah, oh absolutely. I mean that was that that was that was right at the top of commitment, wasn't it?

SPEAKER_06 21:07

Yeah. Well, I was cancelled from my trip, a bunch of tours were canceled, and I remember pacing back and forth saying, you know, I won't be denied, somebody had to be doing this. And Astro Trails was there. They were like, hey, actually we've got extra spots. Please come join us. And so that is brilliant and uh an exceptional, exceptional experience. And you know, you felt confident the whole time, even though they were sticking things up our nose uh every so often. It was still like, you know what, these guys have their they've got it together. Yeah, yeah.

SPEAKER_03 21:44

And I yeah, a lot of it comes down to the fact they've got good local agents, they have really good relationships with the local agents and quite often also with the local government as well. Um, and that really helps in a lot of places. Yeah, it's been very good traveling with them.

SPEAKER_02 21:59

So you mentioned That you're going to be doing a family trip for Spain. How d how do you decide to do that? Or where are you going?

SPEAKER_03 22:05

And so it really comes down to the fact. So we've got two eclipses now coming up, which are would be relatively easy to do for Europeans. And this this coming Spanish one was easy. And the reason why I wanted to do it is that I'm always going on about how wonderful total eclipses are. And uh I really wanted to show family friends, family and friends what a total eclipse looks like. So the last time I did this was uh back in '99, um, when we had an eclipse cross over the UK. Um we were clouded out for that one. Um, so this is an opportunity just to take the family to to Spain. Um it's my sister's 60th birthday as well, so we're gonna celebrate that in Madrid and then uh head off, head off up um to just south of Burgos, which is where we're basing ourselves. Um, and and we got a kind of big van to carry everyone around and a nice Airbnb to stay in. And so um I'm hoping I'll meet up with some of my friends from AstroTrails. I'm in Madrid um beforehand, and we're not far from one of the Astro Trails uh sites as well. But yeah, I just decided to to just have a a kind of year out, uh, do that because it was easy to do uh prior to coming into a fairly busy period after that with the uh with the eclipse of North Africa eclipse and then the Australia one. This was a an ideal opportunity to do this. And hopefully it'll be clear, we'll get to see it, and everyone will know why it is I I keep going on about how wonderful these total eclipses are.

SPEAKER_02 23:41

Well, I my family well, you know, if you're in Texas two years ago and yeah, two years ago, and my most of my family came with me for that one. And so now a lot of them are coming with me for the second taste on this one. Yeah and one sister who didn't see it then is coming on this trip with me. So that's they are go ahead.

SPEAKER_03 24:05

They are addictive, aren't they? I mean, my uh my brother-in-law came with me to the Australia one in 2012 when we saw it from just north of Cairns. Um, and so he knows what they're like. Um and uh yeah, they're they're just really addictive things. And I think for most people who see them, once they see them, they want to see another.

SPEAKER_02 24:25

Yep. At least at least once in a lifetime, and then there's the crazy ones like Chris and I that want to see every single one on the face of the planet.

SPEAKER_04 24:33

Yeah, yeah, yeah.

SPEAKER_06 24:34

Well, we had a great experience, all three of us, together within about twenty feet of each other in 2023 at Xmouth. And although it was brief, it was quite spectacular. Yeah, you had a you've had some great videos. Uh seems like you've gotten that uh that method down. Uh tell us a little bit about your your videoing and imaging.

SPEAKER_03 24:59

Yeah, so so thanks, Chris, for for that. I I mean I'm really pleased with the video we got there from X-Math. I mean, it was it was a gorgeous eclipse. It was a very short eclipse. So that meant that we actually got to see prominences all the way around. Um uh but it was it was beautiful. And I so I always say to people, because I know there are some people who who are just amazing photographers, and you mentioned Andreas earlier, he's a he's an example of that. But for me, I I don't want all the hassle of doing kind of still photography, so I've always done video. And the technology of video has advanced so much now that most most cameras, so mirrorless cameras, can can do really high quality 4K video. Um and from my perspective, I think video gives you a much better impression of what an eclipse is like than stills do. Um, because you've got the audio there as well, and people whooping and cheering in the background, and you've got you've got the the video. And because because the technology has now come along, you can get sort of similar resolution with video that you can with stills now. And it and to me, it's just much easier to do. You can set it running, you don't need to fiddle with things during the eclipse, um, and uh and you get a really nice record out of it. And they um the Australian one, I'd I'd I had a a Sony A7S camera, which is uh a very nice mirrorless camera that shoots video on the back of a refractor, um, and it's got a high dynamic range mode. So one of the problems with video always used to be because of the brightness difference between the prominences and the inner corona and outer corona, you you had to choose one or the other. Whereas now with these high dynamic range cameras, you can actually set it to to pick up a lot of features at the same time. And that's that's what I did with the Sony camera. Um, and then I also just had a a GoPro sitting on a little tripod behind, so you get a mixture of wide angle and narrow angle, and I think that gives you know the best impression of the eclipse. So so to me, uh video is is is much easier to do, and actually, I think produces um output which is almost as good as stills now. Um and this equipment.

SPEAKER_02 27:14

I like it because you I like it because you can pull still off of it, they're very high quality.

SPEAKER_03 27:18

You can. So with modern 4K video, you can pull stills almost as good as you could get off a off a uh a normal camera, and of course you're shooting at 25 or 30 frames a second. Um so yeah, I th I think uh I would recommend, you know, to anyone I always recommend on the astro trials trips, yeah, if you're if you're new to the eclipse, don't don't have a complicated system that you're gonna spend time fiddling with during the eclipse and missing the visual spectacle, because that's what you you know, that's what really matters, is seeing it with your own eyes. And so video I think works far better for that. Uh, but I also think now the technology is so good with video that you can you can do pretty much what you can do with with with a steel camera, but with a lot less effort. I um for for the coming eclipse, I've actually got a new thing I'm doing as well. So I've always shot video, um, but you can now buy cameras which are sensitive to polarization. So in parallel with the video camera that I'm running, I've got a small camera which is going to be looking at polarization in the Corolla. Um so that would be an interesting new new thing for me.

SPEAKER_02 28:26

That's fascinating because I was part of the Kate thing, and they were doing polarization view. You know, that's the whole new thing that they were doing with the solar eclipse, doing that whole line of eclipse pictures of everybody along the line, and they were doing the polarization, so I didn't realize we could do polarization video at a consumer level.

SPEAKER_03 28:48

Yeah, yeah. So the first I saw of that was actually in in XBAF in 2023 when uh the Southwish University guys were there. Um and I spoke to to them. Yeah, yeah, I think that's right. I spoke to them, and there is there is a a camera you can buy, which is so the the camera they got was a more professional one, but there's a lower lower cost camera you can buy, which I've got, which has got a Sony sensor in it, which is sensitive to linear polarization, so you can you can effectively um see the the different polarizations in the corona. So I've got that rigged up to go. It's on a side-by-side um mounting with my video camera, and I'll be using that in Spain if I get clear skies um seeing what the result is. It's the first time first time I've done it, and uh the trouble with eclipse is is it's very difficult to practice before before the event. So I've I've got what I think is the right exposure, and uh, but it'll just run and I'll see what I'll get. And hopefully it'll be a good practice for next year when we've got a much longer eclipse.

SPEAKER_02 29:56

Hopefully. I hope so, because I I have a funny feeling I'm gonna be telling my husband about this and we'll be having one for the 27.

SPEAKER_03 30:03

Well, I can tell you I can tell you what the camera number is if you want to buy one.

SPEAKER_02 30:07

All right. We did we can talk about it later. See which one it is, because uh I don't want him doing anything else now. Right now, we're when right now he's got he's got that setup over here in the dining room right now and getting everything all together, packed, lined up, what he needs to take and everything else. We're not messing with that. Yeah, but maybe next year.

SPEAKER_06 30:25

Yeah, how do you try to practice that? Do you a full moon? Is that even remote?

SPEAKER_03 30:30

Yeah, so yeah, that's a good point. Actually, so I do use full moon to get the exposure because the inner corona is about the same brightness as the full moon. So I've I've used that to kind of work out pretty much what exposure to use. Um, and unlike the video camera, which I I can actually adjust the exposure through the eclipse um just with a little hand controller. Um, this thing has got to be on a fixed exposure through the eclipse just because of the way it's set up. So I'm gonna I'm gonna set it up to that and just keep my fingers crossed and hope that hope that it works.

SPEAKER_06 31:07

You have um you've led some some dark sky evening viewings. I'm curious if you've got anything planned for the meteor shower coming up after the totality of that now.

SPEAKER_03 31:21

Uh it's well, yeah. So again, because I'm I'm with a family not not on astro trails this time, but yeah, sure. We we will we will no doubt be having probably a a meteor shower barbecue or something in the evening of the 12th. Um because it's it's the peak of the Perseids, um, which is the second best meteor shower of the year, so a really good, really good meteor shower, and of course it being the day of the total eclipse, it's near moon, so the sky will be nice and dark. So uh yeah, I'm sure I'm sure a lot of people will be doing that the the night after the eclipse.

SPEAKER_02 31:51

I'm looking forward to uh if I can stay up that late, but by that time I should be paying hours adapted and staying up till all hours of the night and being able to stay up for it.

SPEAKER_03 32:00

Yeah. I mean, uh so one of the one of the nice things for me being on this family trip rather than with astro trails is I've had situations before where we've kind of had the eclipse late one day, and then you're you've got an early flight out of an airport the next morning. Um in this case I don't have that, so I've got the opportunity to uh just relax in the evening, which is gonna be nice.

SPEAKER_02 32:23

Yeah, well we're taking the train out the next day, and I'm probably gonna book it, you know, check out late as late as possible and then take the train into Barcelona.

SPEAKER_05 32:33

Yeah, that's a great place.

SPEAKER_02 32:35

Yeah. Yeah, we're gonna actually see it from Daroga. Um near Daroga, between Targos and Terrell. There's a pretty pretty there's a pretty good sight line of the horizon without the mountains in the way. And I was successful two out of three times seeing the whole horizon uh somewhere along that path. So I'm trying to it's it's kind of kind of more towards the Terrell Airport. Like from Terrere Airport all the way to Syracosa, it's got pretty good sight lines.

SPEAKER_03 33:08

That's good. I mean we we all have to keep fingers crossed for the weather because it's it's low down in the evening and and particularly where I am, uh there's quite often thunderstorms in the in the evening. Um so it's it's gonna be a bit um probably you know bit stressful possibly. But um I the the I like low-down eclipses. The the visually I think um totality when it's it's near the horizon is much more spectacular than when it's high in the sky. Um and I've seen a few where where the the sun's been low down at totality and the and the visual view is really striking. So I'm hoping for that.

SPEAKER_02 33:51

So the 2010 one, I was in I was in Argentina in Patagonia, and that one was a very low one just above the the horizon of the mountain. And I got that beautiful shadow effect of it coming across over over the over the um eclipse. And it was beautiful. That was one back that was Shui 10, I was one of the first people who got their video up.

SPEAKER_03 34:15

Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 34:16

And lots of people stole it.

SPEAKER_03 34:19

Yeah. Yeah, well, that's the internet, isn't it? But uh it's it's yeah, just seeing that tumble of shadow when the when the sun is low down. Um also I think it just a bit like the kind of illusion you get when the moon's low to the horizon and everything looks bigger. Um, so uh in 2019 when in Chile we had it uh above the Andes and it was just gorgeous. And um in 2015 I was on Svalbard uh when it was again low down and and just an amazing view. So I think when you've got when when you've got a low eclipse, you've got to worry about clouds, distant clouds, but if it is clear, it's it's a really spectacular experience.

SPEAKER_06 35:00

This time we're not really gonna have any place to run since it's so low on the horizon. Like getting in a car and driving is really not gonna help you.

SPEAKER_02 35:09

I but I've got that that I've thought that track between uh Faragosa and Terrell, there's like 200 200 250 kilometers that I can run across the freeway or the far to market road.

SPEAKER_03 35:20

Yeah. Yeah, I think it is again, it's gonna be a matter of looking at the weather on the day because you may you may find that there is the clouds are gonna be distant, but they you you can move around them almost. And um so so we're we're certainly gonna be keeping an eye on the weather. Yeah. But uh, you know, ultimately a thing about watching eclipses is you can do you can try as hard as you possibly can, but uh, in the end, all it takes is one cloud in the wrong place at the wrong time. Yeah, yeah.

SPEAKER_06 35:48

Or it could take one person. So you mentioned tw uh 2019. That was my first traveling out of the country to see a total, and that's where I met you, Nick. Um we were on the back row against that fence is Argentina, and and some people locals were running along that road right before totality. I remember Nick trying to tell these people in English who didn't speak English, don't run, but get down, get down.

SPEAKER_03 36:16

I let I let the Spanish for sit down, please.

SPEAKER_06 36:21

And they were looking at the case.

SPEAKER_03 36:22

I'm not sure I said I'm not sure I said please, actually, but yeah. Yeah, it's uh I mean there's always that problem. I mean, I think it's it's always a a thing about it's it's great to have some local some of the local people with you for an eclipse because you get to see how just excited uh because they've got no idea what to expect. You know, those of us who've seen an eclipse know what it is. We still get very excited, but we know what to expect. But it but for people who've not seen one before, it's just um just amazing being with them. So there's that balance between having local people around and and experiencing that, but that but then the kind of distractions that they can cause and jumping up and down and whatnot. And because it was a low eclipse, uh, and all our cameras along that back row were kind of pointed down towards the horizon, uh yeah, I I I think I did get slightly um noisy.

SPEAKER_06 37:16

Well, you kept the drone out of the sky from one new agency, I will not mention it. Yeah, but uh knocked that one out. I was like, that cannot happen. That drone. When that balloon gotta go.

SPEAKER_03 37:27

Well, that was uh that was a local TV company, I think, had that drone. But yeah, we we had a we had a good speaking to them and they they decided not to fly it. Thank you.

SPEAKER_06 37:39

Yeah, that was a beautiful one. I'm looking at an image of it right now from that uh from you know, setting them the sun setting behind the Andes in partial.

SPEAKER_03 37:47

Yeah.

SPEAKER_06 37:48

With uh we kind of got the horns uh in a sense. Yeah.

SPEAKER_03 37:52

Yeah, yeah, yeah. That's right. I mean, of course, this this one coming up in August, the sun will set and partially eclipse from where we are in Spain as well. Um, but you're not gonna get the same kind of horn um effect. Uh it won't set that way. But it's all it's always great to see a set uh partially eclipsed sun setting after a total eclipse.

SPEAKER_06 38:13

Well, we've got a an interview lined up with the celllian elements people, and we're just noticing that there'll be a lot of mountains that you have to worry about. Yeah, yeah. For viewing this and chat, and it's like you won't be able to see totality if you're in this position. And I was kind of surprised, but do you go through that when you're picking locations?

SPEAKER_03 38:35

I I know you're absolutely I mean it's things are much easier these days. Uh yeah, it used to be that you actually had to go to a site maybe the year before or something and and scout out these days with Google Earth and all of the topographic maps that you can get on site. I mean, there's a great site, can't remember what it's called, which will actually generate the horizon for you from any particular location. So um obviously when the sun's like down, you have to be re really careful about that. Uh, but there are ways of doing it now using tools on the internet which are you know you can give you a really high confidence. Um because the worst thing would be setting up all your stuff and then the sun set behind a mountain just before Total Game along. Um and that that has happened to people. And you know, it's it's not it's bad enough when it's just you, but if you're with if you're leading a group of people, there'll be a lot of very angry customers if that happened. Well, it's it's not a risk if you if you're careful beforehand, I think. I mean yeah, we can't we can't do anything about the weather. What we can do stuff about mountains.

SPEAKER_02 39:47

Making sure making sure that well, I've we were talking to someone else who is actually on a cruise, but the cruise guy is not committed to the eclipse, and he's actually leaving the cruise to go catch a plane, to go see the eclipse, and then come back to the cruise.

SPEAKER_03 40:05

Yeah. Yeah. I mean, there are there are plenty of stories out there about people who book cruises from cruise companies who are supposedly doing eclipse cruises, but who are basically just cruise companies that happen to have ships nearby. And uh there have been several occasions when those haven't worked out particularly well because the ship hasn't been in the right place. Um and uh yeah, I I if if I was if I was gonna go on a cruise to see an eclipse, I'd want to make sure that the people running it actually were doing it as an eclipse thing and not just something on the side.

SPEAKER_02 40:39

Yeah, I agree with you. I agree. And I've been on several of them like that. I mean, there's uh the 2012, I was actually on a diving cruise. And and the owner of the went on the ship, and he wanted to see the eclipse, so he had his position on his bicycle K and everything with we knew exactly where we're gonna be.

SPEAKER_04 40:58

Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 40:59

And um and then what other ones? Um I did the tour 2005. The one from there was one from Tahiti and then the one that came from the Galapagos to see the 2005, which is another 30-second eclipse. Full of people that were crazy.

SPEAKER_03 41:17

Yeah. Yeah, I mean, as long as you've got either somebody on board the ship who really knows what they're doing and can make sure that the the captain really does get it to the right place, or or the company who's selling the the the trip is doing it because it's an eclipse trip, then then they're generally okay. But I mean I I've um I always think just from my perspective, seeing an eclipse from the ground with lots of people around and locals and things is the way to do it rather than either from I've never seen an eclipse from an aircraft. It's not not something that really would would do much for me, I think. Um and never from a ship either.

SPEAKER_02 41:57

Well, I have just because they were hard to get to. I did the 2003 from an aircraft. If you remember back then, Fred did the one Fred Essenik did the one that was on the Russian ice ripper.

SPEAKER_04 42:08

Yeah, yeah.

SPEAKER_02 42:11

And the cost for that one was $30,000 for an interior cabin sharing with somebody else. So the option that I ended up with was the flight, and for Hamstat, my husband and I both went on the flight. First class.

SPEAKER_05 42:28

Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 42:29

I got to see the eclipse from a plane, and it was just a much nicer trip than that one now. But like 2020, but you were talking about travel changing so much in the last few years. That was 2003, 18 years later, when that Saros came back around for 2021. How many cruise boats were out there? Eleven? Chris? There were 11 cruise boats in in Antarctica to see that eclipse.

SPEAKER_06 42:54

And one didn't make it. One got quarantined. And we went out to sea and came back 11 days later, and that boat was still sitting in the harbor. Yeah. So hadn't moved. And but we our captain was really on board with the guide, and we ran around for three days adjusting our position. Weather report, adjust position. It got all the way perfect into the great spot, had a great view, and then about ten minutes before totality, the seafog came up and blocked everything out.

SPEAKER_02 43:27

We actually got to think partial. We got to think partial. Yeah. Tiny.

SPEAKER_06 43:31

It got dark, all right, darker than it had been since we were so far south. And it was Yeah, yeah.

SPEAKER_03 43:36

Yeah, no, I I the I mean there are occasions like that when it works. And then and and for the eclipse that's just coming up, AstroTrails has got a ship based uh option up to the um east coast of Greenland, um, which which looks like it it's gonna be a really good option because the sun's much higher up and the the weather prospects look really good. And I I know because it's Astro Trails that. The shit will absolutely get to the right place.

SPEAKER_06 44:05

Well, you mentioned offline some people that were perhaps going to Mallorca. That's a gamble right there.

SPEAKER_03 44:12

Yeah, so so there are uh the those those islands at the end of the track for the eclipse next month are really kind of big holiday islands for for Europeans, so Mallorca, Ibisa, those kind of islands. Um and uh a colleague of mine in work who'd been on eclipses before hadn't actually booked anything, and I was talking to he's just actually got a young child as well, so kind of traveling's a bit more difficult for him. Um and uh he managed to book, I I persuaded him, and he's managed to book a hotel on Mallorca. Um so yeah, it's I think the sun's only a couple of degrees above the horizon, it's right at the end of the track, so you need a good sea horizon to see it, and you you need to make sure there's no clouds within you know 500 miles or something of wherever you are. Um, but it's certainly an option, and it's uh it's it's uh an island that has a lot of holiday infrastructure as well. So, you know, for uh but I was just quite surprised that they managed to to get a hotel room. I think the the trouble a lot with eclipses is that hotels will kind of hold blocks of rooms hoping to sell them for more and more money, but then as it gets close to the the event, either people cancel, they've maybe booked two rooms when they only need one and that kind of thing. So stuff does come up. And of course, next year for the eclipse that we'll be heading probably to Africa to see, i the uh there is an option to see it from the south of Spain. Um and for Brits who can get really cheap flights down to the Costa del Sol, but you could just fly down for the day, hire a car, drive to the south coast of Spain, see it and come back. That would be early morning, right? That that's kind of the opposite side. Is it I thought it was I'm not sure what time of the day it is, that one actually. Uh not sure. Okay. Uh I mean it may be. It's probably more it's probably mid-morning. I'm not I'm not sure. But yeah.

SPEAKER_06 46:08

Well you'd mentioned uh less stressful to be to get that, you know, for that uh Egypt experience. And I went through and I was set up for the Siwa Oasis, and then I thought, well, we're gonna be on a four-wheeler, four by four, driving out to the west in the middle of nowhere, and it seems less stressful for me to be on a a little one of those little Nile River cruise boats sitting there waiting for it at Luxor. So I switched mine over to the Astro Trails Cruise One tour. And it seems like we can kind of sit there for a while and wait on it to come to us.

SPEAKER_02 46:44

And yeah, that's what I'm doing.

SPEAKER_03 46:46

Yeah, yeah, yeah. Seems less stressful. Yeah, I mean, it it's uh it's gonna be a really big event, that one. Um yeah, Egypt Egypt is Egypt, and it's a fascinating country to go to. And as I said earlier, Julie, who's is now kind of half-running Astro Trails, is uh an Egyptologist, so she knows all about how Egypt works and everything. So I uh the all the organization is going to be very good, as it would normally be with AstroTrails. Um, it's just gonna be very hot and and the sun's gonna be very high in the sky, but uh it's an amazing opportunity to see a very long eclipse from an extraordinary place.

SPEAKER_02 47:24

I'm look- I'm really looking forward to that one. That'll be my third eclipse of the 136 Saros.

SPEAKER_03 47:32

Right. So I've not been very lucky with that Saros. So I said that I I didn't actually get to see the Hawaii one in 91. Um, and then the following one was the Shanghai one in 2009, wasn't it? I think that's right, about Saros. Yeah, I think so. Yeah, so we woke up in the morning of that 2009 uh eclipse and it was thick cloud and raining. We we drove out of Shanghai um and managed to see see the eclipse but through thick clouds. So yeah, not being very lucky with uh with this Aros. So third time's the charm. Third time's the charm, absolutely. This this time, you know, what this time the weather must. I mean, it's high up, the weather's gonna be clear.

SPEAKER_06 48:18

If it doesn't, it'll be miraculous that there was actually clouds and coverage at that place at that time.

SPEAKER_03 48:26

Yeah, you're right, you're right, you're right, Chris. So I think, yeah, third time lucky with this one. I think uh I will finally get to see one of the Sarah's secrets in a clear sky after um uh well, nearly forty years.

SPEAKER_05 48:43

Fantastic. Well I'm looking for talk about another wonderful experiences.

SPEAKER_06 48:55

So what did you do for twenty-one? Uh 21.

SPEAKER_03 49:00

Which one was twenty one?

SPEAKER_02 49:03

That was Anorca.

SPEAKER_03 49:04

Oh, yeah, I I skipped that one. Okay, um I so there they were basically the AstroTrails did run a ship down there. Um and I I would I was kind of half thinking it would be nice to go on it, but the the weather prospects were not that brilliant. And I'm not very I'm not very good on ships. And uh in fact, I remember one of my friends who was was on that trip sending me a picture of the swimming pool on the ship when they were in fairly rough seas. And the swimming pool with like a kind of tidal wave flopping around. So um, so yeah, I didn't didn't get to see that one.

SPEAKER_02 49:42

Okay, that's what that was my husband too. My husband didn't go on that trip either because he he was like, no, I'm not I'm not crossing I'm not crossing the Mangela Straits in a ship.

SPEAKER_06 49:51

Yeah, the Great Passage. It was a it was a rite of passage, all right.

SPEAKER_03 49:55

Yeah, but anyway, I mean it's uh I'm I'm okay on a kind of Thames River cruise or something like that, but I don't I don't and I don't like I don't like open oceanship. The Nile and particularly and particularly there. Yeah the Nile's quite quite calm.

SPEAKER_06 50:10

It will be calm, yeah. Just just don't fall in. So do you have any uh have you scouted out 28 yet in Australia?

SPEAKER_03 50:18

Have you gone through there and checked out sites or do you have an idea of the so yeah, Astra Trails have got a really cool site for 28. So uh the 28 clips crosses right over Sydney, of course. Um and uh Astra Trails. Uh have you if you've ever been to Sydney, there's beautiful botanic gardens that overlook the harbour, overlook the opera house. Um, and so uh that's one of the sites that Astra Trails has got for 28. Uh a really, really nice site. Um, and then the other one is uh they've got a site, I think, uh in the Kimberleys, so more in Central Australia. So there's kind of two op two options there. There's the the Sydney one, which is the kind of big would be absolutely awesome if it if the weather was good. I mean, just a beautiful site. Um, and then the Kimberleys, which is a longer number eclipse, but in a in a much more um difficult to get to uh and challenging environment.

SPEAKER_02 51:14

I'm looking at a place called I'm looking at a place called Devil's Marbles.

SPEAKER_03 51:18

That's a great Australian there.

SPEAKER_02 51:21

I'm just like, okay, I want to look at it there.

SPEAKER_03 51:23

Yeah, yeah. I mean Australia's been, I mean, it's a big place, obviously, but it's been quite lucky with uh eclipses crossing Australia in the last um twenty odd years and so. And of course the the one the year after in 2030 is Australia as well. I know, I know. They've got a bunch.

SPEAKER_06 51:44

So what what are the uh weather prospects? Seems like it's gonna be pretty good in in the central of Australia. Uh what are we looking at in the Sydney area?

SPEAKER_03 51:57

Not as good. Not not not as good. Um, but yeah, not not too bad either. So I think uh it's it's um it's a southern winter, isn't it? It's the the 2028 is in July, I think.

SPEAKER_04 52:12

Yeah.

SPEAKER_03 52:12

So it's kind of southern winter and the weather in Sydney is is generally pretty good. So I think uh it's it's always with these things of choice, you know. If you wanted certainty or near certainty of see it, go for the Kimberley's one. If you want more of a kind of experience, I think the Sydney one. And Sydney's a wonderful city, isn't it? I mean it's just a great place to visit.

SPEAKER_06 52:34

Yeah. Yeah, it's beautiful. Yeah, didn't we all pass through there on the way? Or oh, you probably went just straight to Perth from the UK. I I'm curious because we Yeah, yeah.

SPEAKER_03 52:45

I I flew I was on a direct flight from London to Perth, which is 18 hours on uh whatever it was, 787, I think, or something like that. It was a long flight, but yeah, we f we uh uh where I was I just flew direct from London to Perth. Yeah.

SPEAKER_06 52:59

We flew west from LA. So Yeah Flat Earthers eat your heart out. We we all met.

SPEAKER_03 53:05

Yeah, indeed. I guess there aren't many of those in the eclipse community, though.

SPEAKER_02 53:10

No, I don't think so. It would be the pie in the sky people, right?

SPEAKER_03 53:15

Yeah, yeah, yeah.

SPEAKER_06 53:16

It's what our worst nightmare. Flat earthers worst worst nightmare is a total solar eclipse.

SPEAKER_03 53:20

Yeah, yeah, indeed. Yeah, but we must have all imagined them.

SPEAKER_02 53:25

Yeah. What is your uh success rate? Because I know you you mentioned the fact that tw 136 is a bad narrow for you, but what's your normal success rate for every all the other ones? How many have you gone for and how many have you seen?

SPEAKER_03 53:38

It's pretty good actually. I mean I I I've s I've been in the Umbra 18 times, and I think there are only three occasions when I've been completely clouded out. There have been a few occasions when when there have been there has been cloud, but not not too bad. So that's not a bad that's not a bad record, I think.

SPEAKER_06 54:00

That's pretty odd.

SPEAKER_03 54:01

Um so yeah, the uh the the three really bad ones were the Hawaii in 91, uh UK, not surprisingly, in uh 99, and um the the um Shanghai wall. Which we did see, but but through very thick, very thick cloud.

SPEAKER_02 54:20

So yeah, I'm I'm at 21 and two cloud out so far.

SPEAKER_03 54:24

That's very good. That's really good stats.

SPEAKER_02 54:26

2013 and then 2021.

SPEAKER_03 54:29

Yeah. And then, you know, there have been the ones that haven't been perfect, but which have which have had all sorts of so so the one in Mexico, we were in Torreon in 24, and uh there was quite a lot of cloud around before the eclipse, but that kind of thinned out miraculously as totality arrived. It wasn't perfect, the corona was definitely affected by the cloud, but you would the I've never seen the kind of shadow tunnel um so vividly as I did at Torreon because of the way that the shadow moved across the cloud. So I think you know the thing about total eclipses we all want clear skies, but um even if there's a bit of cloud around, it can you can see other other features.

SPEAKER_02 55:10

But like the 2020 we were talking about earlier where we got the rainbow effect around it. Yeah, maybe that was just amazing.

SPEAKER_03 55:16

It was. And and that um shadow bones on clouds, I've seen a few times. Uh I saw it in 2010 um from How I'll Tell in the in the Pacific. And that was the first time I I'd actually videoed it as well. So, you know, shadow bands are pretty amazing things to see at an eclipse, but but we all think about seeing them on the ground. But to actually see them projected onto clouds is uh is interesting and it and it it tells you quite a bit about how shadow bands actually are made. So uh yeah, that was good. But yeah, if anyone asked me, I mean, yes, the cloud effect's great, but if if you know if I had to choose, uh I'd like a perfectly clear sky.

SPEAKER_02 55:56

Like 2023. Like 2023. That was a perfectly clear sky.

SPEAKER_03 56:00

Yeah, it was.

SPEAKER_02 56:01

Even if it was a short eclipse, I mean that the the thing it was spectacular just because I think because it was such a tight eclipse.

SPEAKER_03 56:10

Yeah, I think I think that's it. Short eclipses have a uh thing all of their own, don't they, where you yeah, maybe 30, 40 seconds, but you're seeing all of this all of the prominences, you're seeing all of the inner corona all at once. The the long eclipses, not that I've actually seen seen one yet, but I will let you know.

SPEAKER_02 56:28

You will, you will.

SPEAKER_03 56:29

Yeah, yeah. They they they they're different. They give you time to take in the corona, give you time for your eyes to dark adapt. I've seen some pretty long ones, you know, five minutes, that kind of thing, but not not six minutes plus.

SPEAKER_05 56:42

Yeah.

SPEAKER_06 56:43

So did we uh talk about where you were at for 24?

SPEAKER_03 56:48

Uh yeah, so so we we went to so Astro Trail Tub 24 had two sites. One of them was in Mexico at Torreon, um, and the other one was in Texas. Um, and again, you know, we we do lots of effort to work out where the best sites are based on the weather. Yeah, Jay's weather reports are always really useful for working out optimum sites, but that's that's climate, not weather, and on the day, weather can always do its thing. And and both the Mexico site and the Texas site had quite a lot of clouds. Um, but where we're where we were in Torreon, the clouds were really thick up until about 10 minutes before totality. Um and then just sort of almost miraculously the clouds thinned out, uh, and we actually got to see it. Um the the frustration from a video or imager point of view is that because there was so much cloud before totality, I didn't really have enough time to get the camera focused and and set up. So uh in the last 10 minutes before totality, I was doing things I would never recommend to um to people, like staring up through the lens without a filter on it to try and get the things lined up and that sort of thing. So don't do that at home. Um but managed to do it, managed to get the focus pretty good and actually managed to get a fairly decent video from that one. But it was it was very stressful. And those people who know me know that I can I can get very kind of stressed when the weather is not good prior to an eclipse. I I've said this so in next month when I'm in Spain with my family, I've said be careful, don't, you know. Um I might I might go rather quiet before an eclipse getting the stuff set up, so just leave me, leave me alone. Wash your feet Yeah, yeah, don't kick don't kick the tripods.

SPEAKER_02 58:40

Don't kick the tripods, say get stay six feet away, don't get you don't yeah. Yeah Yeah, for my little tour group I basically set up a practice uh we're gonna go to the site. My husband's gonna do a and I have a couple of people that are really into photography, they're gonna go ahead and practice. Other people may or may not join us. So we'll see how that's gonna go. And then on the 12th, of course, it'll be a sunset eclipse.

SPEAKER_03 59:04

Yeah, yeah. Yeah, I mean if it goes well, it'll be a sunset eclipse followed by a barbecue and some glasses of wine and then the pursuit of meteors. Perfect day.

SPEAKER_02 59:14

Yeah, perfect day. Perfect day. That's what we're hoping for. Perfect day, perfect evening.

SPEAKER_03 59:19

Yeah. Well, this has been fun. Glad to be on the podcast, so really happy. And uh so we we probably won't meet up for this one, but we we may well do for the for the next one in Egypt.

SPEAKER_02 59:32

Yeah, in Egypt we'll meet up, I'm sure.

SPEAKER_06 59:40

Well, that's it for this episode of Totality Talks. Hope you enjoyed our chat with Nick. In the next episode, we talk to Seva Helgi Braggasson. He joins us from Reykjavik and we talk all things Iceland eclipsed. As always, clear sky.