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Solar eclipse chasers already calling Nunavut

Grise Fiord, Cambridge Bay sought as sites in 2008 total eclipse

Last Updated: Tuesday, July 17, 2007 | 4:57 PM CT

CBC News

It's still more than a year away, but avid skywatchers from as far away as Japan are already booking flights to Nunavut to see next summer's total eclipse of the sun.

The moon will cross the sun on Aug. 1, 2008, creating the eclipse. In North America, the best places to see the event are the Nunavut hamlets of Grise Fiord, Cambridge Bay and Resolute Bay, as they will see total or near-total darkness.

Arctic Bay and Pond Inlet will see partial darkness during the eclipse, while Iqaluit will see about 80 per cent of the sun eclipsed.

In Grise Fiord, senior administrative officer Marty Kuluguqtuq said in the last six months, he has received two calls — one from Florida, and another from Japan — from people interested in watching the eclipse in his community.

"Other settlements across the North will experience [the] eclipse of the sun, but not as total as it is forecasted to be here," Kuluguqtuq told CBC News on Monday, after doing some online research on the eclipse.

Alan Dyer, an astronomer with the Telus World of Science centre in Calgary, said he has already chartered an airplane to Cambridge Bay, where he plans to witness what will be his 11th eclipse.

The eclipse is supposed to begin right after sunrise just east of Cambridge Bay, before crossing over the North Pole to Russia, Mongolia and China. While the moment will last about 90 seconds, Dyer said that moment will be spectacular — weather permitting, that is.

"Very primitive fears come over you, but it's also just incredibly beautiful," Dyer said.

Interested Nunavut eclipse-watchers should reserve their accommodations in advance, though. Grise Fiord, for example, has only one hotel with 24 beds in nine rooms. And if you miss out next year, you may have to wait: Canada will not see another solar eclipse until 2024.

This story is now closed to commenting.

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