From: "Keith F. Lynch" <kfl at KeithLynch.net>
To: WSFA members <WSFAlist at KeithLynch.net>
Subject: [WSFA] Total solar eclipse 40 years ago today
Date: Sun,  7 Mar 2010 22:24:02 -0500 (EST)
Reply-To: WSFA members <WSFAlist at KeithLynch.net>

Forty years ago today, I saw my first and so far only total solar
eclipse, the only one in Virginia in my lifetime.

Who else here saw it?

Even then, I knew that the next one would be in August 21, 2017, which
was then 47 years away.  At the time I attempted, without success, to
make a hotel reservation for that date.  It would have been nice to
have locked in 1970 hotel rates, but it's just as well that I didn't
succeed, since that eclipse has since been moved out of Virginia, due
to changes in the speed of Earth's rotation.

The next total solar eclipse in Virginia is currently scheduled for
2078, but could slip to 2099, depending on Earth's rotation.