eting that night with the natives, announcing God did not approved of the way the natives were treating him and his crew and that the Almighty had decided to remove the Moon as a sign of his displeasure. The timing was perfect and the natives were terrified as the light of the Moon faded they offered him all the food and water he wanted if he would restore the Moon. Columbus playing the role of a servant of God pleaded their case and appeared to convince God to restore the Moon.
What of the future eclipses in the decade to come there are some that will be relatively easy to view and others less accessible.
2000 January 21 -- A total lunar eclipse will be visible from all of North and South America and Europe, lasting for 1 hour and 18 minutes.
2000 July 16 -- Another total lunar eclipse six months later will give early risers on the west coast of North America a chance to see the eclipsed full Moon set in the west at sunrise.
2000 December 25 -- A partial solar eclipse , visible during mid-day from the entire 48 states of the U.S., graces the final Christmas Day of the Second Millennium.
2001 June 21 and 2002 December 4 -- A forty-mile stretch of the Atlantic coast of Africa, just north of Lobito, Angola, experiences totality twice in 18 months. The June 21st eclipse occurs just 4.5 hours after the solstice (winter in the Southern Hemisphere). The December 4th eclipse track passes 50 miles south of Victoria Falls in Africa, ending at sunset on the southern coast of Australia on the shoreline of the Great Australian Bight, near the Yalata Aboriginal Reserve.
2003 May 31 and 2003 November 23 -- Two opposite polar eclipses in the same year -- a double "polar solar" -- and each in the corresponding warmer half of the year. The May 31st event is an annular solar eclipse that starts at the northern tip of Scotland and actually moves westward across Iceland and southern Greenland. The November 23rd eclipse is total, lasting up to 1 minute 57 seconds as it sweeps across Antarctica near the Amery Ice Shelf. Partial phases of each eclipse are visible from the respective Poles themselves.
2005 April 8 -- The total phase of this annular-total eclipse, with a maximum duration of 42 seconds, traverses a 15-mile wide path entirely over a remote region of the southern Pacific Ocean.
2006 March 29 -- Although this 110-mile wide path of totality crosses Africa and much of Asia, there are no major population centers in its path. However, you can try to catch a brief glimpse of totality exactly at sunrise near Natal, on the northeastern coast of Brazil.
2008 August 1 -- A "midnight Sun" total eclipse visible from the northern tip of Greenland, and parts of northern Russia. The path of totality crosses the Great Wall of China near sunset.
2009 July 22 -- The next eclipse in the July 11, 1991, saros series begins in the Arabian Sea just off the coast of India between Bombay and Ahmadabad. The path traverses central India (including Indore, Benares, and Patna) and the Himalayas through eastern Nepal and Bhutan, passing 75 miles south of Mt. Everest. The shadow engulfs the Chinese cities of Chongqing, Wuhan, and Shanghai before passing out into the East China Sea and halfway across the Pacific.
2010 July 11 -- After crossing Easter Island in the South Pacific, this total solar eclipse path barely touches land in southern Chile and Argentina at sunset.
Cheryl C. Helynck