Last night's meeting of the Astronomy Society (UND) was attended by 55 people, 8 of which were AIG members.

Peter & Peta Cramb related an exciting account of their trip to Turkey to see the eclipse. They had fun touring with a Canadian group of experienced "umbraphiles" (eclipse chasers) - some of which had seen up to 11 total solar eclipses in their lifetime!

We were treated to beautiful photographs of Turkey in summer (where the daytime temperature is constantly between 38 and 42 degrees Celsius!), as well as magnificently clear photos of the "black sun", clearly showing the bright red solar flares at totality (see attached example).

Prof. Arthur Hughes followed on with a clear explanation of how and why solar eclipses occur. He also related his experience of the eclipse from the north of France.

Prof. Hughes made the very good point that humanity in general consistently fails to appreciate the laudable achievements of science.

For example, very little attention is given to the fact that after the last total solar eclipse in Europe in 1927 astronomers already knew the exact time and exact path along which the one of 11th August 1999 would occur! How's that for prediction! Yet ridiculously obscure statements by alleged "prophets" (or should it be spelt "profits") like Nostradamus continue to enjoy media attention instead.

We ended off with a recording of the live eclipse TV coverage on the Discovery Channel - which I felt, having personally experienced the excitement of the event, successfully transmitted the thrill of seeing the eclipse to the audience.

As it was overcast there was no telescope viewing, yet everyone enjoyed the tea, coffee and biscuits afterwards.

Next meeting is on Thursday 16th September and will feature new film footage released by NASA to commemorate the first Moon landing 30 years ago - after which we will look for the landing site on the Moon itself through the telescope!

Regards