Flight Anchorage-Honolulu was delayed by 25 minutes to please Umbrafilov on board

Among the many varieties of geeks there is one rare species - ecliptic (eclipse geeks). Another self-name is umbrafily. The Latin word “umbra” means “shadow”, and I don’t have to explain the meaning of the Greek word “φιλία” to anyone here. But what kind of shadow does not suit these comrades anyhow. They prefer only the shadow of the moon, falling to Earth during a total solar eclipse. These desperate guys travel around the world in pursuit of total solar eclipses, trying not to miss a single one. Some honored veterans have already seen more than a dozen eclipses in their lifetime, and are not going to stop there.

Joe Rao is an experienced eclipse hunter and employee of the Hayden Planetarium at the American Museum of Natural History. In addition, he leads the weather forecast on the TV channel News 12 . Almost immediately after a successful trip to last year's eclipse on March 20, he began to prepare for the next one, which was to take place ( and has already taken place ) on March 9, 2016. The eclipse began over the Indian Ocean, then the moon's shadow had to cross Indonesia, several small islands in Micronesia, and go northeast farther into the Pacific Ocean. On the islands at this time of the year - the rainy season. The risk to drive half the world and see only the clouds was great.

Joe decided to analyze the routes and schedule of passenger flights along the moon shadow trail. He found that flight 870 of the Alaska Airlines, Anchorage-Honolulu, could have flown through the spot of the moon shadow if it had been delayed for 25 minutes.

Since it was not possible to rush the moon, Joe decided to contact the airline representatives and asked to correct the flight plan. The airline did not miss such a chance for PR and the opportunity to sell more tickets in the first class. As soon as Joe found out about a positive decision, he immediately shared the good news with like-minded people. As a result, on March 8, a dozen umbriphils gathered at the airport in Anchorage, Alaska (due to the date line, the eclipse began on March 9 for Asians, and ended on March 8 for Americans). All had tickets at the starboard window for a flight to Honolulu, Hawaii.
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In the photo, Joe Rao (fifth from left) and other eclipse enthusiasts are posing against the backdrop of the “happy flag”. This flag belongs to Craig Small, a former colleague of Joe, and now the pensioner has seen 30 total solar eclipses. Since 1973, he has taken this flag with him on every expedition, and claims that with this talisman he has not yet lost any observation of the eclipse. In the photo he is the fourth on the right (with the camera in hand).

The flight plan was adjusted for the upcoming interception of the eclipse, and the portholes on the starboard side were cleanly washed.



One and a half hundred people flying the same flight to Honolulu did not even guess what show they were going to and what was the reason for the delay in departure. Dan McGlon (second from the left in the group photo), who was going to watch the eclipse for the 12th time, took with him two hundred points with light filters and distributed to all passengers.



The interception of the eclipse was to take place 1,100 kilometers north of Honolulu.



A few minutes before the start of the full phase, the plane began to darken smoothly as the diminishing solar sickle faded away, just like before the curtain opened in the theater.



The calculation was accurate, the plane was at the right time in the right place:



Mike Kentrianakis (fourth from the left in the group photo), the project manager of observations of solar eclipses of the American Astronomical Society, shot the view from the window of an airplane on video. This video has already collected a million views on YouTube. It is better to watch without sound, the Americans behind the scenes are very emotional.



The impression of an eclipse from a great height is significantly different from what you get standing on the ground. The video clearly shows how a huge spot of moon shadow is approaching from the west across the plane. The aircraft flew south at an altitude of 10,700 meters at a speed of 805 km / h. The spot size was 110x805 km, and its speed - 13000 km / h.



Passengers of flight 870 became the last spectators of this solar eclipse. The end of the cone of the lunar shadow ran about a thousand more kilometers across the clouds above the ocean and slipped into space before reaching the American coast.



It is interesting that this is not the first case when the airline delays the flight on the initiative of Joe. In 1990, the Honolulu-San Francisco flight was delayed for 49 minutes for the same reason - so that passengers could see the eclipse .

The following year, Americans are preparing for the "great American eclipse" August 21, 2017 . The lunar shadow will run across the mainland of the United States, from the west coast to the east, from west to east, from coast to coast . Of course, this time the grand show of heaven will bring together a much larger number of viewers.



It is symbolic that the route of flight 870 ran from the 49th state to the 50th, and the flight was like a rehearsal for the "great American eclipse." Mike Kentrianakis called their flight "almost a great American eclipse."

PS: The article is written based on the publication in the airline's blog: Chasing the shadow of the moon: To intercept eclipse, Alaska Airlines adjusts the flight to delight astronomers . At first, I wanted to make a full-fledged translation, but I got tired of raking the endless praise for the airline. As a result, he outlined the main points and added a moderate amount of ad-lib, as well as some information from other sources. Comments on errors and inaccuracies are strongly welcome. It is not necessary to write in a personal, as it is supposedly adopted by the version of marks and other "editors".