Four days until I depart for the Land Down Under! I will be flying out of SFO on November 2nd and journeying up the East Coast of Australia to view the solar eclipse on November 14th at 6:33 am (Tuesday November 13 for those of you on PST).

Unlike the last time a Morrison Planetarium staff member was sent abroad to view a total solar eclipse, this one will not be witnessed by hundreds of millions of people. Instead, since its path only takes it across one stretch of land in northern Australia, fewer people will get the chance to observe this incredible event.

This will be my second eclipse of the year, thanks to the beautiful annular that passed over the Bay Area on May 20th. Total eclipses, when the sun is completely blocked by the moon as opposed to leaving a halo of sunlight, are said to be a far more spectacular sight.

I will be posting entries and pictures along the way to create a sense of my experience in Australia, from Sydney Harbor to the Great Barrier Reef and, of course, the eclipse.