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NEWS
| SEPTEMBER 28, 2005
Dark, Sunny Day
Group prepares for March cruise
to witness total solar eclipse
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| The Shorthorn: Dominic Bracco |
| Planetarium Director Robert
Bonadurer will be in the Mediterranean Sea on
a cruise to view a total eclipse next semester. Bonadurer
produces movies and shows, runs the planetarium and does
marketing for UTA. |
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By C
J Patton
The Shorthorn staff
In 585 B.C., the Medes and the Lydians were at war. As their armies
advanced toward each other, intent on continuing their six-year-long
slaughter, the people saw what they considered an omen from their
gods.
As light faded in the middle of the day, the generals approached
each other and immediately made peace to satisfy the angry deity
who had cast them into darkness.
UTA Planetarium Director Robert Bonadurer said this scene, as described
by the Greek historian Herodotus, illustrates the impact a total
solar eclipse has on society. Bonadurer said that although science
has progressed considerably since that time, a solar eclipse is
still a powerful experience, even for someone well versed in the
causes and cycles of such phenomena.
“A total solar eclipse is hard to describe,” he said.
“It leaves you inarticulate.”
Bonadurer said he is so impressed with the events, of which he has
already witnessed three, that he will spend about $3,000 for a seat
on a cruise to witness the next one in March; however, he said this
is a small price to pay and said he is organizing a group from the
university to go with him.
“It’s a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity,” he said.
“Of all the things I’ve seen astronomically, from meteor
showers to auroras to anything, this tops them all.”
Bonadurer’s cruise will leave Genoa, Italy, on a tour of the
Mediterranean Sea to rest in the exact spot where the eclipse can
be seen in totality. He said that it would be easier to view the
partial eclipse, where the moon does not appear to fully cover the
sun, but he wants his group to have the full experience of the event.
“One writer described the difference between a partial solar
eclipse and a total solar eclipse like the difference between riding
in an airplane and jumping out of one,” he said.
Tricia Banks, the travel agent organizing the cruise, was not available
for comment; however, Donna Arnold, a cruise and tour specialist
for Royal Cruise Adventures, said her company is offering the cruise
this year at prices beginning at $1,039 for the eight-night tour
and $1,419 for the 11-night tour.
Arnold said Banks had used her company in the past and that the
tours have proved so successful that she has made more spots available
to accommodate additional tourists.
“She’s got two right now that she’s offering,”
Arnold said. “And she’s working on a third.”
Bonadurer said that after booking a flight to Genoa, the final cost
is around $3,000-$3,500. Although at a loss for words, he said a
total eclipse has an emotional impact.
“It’s like falling in love,” he said. “It
floods you with a sea of emotions.”
Bonadurer said he understands eclipses and why they happen, but
he said that when he watches the sun vanish in the middle of the
day, he is filled with a sense of wonder like the Medes and the
Lydians must have felt 2,500 years ago.
“It’s the source of all life, and when someone takes
that away suddenly, there’s a feeling like our ancestors felt,”
he said. “You get that eerie feeling … that the world
is literally going to end.”
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