In terms of solar eclipses, it's hard to beat a total eclipse. Other forms of eclipses such as partial eclipses and annular eclipses are interesting as astronomical phenomena, but the impression they leave is not as strong as that of a total eclipse. I personally have witnessed two total solar eclipses to date, and I find it truly difficult to describe the experience in words. If you search on the internet you'll find lots of photographs and video, so I think most people will be aware of what kind of phenomenon a total eclipse is. However, an actual total eclipse is something you experience with your whole body, and truly can't be expressed in words.

First, something like dusk continues for some time, then a beautiful diamond ring appears for the briefest of moments before everything suddenly becomes dark and a black Sun appears in the sky. If you're watching this with a large group of people, at this precise moment a stir arises all at once. Birds, dogs, and other animals start to get agitated. Venus and other planets that previously were invisible due to the brightness of the Sun become visible. The temperature drops, one senses a wind blowing from no particular direction, and wherever one looks around a 360-degree radius one sees an evening glow. Despite the magnificence of the experience, the average duration of a total solar eclipse is short at around two minutes. Those who experience a total solar eclipse almost always want to experience it again and again.

Furthermore, a total solar eclipse is an extremely rare phenomenon in terms of the entire universe. After all, isn't the fact that the size of the Moon and the Sun as seen from the Earth are almost exactly the same an extremely unlikely coincidence? The distance from the Earth to the Sun is 150 million kilometers, and from the Earth to the Moon 380,000 kilometers. Think about it. Two heavenly bodies whose size and distance from the Earth are completely different look almost exactly the same size when viewed from the Earth! If there were such a thing as a travel agency for visitors from outer space, I think there's little doubt the Earth would be major tourist attraction.

Many of you are probably thinking, I really want to see a total solar eclipse, but in fact it's not that easy. Because the Sun, the Moon, and the Earth need to be in a straight line, many people think a total solar eclipse can be seen every time there's a new moon, but in fact a solar eclipse doesn't occur at every new moon. The orbit of the Moon is inclined slightly to the plane of the Earth's orbit around the Sun, so they occur at a frequency of around one each year. Furthermore, as you can see by looking at the globe at left, the locations on the Earth where a solar eclipse is visible are different each time. The area over which a total solar eclipse is visible, or the path of totality, may not be over land, and even if it is over land, in many cases the area won't be easily accessible. As well, if the Moon is far from the Earth, it will appear smaller than the Sun and an annular eclipse will occur. Also, even if you're lucky enough to reach an area where an eclipse is supposed to be visible, if the Sun is obscured by cloud at the most crucial moment, you won't be able to see it. So seeing a total solar eclipse is extremely difficult.