Total Solar Eclipse in China

California Academy of Sciences, Smith College, Wellesley College, Friends of the Observatory (FOTO), Colgate University

Longest eclipse of our lifetime!

Land Program Cost: $3,895

July 15 - July 24, 2009

With a Yangtze River Post-trip Extension, July 24-28, 2009

This trip took place in July 2009. Please check our listings for future Eclipse programs.

Study Leader - Bing Quock

Bing Quock, Assistant Director of the Academy’s Morrison Planetarium, has been looking to the stars since he was a child. Longtime planetarium fans know him as the writer and producer of more than 100 planetarium presentations for eager audiences for over 20 years. He has taught astronomy at City College ...more

Study Leader - Daniel Gardner

Daniel K. Gardner is a professor of history at Smith College. He specializes in the intellectual and cultural history of pre-modern China. He received his A.B. from Princeton University and his Ph.D. from Harvard University. His most recent books are The Four Books: The Basic Teachings of the Later Confucian Tradition, and Zhu Xi's Reading of the Analects: Canon, Commentary, and the Confucian Tradition, an extended analysis of how—and why—different commentators over the centuries read more...

Summary

On July 22, 2009, at 9:30 a.m., the longest total eclipse in more than a century will occur and one of the best places in the world to view this extremely rare celestial movement will be in China, where the sun will be blocked for almost six minutes.

Don’t miss this opportunity to:

Witness the greatest total solar eclipse of a lifetime from the center line of the path of totality
Travel with and learn from California Academy of Sciences astronomer Bing Quock and Smith Professor of History Daniel K. Gardner
Explore the highlights of Beijing, including the Great Wall, Ming Tombs, and the Forbidden City
See Xian’s terracotta warriors, pagodas, and the Bund in Shanghai
Join an optional post-tour cruise down the Yangtze River through the legendary Three Gorges