UC San Diego professor to watch total solar eclipse from cruise ship
SAN DIEGO (FOX 5/KUSI) — A University of California, San Diego professor will be going to southern Mexico to watch the total solar eclipse on a cruise ship.
Two of Holland America Line’s ships, Koningsdam and Zaandam, on Monday will stop in Mazatlán, Mexico, the starting location within the path of totality, the cruise line said.
UCSD Professor Adam Burgasser, as well as other astronomy experts, leave on Friday for the San Diego to Vancouver, Canada, where they will then head south to Cabo San Lucas, Mexico, before spending the day at sea on Monday in Mazatlán, cruise officials said.
Before his departure on Friday, Burgasser joined FOX 5/KUSI to discuss what they will be doing on the ship prior to the total solar eclipse.
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“We are going to have a whole conversation about what the eclipse is and how it works geometrically, astronomically, all the great discoveries that have come from eclipses and then practically, just how we observe the eclipse, so in particular make sure you wear eclipse glasses if you’re looking directly at the sun or having other ways of indirectly seeing the eclipse,” Burgasser said.
Burgasser, who is a professor of astronomy and astrophysics, an observational astrophysicist and the principal investigator at the university’s “Cool Star Lab,” says it is an exciting time for astronomers as Monday will be the first total solar eclipse in North America in seven years.
“There’s no better or unique place to observe it than at sea off the coast of Mexico,” Burgasser said.
The Mazatlán stop is part of a 22-day solar eclipse cruise for Koningsdam and a 14-day solar eclipse cruise for Zaandam.
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