Map showing this year's solar eclipse
People who chase twisters are called storm chasers. But there is another group called umbraphiles, and they chase solar eclipses.
There are plenty of us without the fancy equipment who are still pretty excited about the fact that on November 14th there well be an amazing natural phenomenon and one of the best places to see it is Tropical North Queensland.
Beginning at 5:45am on the morning of November 14 in Darwin, a solar eclipse shadow will move across the Gulf of Carpentaria and Cape York, before the central line crosses over the Great Barrier Reef and the Coral Sea at 7:40am. Perfect, as that is wake up time for some of us.
If you really want to catch a solar eclipse perhaps you would like to run a marathon. Port Douglas will host the world's first Solar Eclipse Marathon. The dramatic start is just as the first rays of the sun re-emerge from behind the moon creating the first ever intergalactic starting gun. For a registration form
click here.
What an amazing time to run
There are competitors from all over Australia and around the world and at least 3000 from Queensland. This is not just a personal challenge but sharing this auspicious occasion might well be astronomical.
There will also be two evening runs with Olympic medalist Steve Moneghetti starting on Four Mile Beach - just don't try and eclipse him.
Steve Moneghetti
Solar eclipse
