Altai Republic, Russian Federation

In order to be ready for the total solar eclipse of Friday 2008 August 1^st (totality phase during 2 min 27 sec), an initial inspection visit in the Altai Republic was mandatory. This page briefly describes the first inspection of an "Eclipse-City" viewing site. To optimize the weather, two other viewing sites at the edge of the Gobi desert, in China and Mongolia, will also be scouted during the summer 2006.
The viewing site selection in the south of the Altai Republic, not far from Mongolia, was conducted with three main goals: get the best weather possible with a maximum eclipse duration in a splendid surroundings where few people can go.

The Altai eclipse tour is unavailable, but you can still book the short Novosibirsk package (limited space available so register soon) or the tours in China.

You can use this solar eclipse calculator to compute the local circumstances of the eclipse, and the solar eclipse timer notifies the beginning of the various events. A time exposure calculator is there to help you choose your camera settings.