Total Solar Eclipse of 2010 July 11
 Baily’s Beads and Sky Simulations

After leaving for French Polynesia in early July, I welcomed the eclipse chasers of my international group on July 7^th in Papeete. On July 9^th morning, we boarded our private charter flight to the Tatakoto atoll, located nearly 1,300 kilometers east of Papeete in the middle of the Pacific Ocean. We then stayed for the next few days in local houses in the Tumukuru village. The two days prior the eclipse were mostly dedicated to setup our viewing site on an isolated motu, to explore the atoll and its natural wonders and to observe the starry night sky. On July 10^th afternoon, part of the group went by boat to the Tahunatara motu and spent the night there to be ready for the eclipse. And on July 11^th morning we were greeted by 4 minutes and 28 seconds of totality in between rainstorms. Our return in Papeete occurred on July 12^th early afternoon.
My "Eclipse-City" associates took care of the groups in argentinean Patagonia where they observed the black Sun from an El Calafate overlook. Our special eclipse flight over the Southern Pacific Ocean was cancelled due to technical problems, but all the passengers got to view the marvelous spectacle from El Calafate with the ground group.

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.