Joyful, the ‘umbra chasers’ arrived in Mazatlán for their date with the total solar eclipse

Mazatlán, Sin., It is a society without open membership or mandatory attendance, nor do they have a name with which they identify themselves, but those who make up this multinational group have known each other for many years and know that they will see each other again with the scheduled regularity offered by the physics and mathematics to anticipate when the Moon will cover the Sun and project its darkness on the Earth.

Are the umbra chasers (eclipse chasers), as they are identified because they chase them (especially totals) anywhere on the planet. No more than 10 people arrived in Mazatlán a few days ago, not only in order to prepare telescopes and devices for measuring the phenomenon, but so that several of them could drink some tequilas and celebrate the shared pleasure that has brought them together again.

The fraternity is made up of award-winning scientists, astronomers, physicists and amateurs who are in the port of Sinaloa to witness the new session called from space by the two celestial bodies that, until not long ago and even now in some cultures, have been identified as gods of humanity.

The most assiduous is the American Fred Espenak, who with his 30 total eclipses now prefers discretion to coexistence, particularly since in 2003 his fame earned him the International Astronomical Union giving the name Espenak to asteroid 14120.

Nobody knows where, but everyone knows that it is in Mazatlán, because the 70-year-old astrophysicist who has flown aboard the space shuttle Discovery.3 and is the author of several books that have become classics among umbra chasers, He would not miss the observation of his 31st eclipse.

Kryss Katsiavriades, a retired British man of Greek origin, who comes to observe his 20th total solar eclipse, has had at least 100 partial eclipses and, throughout his life, has visited almost 140 countries for his observations.

He says that he chose the Isla de la Piedra, located to the east of the port in front of the docks, because it will be a place where there will be little noise, there will not be so much presence of tourists and observers, which makes it an exquisite place to mix his hobbies with his wife, or his boss as he calls her, Talaat Qureshi.

We arrived in Mexico three weeks ago, two of us were in Mexico City, one in Guadalajara for Easter and we just arrived here to be under the threshold for the 4 minutes and 20 seconds that this spectacular phenomenon will last.he adds.

Among the hundreds of scientists – it has not been possible to quantify it, but it is estimated that there are more than a thousand – who chose Mazatlán to be under the strip of darkness projected in Mexico, the United States and Canada; There is also Brian Day, in charge of Education and Public Outreach at NASA Ames Research Center.

I have three reasons why I chose to come to Mazatlán, account. The first was because the port is the first place where (after the Marías Islands) the threshold will make landfall, the second because in Mazatlán all the meteorological predictions anticipated clear weather along the points where the eclipse will be projected on North America.

–And the third?– he is asked in an interview, in the face of his smiling silence.

–It will be my 11th total solar eclipse; I love these events because I believe that total eclipses are one of the best spectacles that we can appreciate and that nature offers us, to which we add that I will be able to appreciate it in one of the most beautiful cities. How to say no to that?

Jesús Sato, better known among the Astronomical Society of Mazatlán as Pollo Sato, organized a meeting with the umbra chasers at the Azul bar, on Friday night, after a long session of scientific dissemination at the Angela Peralta theater and a walk through the historic center.

I didn’t know any of them except through the Internet and it occurred to me to bring them together and several accepted, from a Finn whose name is unpronounceable and is very reluctant to live together, to Kryss (Katsiavriades), a born popularizer. Everyone has already gone to sleep because tomorrow (Sunday) they are going to do tests with their teams.points out after midnight.

He also leaves, as he will give the final details to a special place on Cerritos beach where he will make his observation with his family and a few guests, in one of the places by the sea furthest from Mazatlán at the northwest end of the city.