Eclipse

Q: My husband has read that a solar eclipse will be visible over part of southern Asia in late October. What companies offer tours to the region then?A: Several U.S. tour companies are arranging for the viewing of the total solar eclipse you refer to. It will occur over India, Cambodia and other countries in the region on Oct. 24.Because visibility of the eclipse -- in which the moon will completely block the sun for a brief period -- is dependent on weather, most tours are emphasizing sites that are historically clear and dry in late October.

You probably won't see this many kids with cardboard boxes on their heads for quite a while.That's when the next total eclipse will be visible from North America.As an experiment in science camp at Howard Community College, 18 middle school students constructed cardboard pinhole "cameras" to safely view Thursday's partial solar eclipse.And although the moon covered just a small portion of the corner of the sun here -- 7 percent to be exact -- the Columbia crowd seemed to anticipate the celestial event with enthusiasm.

The Caribbean breezes and pina coladas were beckoning. But Williams College astronomer Jay Pasachoff was holed up in his rented condominium, preparing for his race with the moon.At precisely 1: 09: 45 p.m. EST tomorrow, the moon will move directly in front of the sun as seen from Aruba, in the next-to-last total solar eclipse of the century.The eclipse will be partial in Baltimore, with little noticeable dimming of the sun's light. But on Aruba, the only things shining overhead will be a few stars and the shimmering halo of the sun's outer atmosphere, or corona.

If skies are clear Thursday night, Marylanders will get their first good look at a total eclipse of the moon in nearly four years, and their last until May 2003. By 11: 05 p.m., January's full moon -- known traditionally as the Old Moon -- is expected to take on an eerie, copper color as it slips into the darkest region of Earth's shadow. The sky show will be visible anywhere in the Americas and Western Europe where clouds are absent, and no special equipment is needed. Observers watching under darker, rural skies will enjoy a bonus when the winter stars brighten as the moon's white glare is dimmed by the eclipse.

Xtra Heat served notice with a rousing victory Saturday in the Barbara Fritchie Handicap that she is still a star at 4. The final word on her 3-year-old season will be delivered tonight at the 31st Eclipse awards banquet in Miami Beach, Fla. The Laurel-based filly is a finalist for a coveted Eclipse statuette in two categories: 3-year-old filly and sprinter. A sprinter has never won the Eclipse for 3-year-old filly. The other finalists are Exogenous and Flute. The other finalists for sprinter are Squirtle Squirt, who defeated Xtra Heat in the Breeders' Cup Sprint, and Delaware Township, who defeated her in the Frank J. De Francis Memorial Dash.

For the bold stroke of her pen on checks worth nearly half a million dollars, Carolyn Hine won an Eclipse Award yesterday as horse racing's Owner of the Year.A native of Baltimore, Hine wrote checks for $480,000 to supplement Skip Away to the $4.4 million Breeders' Cup Classic in November at Hollywood Park. For his electrifying performance in the Classic at the end of a gritty year, Skip Away also won an Eclipse as outstanding older horse."I'm extremely happy and proud and honored," said Hine, who grew up in a Highlandtown apartment above the family business, Seaman's furniture store.

The triumvirate that ruled Grade I racing in this country in 2003 headed finalists announced yesterday for Eclipse Awards, horse racing's version of the Academy Awards. Winners will be announced Jan. 26 at a blacktie gala in Hollywood, Fla. Bobby Frankel, the trainer who set a record with 25 Grade I stakes wins; Jerry Bailey, the jockey who rode Frankel's best horses; and Juddmonte Farms, the breeder and owner of numerous Frankel standouts, were named finalists in their respective categories.

It looks as if the apprentice champion won't be coming from Maryland this year.In fact, he won't be coming from anywhere.Because for the first time in Eclipse Award history, he is likely to be a she.Gwen Jocson just wrapped up an Eclipse-type apprenticeship at Philadelphia Park. Jocson, 25, won 273 races before she lost her "bug," or the weight allowance that apprentices are allowed.In the 20-year history of the Eclipse Awards, no female trainer or jockey -- including apprentices or Julie Krone -- has ever won. Maryland "bugboys" in particular have been dominant in recent years, with four of the last five apprentice champions -- Allen Stacy, Kent Desormeaux, Mike Luzzi and Mark Johnston -- coming from Maryland.

As the tropical sun blazed overhead, Curtis Roelle stood surrounded by his cameras and telescopes in the cactus garden near a Mexican beach and watched the cone-shaped shadow of the moon sweep toward him at more than a mile a second.Tonight at 8 p.m., Mr. Roelle, 33, will show a series of slides he snapped of the spectacular total solar eclipse July 11, making him the first amateur astronomer to give a talk at the monthly open house staged by the Space Telescope Science Institute.The droll and seemingly unflappable computer engineer, who lives in Westminster, admits being a bit awe-struck, but he nevertheless took a series of crisp pictures of the event, the longest total eclipse expected until 2132.

Stargazers are worried about the weather forecast, but if the clouds part in time, Marylanders will get a good look at tonight's total eclipse of the moon - the last one visible here or anywhere until December 2010. "Baltimore has experienced bad weather for the last few lunar eclipses," said Herman Heyn, Baltimore's original "Streetcorner Astronomer." Both of last year's eclipses were clouded-out here, but if the heavens are visible, Heyn plans to set up at 9 o'clock tonight in the 3100 block of St. Paul St. in Charles Village.