PREFACE

Since 1949, the U. S. Naval Observatory has published a special series of circulars containing detailed information for upcoming solar eclipses. These predictions were provided as a public service and were of vital importance to the international astronomical community in the planning and execution of successful eclipse expeditions. Unfortunately, the USNO Circulars were discontinued in 1991.

This has left a real and tangible void for detailed and accurate predictions for future solar eclipses. The information is not only of great interest and value to the scientific community in general, but to NASA in particular. For instance, Hubble Space Telescope passed through the Moon's shadow during the recent total solar eclipse of 11 July 1991. Without adequate advanced warning of this event, the eclipse would have had serious consequences on HST's energy budget in the rapidly diminishing sunlight. Furthermore, solar eclipses are known to have important effects on Earth's ionosphere and therefore play a significant role in the interaction and understanding of the Earth-Sun environment. Finally, NASA has a history of participating in various solar eclipse experiments through both ground based and aerial (i.e. - Kuiper Airborne Observatory, sounding rockets) investigations.

With the issuance of this NASA Reference Publication, the authors plan to continue the tradition of providing special bulletins containing extensive, detailed and accurate predictions and meteorological data for future solar eclipses of interest. The eclipse bulletins are provided as a public service to both the professional and lay communities, including educators and the media. In order to provide a reasonable lead time for planning purposes, subsequent NASA RP's for future eclipses will be published 18 to 24 months before each event. Single copies of these RP's will be available at no cost, provided a written request is received after publication. A special request form for the eclipse RP's may be found on the last page of this publication, and may be returned to Jay Anderson. Comments, suggestions, criticisms and corrections are solicited in order to improve the content and layout in subsequent editions of this publication series, and may be sent to Fred Espenak.

Permission if freely granted to reproduce any portion of this Reference Publication, including data, figures, maps, tables and text (except for material noted as having been published elsewhere, or by persons other than the authors). All uses and/or publication of this material should be accompanied by an appropriate acknowledgment of the source (e.g. - "Reprinted from Annular Solar Eclipse of 10 May 1994, Espenak and Anderson, 1993"). This work is in no way associated with or supported by the U. S. Naval Observatory or its Circulars series of publications.

	Fred Espenak					Jay Anderson
	NASA/Goddard Space Flight Center		Prairie Weather Centre
	Planetary Systems Branch, Code 693		900-266 Graham Avenue
	Greenbelt, MD 20771				Winnipeg, MB,
	USA						CANADA  R3C 3V4

Next NASA Eclipse RP : Total Solar Eclipse of 3 November 1994

Available: Autumn 1993

For my mother, Asie, and my sister, Nancy.

They left this world far too soon.

To Judy, who gave up the computer, the den,

and many evenings of companionship for this project.

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