Photo credit: Cathy Koczela
The human penchant for collecting things seems limitless. Porcelain dolls and hubcaps, cereal boxes and buttons — the variety of items accumulated by hobbyists strains the imagination. Indeed, my most precious collection does not fit any category on eBay, nor could it be displayed in any cabinet, for how can you stockpile something as ephemeral as the memory of a shadow?
I collect eclipses — total solar eclipses, to be exact. In the parlance of the sport, I am an
umbraphile, an eclipse chaser. More than an avocation, it is an obsession, one that began almost 20 years ago.
I witnessed my first total solar eclipse in 1998, in Aruba. I had gone to that Caribbean island specifically to experience the rare astronomical event, though I was unsure what to expect...