Solar Eclipse, the Celestial World Cup; Examining the Capacities of Solar Eclipses for Greater Convergence with the Worlds of Art, Industry, and Science

A solar eclipse is among the few celestial phenomena that possesses an attraction and pull similar to the FIFA World Cup or the Olympic Games in bringing together people from more than 100 countries in a special location. The presenter’s experience in organizing two astrotourism events for observing the total solar eclipse (2 July 2019) on the shores of La Serena, Chile, and the annular/partial eclipse (21 June 2020) aboard a restored sailing ship in the Persian Gulf, as well as the effort and adventure of observing the annular eclipse alongside the indigenous people of a non-touristic region in northern Sri Lanka (26 December 2019), yielded many lessons learned.

If football has fascinated billions of people to the extent that viewership records are broken during the World Cup final, and anyone of any language, color, or race can enjoy this encounter, one may say that an eclipse is like the World Cup final whose host is not limited to affluent countries and for whose viewing there is no ticket sale. The magnitude of excitement and the screams and cheers of hundreds of thousands of people who place themselves beneath the shadow of the eclipse path in order to have this rare experience is no less than the excitement of the most important goals in the history of sports.

The experience of live internet broadcasting of the 2019 eclipse for Persian-speaking audiences also carried other lessons. Namely, that thousands and perhaps millions who miss observing solar eclipses follow the event online or on television until the day when fortune, luck, and their eyes open to solar eclipse observation. Therefore, the circle of eclipse enthusiasts is not limited only to its successful observers.

Observing a solar eclipse merely requires safe equipment, namely special solar eclipse-viewing glasses - of course only before and after totality - and nothing more; neither a common language nor additional explanation is needed. The uniqueness of each solar eclipse, from the perspective of the view to the duration of totality and the appearance of the solar corona, causes many first-time eclipse observers to become permanent followers of eclipses. This is where science communication activists can benefit the most. In this presentation, moving beyond experiences and lessons learned from previous eclipse observations, I will address proposals and subjects that connect this astronomical observation with the worlds of art, industry, and of course other branches of science; perhaps it may even be possible to organize a World Cup for this celestial final.