but as somebody else said before in this post, try to contact the Novosibirsk State University, you might be able to arrange something with their physics/astronomy department.

www.nsu.ru/english/

by the way , they also make telescopes in Novosibirsk

www.telescopes.ru/

there is an observatory in NSU.

p.s. turizm.ngs.ru/hotel/ - there you will find information about local hotels and hostels. Follow links - most of the sites have english version

Hi
Just did a quick look at the cost of flying from London to Novosibirsk (typical cost for that time of year). It worked out around €620 return. That was with Aeroflot all the way. It is about the same as a flight to say Singapore. I must contact one of my former colleagues in Germany (who goes to all of these eclipses with the German wing of the IOTA ) and see if they are organising any charter flights direct from Germany. This would probably be a cheaper option.

john

Just got word from my German colleague (iota.de). There is a daily flight from Hannover to Novosibirsk and they plan to use this route. As I hear more I will post it onto the site

John,

This is absolutely excellent! Does your German contact have any info on local accomodation?

What a riot being on the same flight with my Irish buddies (and Seanie).

Anthony

I checked again and this flight is a connection via Moscow. They do have German contacts around Novosibirsk with local knowledge. When I find out more I will post the details-it is still in the planning stages.

John

Hi John,

Even with a connection in Moscow, it is still good since the delay will be minimal (an hour maybe?).

As for accomodation etc, many thanks!

Just a suggestion, has anybody ever tried to connect a telephoto lens to a webcam? I have, and it works surprisingly well, and would be perfect for such customs bother, and it is small and easy to pack!!!

Guys,
great to see that you were keeping the thread going over the weekend. We (IFAS reps) were also discussing it at the meeting on Saturday night at Cosmos. Apparently (and I'm sure I'll be corrected once the minutes are presented) Terry Moseley know a chap in Scottland (John Brown?) who has direct contacts in Novosibirsk. The likely avenue is to treat the trip as a short holiday to the area (5 days), and take in the Eclipse as a bonus. The reason being because of ever-changing weather conditions over there. Things were more certain in Turkey to make it an official eclipse trip.

Also, Brown's contact, who works in the University over there, is likely to see if the campus accommodation would be available. It was also mentioned that apartments are available in Novo for about €60 a night, and they could accommodate people sharing (take turns using beds and sleeping bags!) to keep the cost down.

We just have to wait and see. The flights are another matter, which you guys here seem to have been looking into already!

Nothing came up about the camping...

Seanie.
(so far, off the hook as bear bait!)

Hi,

Maybe someone might do a recce at Novosibirsk on Monday (19th Mar.) and catch the 81% magnitude partial eclipse. Perhaps it would make a nice St Patrick's weekend trip!

John

Hi,

Maybe someone might do a recce at Novosibirsk on Monday (19th Mar.) and catch the 81% magnitude partial eclipse. Perhaps it would make a nice St Patrick's weekend trip!

John

I look forward to hearing how you get on John.

For your information. This site is worth a look at

www.astronomy-travel.com/

I'd say its expensive, I'm gonna wait and see what Terry is going to come up with in September.

Lads....
I have to say...
I am VERY tempted to go on this expedition!

What are the numbers shaping up like?

What are the numbers shaping up like?

After the Turkey experience, I'd say hundreds!

If Terry can see a workable solution, then I can see alot of people going to it, including me!, We'll know in a few months.
There was over 100 on the Turkey trip.

100!?
Seriously?
Wow.
I did'nt realise it was that many.

100!?
Seriously?
Wow.
I did'nt realise it was that many.

160+ iirc

I thought Terry said he wasn't going to look into this one?

I thought Terry said he wasn't going to look into this one?

He U-turned at Cosmos!

He sure did, to be realistic, its the last semi-easy eclipse for the next few, years, after that it gets real tough for travel purposes.

I thought Terry said he wasn't going to look into this one?

He U-turned at Cosmos!

Got fed up waiting for the rest of the committee to do anything? :wink:

Are you saying so 160 people are definatly interested in going here
for this?
Not to be a Johnny come lately to the discussion and also NOT having
a clue what Terry has done....
Has anyone gone to a Travel agent and explained the situation?
With 160 people interested surely some agency would be interested, no?

Just to out things in perspective...

Terry isn't officially organising a trip per se. What he is doing is researching various options in terms of accommodation over there via John Brown (Astronomer Royal for Scotland). John has contacts in the university of Novosibirsk. At the moment he has no definite info. When he has more info, we'll be alot wiser. If the accommodation situation firms up alot, who knows what might happen... :wink:

Got fed up waiting for the rest of the committee to do anything? :wink:

Never said a truer word Al !!

Are you saying so 160 people are definatly interested in going here
for this?

Thats what we had last time. I'd imagine the number would be down this time since we are not going for a week to a Mediterranean holiday resort!

Are you saying so 160 people are definatly interested in going here
for this?

Thats what we had last time. I'd imagine the number would be down this time since we are not going for a week to a Mediterranean holiday resort!

Plus, accommodation will not be as readily available! There is already whispers of people organising CAMPING trips (for real, I've read it somewhere else) to the area because the one hotel, and few guest house apartments, are already taken.