If you want to go, make sure you book things as far in advance as you can.

My dad and I had plans to see the eclipse in the States in 2016, and even booking a year out the Holiday Inn Express I found - the only place I could get rooms in the area we'd picked - was over $300/night, which is more like the price for a 5-star InterContinental than a 2-star budget hotel! I booked flights on BA (using my Avios) 355 days out, at 1AM (they guarantee to release 2 business class seats on every flight, and if you're there at 1AM you can usually get them), and I managed to get internal flights on American Airlines too. I was dead chuffed.

Sod's law then happened - 2 months before we were due to fly, he was sadly diagnosed with terminal cancer, and he died 2 weeks after we would have gone. It's as good a point as any to mention FOMO - you never know what's around the corner, so if you can do something (assuming you can afford it), do it while you can!

Hope you get to see a total eclipse in due course. 😀(And jammy old America and Spain, we have to wait until 2090 until our next total one in the UK, and the next total one IMBY isn't until 2150 or so!)

Thanks for the advice 👍

And sorry about what happened with your dad. That really is a cruel twist of fate. As you say, you have to just get on with things as you don't know what will hit you down the line.

Sympathies, Darren 😪

There is a bit more advice for you - if you can find an area you like the look of, in terms of staying, contact them two years out. You never know, they might be able to put your reservation in their system early, even if online booking systems won't let you.

That won't work with flights, mind you, as they use a different system entirely. Although it would normally be a bad idea to book (for cash) 355 days out (for BA), you might find it best to pay the extra to get a guaranteed flight. Ryanair and Easyjet don't have a fixed release schedule, so you'll have to be on the ball if you want to get the flights the day they're released! Easyjet's schedule release is here: https://www.easyjet.com/en/schedule-release 

And thank you for your kind words, both Bolty and Saint: it's one of the things I've learnt over the years, do things while you can as you'll only regret it if something changes and means you can't any more. (Same applies to my trip to Japan I'd booked for 2020, and indeed my formerly weekly visits to the wolves... Covid happened, then I injured my eye, and it's only now that I'm finally getting well enough to travel/drive long distances again... you just never know! At least if you use points you can cancel for free.)

For future alerts see:

See the aurora borealis from the UK

https://aurorawatch.lancs.ac.uk/ 

There was activity last night.

Northern Lights put on display above Cornwall

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-cornwall-68834605 

https://aurorawatch.lancs.ac.uk/ 

https://spaceweather.com/ 

It needs to get dark first! 😀

https://aurorawatch.lancs.ac.uk/ 

https://watchers.news/2024/04/17/asteroid-2024-ha-flew-past-earth-at-just-0-4-ld-the-closest-flyby-of-the-year-and-20th-closest-on-record/ 

https://spaceweather.com/ 

https://www.rmg.co.uk/stories/topics/lyrid-meteor-shower-when-where-see-it-uk 

"The annual Lyrid meteor shower peaks on the night of April 21-22 when Earth passes through a stream of debris from Comet Thatcher (C/1861 G1). These meteors are best seen from the northern hemisphere where the radiant is high in the sky before dawn."

https://spaceweather.com/ 

I suspect moonlight will spoil the seeing in the UK. More info here.

https://www.imo.net/resources/calendar/#Lyrids 

Rare Quadruple Solar Flare.

https://spaceweather.com/ 

Geomagnetic activity UK:

https://aurorawatch.lancs.ac.uk/ 

NASA back in touch with Voyager 1 after 5 months:

https://news.sky.com/story/voyager-1-nasas-longest-running-spacecraft-back-in-touch-with-earth-after-five-months-of-silence-13121317 

It now takes nearly 48 hours for a return-trip radio exchange between Earth and the spacecraft.

Everything about this mission is thrilling!

Thats faster that I expected for a signal to go that far. Shame we cant see any video footage, would love to see what space and our solar system looks like from that position

It's now a light-day (or at least 22.5 hours) away, so "A light day, also known as a light-day, is a unit of length used in astronomy. It represents the distance that light travels in one day, which is approximately 25.9 trillion miles or 41.7 trillion kilometers". 

Unless there is ultraspecial equipment on board, the answer to your question will be "a small yellow dot".

https://spaceweather.com/ 

Aurora: Yellow alert has moved up to amber!

https://aurorawatch.lancs.ac.uk 

https://spaceweather.com/ 

https://aurorawatch.lancs.ac.uk/ 

Earlier today, a rapidly developing and unstable sunspot exploded, producing an X1.6-class solar flare. The explosion hurled a CME into space, and forecast models suggest it has an Earth-directed component. The CME could spark minor to moderate geomagnetic storms when it arrives late on May 5th. Links above.

It will peak between midnight and dawn on 6 May 2024. 😁

https://www.rmg.co.uk/stories/topics/eta-aquariid-meteor-shower-2024-when-where-see-it-uk 

https://www.skyatnightmagazine.com/advice/how-to-see-the-eta-aquariid-meteor-shower 

https://spaceweather.com/ 

https://aurorawatch.lancs.ac.uk/ 

"Carrington's sunspot is famous because in August and Sept. 1859 it emitted a series of intense solar flares and CMEs. The resulting geomagnetic storms set fire to telegraph offices and sparked auroras from Cuba to Hawaii."

https://spaceweather.com/ 

Incoming geomagnetic data - keep checking.

https://aurorawatch.lancs.ac.uk/