Talk:Akjoujt

1973 Eclipse
Akjoujt was located in the path of the June 30th 1973 solar eclipse. It became the destination for at least two major expedition groups. A group of amateur astronomers from the William Miller Sperry Observatory in Cranford New Jersey was led by Roger Tuthill. Over a hundred participants took a charter airline into the Dakar Senegal airport where they took turns being ferried into Akjoult in a four engined Douglas Aircraft DC4 airplane. The expedition stayed at a school that was built for the children of employees of a French mining company. Temperatures during the day ranged from the low 100's to a crisp 130. On the morning of the 30th, low clouds threatened to diminish the view but just before the eclipse reached totality they evaporated. The eclipse lasted over 6 minutes. Roger Tuthill brought hundreds of small rectangular pieces of aluminized mylar that were used as filters for viewing the eclipse. These were distributed to the local citizens for their own protection. After the eclipse, Roger was entertained by the King of Mauritania at his palace and given a medal for his nobel service. 198.144.201.130 (talk) 15:46, 28 August 2008 (UTC)Mitchell Schoenbrun