Solar Eclipse 2021: Live from Antarctica!

Replay our livestream coverage

More than 500 viewers from all over the world joined naturalists David Cothran and Alex Searle, and National Geographic Photographer Ralph Lee Hopkins, as they reported live from the deck of the National Geographic Resolution. Though the sun itself was blocked by fog, it was still a memorable experience for guests on board as well as viewers at home. 

From the National Geographic Explorer

“An amazing time to experience such a special event, even though we couldn‘t see the sun. Not very many people on planet earth had the privilege of experiencing the spiritual feeling of bliss as the morning became night and the night became morning again. We were blessed.”

—Tua Pittman, Cultural Specialist

From the National Geographic Endurance

“For one glorious minute, we saw the sun’s corona flare out on all sides of the shadow. All the guests, crew, and staff stood on multiple decks in awe and took photos. Then, the whole sequence of events reversed as we saw the diamond ring and crescent-sun stages before the sun disappeared behind that pesky cloud.”

—Joe Holliday, Naturalist

(photo by Andrew Studer) 

From the National Geographic Endurance

“It ended up being so clear that there was a green flash as the sun came up, even as just a crescent as it was already in partial eclipse! The timing ended up being absolutely perfect, getting to view totality right in the middle of the sliver of clear sky that was left underneath the cloud.”

—Maya Santangelo, Undersea Specialist

David Cothran

Naturalist and Certified Photo Instructor David Cothran has worked for Lindblad Expeditions-National Geographic since 1993 on six continents and in over 65 countries. Before joining Lindblad, David worked as a staff field biologist and education coordinator at the Point Reyes Bird Observatory, an independent research institution in California. At PRBO David studied songbirds, seabirds, owls and elephant seals while overseeing a broad education program, which included classes for school-children, workshops for professional biologists and interpretation for the general public. David is an avid wildlife and landscape photographer and enjoys shooting with DSLRs, compact cameras, and his iPhone. He particularly focuses on photography of wildlife in habitat, macro images of insects, and abstract images of patterns and textures.

Jay Anderson, TravelQuest International

Eclipse meteorologist and astronomer Jay Anderson has traveled to more than 30 eclipses over the course of his four-decade career. After acquiring a BSc in Physics and Astronomy from the University of British Columbia, Jay became a weather forecaster with Environment Canada, the Canadian government’s official forecast agency. He compiled a study of weather prospects for the 1979 total solar eclipse and has been producing studies of the climatology along eclipse tracks ever since, first for the U.S. Naval Observatory and, after 1990, official compilations of upcoming eclipses under NASA auspices. When the NASA publications ended, Jay continued to make his eclipse weather studies available on his web site eclipsophile.com. From 2005 to 2015, he acted as editor-in-chief of the Journal of the Royal Astronomical Society of Canada. Jay has recently completed a book, The Peterson Field Guide to Weather, with co-authors Jay Pasachoff and John Day.