Lots more exotic views and images of the 2008 total solar eclipse ...

... have come in over the past seven days, so here's a new collection of links, as big as the initial one. The most unusual view is certainly this video from the edge of the totality zone, shot near Hami in China. We also have new corona composites here and here and a video of the Moon shadow from GEO orbit.

• Several more airplanes had views of totality than reported initially, e.g. a chartered one over Norway (parts one and two) or one from the Norwegian AirForce, while it was also seen from an airliner cockpit over Russia. From the Canadian charter flight here is the 'official' version of an already famous video as well as a report. And from the German polar flight we have another video, part 2 of a slide show, coverage by N24 and reports (more and more).
  
  
• From ships in the Arctic Sea only one more report has become available.
  
  
• From Russia there are a U.S. TV report and slide show, a video from Novosibirsk with several cameras (discussed here), another one and one from Akademgorodok, an animation of 2nd contact, widefield and close-up pictures, a composite of the contacts and numerous reports (more, more, more [more, more, more, more], more, more, more and more).
  
  
• From Mongolia there are videos (another one) and pictures.
  
  
• From China we have lots of material from several sites including one N' of Barkol where a dazzling QTVR hyper-image had its origin (a full-dome experience on your PC ...) and
  • the "main" camp at Weizixia with pictures, a report, videos from people who ran away in search of a cloud hole and those who stayed put (while the hole came to them) and more exquisite pictures (more, more, more, more, more and more).
    
  • Here are pictures from Yiwu downtown, a timelapse sequence and a video from between Yiwu and Hami.
    
  • And from Gansu we have reports (more, more and more), another video and pictures (more).

Additional material covers partiality in H-Alpha, impressions from Svalbard, strange physics and collections of further stories & links, esp. this one (German version).

In other news the Perseids peak tomorrow, making the coming night and the one from Aug. 12/13 the best to watch - after midnight, when the Moon has set. It's not quite clear what to expect: The CBAT Electronic Telegram No. 1464 contains some inconclusive thoughts about Swift-Tuttle's dust trail form 1479 which may - or may not - cause some action at 5:30 UTC on Aug. 12 and other possible rate enhancements. So: Watch the skies - or the visual data quicklook where the rate is already going up steadily. No part of the Perseids was a nice New Mexico fireball of Aug. 4, by the way.

• Comet-wise there are Boattini images of Aug. 10, Aug. 3 and Aug. 2, Lulin images of Aug. 2 (animation), July 29 and July 24 and D'Arrest images of Aug. 3 and July 25. • There is a call for observations of Eta Carinae which has started a new spectroscopic event which returns every 5½ years - a piece of evidence for a binary system.

• The famous Hanny's Voorwerp story, all over the news, has now even produced Yale and Oxford Press Releases - rarely do amateur astronomical chance discoveries have such an impact on pro astrophysics. • There are more ISS images of July 30, 27, 25 and 24 (more), Stardust@Home hasn't found an interstellar particle yet, and the HST celebrates 100,000 orbits.