Meet the eclipse chasers who travel thousands of miles for astronomical events.

Among the ancient civilizations that regarded solar eclipses as ominous omens, witnessing such a cosmic event could evoke despair. However, for many enthusiasts traveling thousands of miles to witness the upcoming solar eclipse on April 8, the situation is quite the opposite.

“I’m not religious at all. But [the eclipse] is almost like a religious moment, as far as I can tell,” says 51-year-old Dr. Sarah Marwick from the UK. “It makes you feel both huge and tiny at the same time.”

Marvik, who has witnessed six eclipses in the Arctic Circle, China, over the past 25 years,FranceLibya,U.S.and Zimbabwe is a fan of eclipses or an ambrophile. This neologism does not exist in the Merriam-Webster dictionary, but it is used to describe people who flock from all corners of the world to see the Moon eclipse the Sun. Eclipses occur four to seven times a year, according to NASA. However, solar eclipses are muchless oftenThey are less visible than lunar eclipses because they can only be seen from small areas of the Earth each time they occur.

“Whether it’s 10 seconds or a few minutes, it doesn’t matter. It’s always too short for you,” says 46-year-old engineer Tunc Tezel fromTurkeywho has seen 13 solar and three lunar eclipses since 1999. He is planning to travel over 6000 miles fromIstanbulinHoustonIn April. "The light returns, and you start thinking, 'When's the next one? Where's the next one? I need to see another one.'"

Für viele begann die Faszination für Finsternisse in der Kindheit.

“Growing up in the late 90s and early 2000s, I remember one of the most important events - it was the two great comets that we saw,” says 35-year-old Aditya Madhavan, who has been chasing eclipses since he witnessed the “Great American Solar Eclipse” in 2017. Others cite their science teachers as their inspirations for a love of space. But for most, the eclipse bite followed soon after their first experience.

It's hard to say how many people identify as eclipse chasers. In the Facebook group for eclipse chasers, there are nearly 21,000 members—a 13% increase since March. Not all of them are enthusiasts; some join to promote their products or offer viewing locations for the eclipse. However, director Nelson Kwan, who made a documentary about eclipse chasing called 'Chasing Shadows', says he has noticed a surge of interest after the 2017 eclipse. "Because eclipses occur in narrow bands and specific locations around the world, you meet the same people," Kwan says.

Im Jahr 2023 reisten beispielsweise rund 20.000 Menschen nach Exmouth, Australien, um die Sonnenfinsternis zu sehen.

In 2023, for example, about 20,000 people came to Exmouth, Australia, to see the eclipse. At that time, the town had a population of 2,800 people. "Take Australia. You think Australia is a big country? Well, yes, it is.

Kuan says that the first online community of ambrophiles, aboutwhichHe remembers there was a Yahoo group for eclipse chasing called "Solar Eclipse Mailing List," which included leaders from the previous generation of eclipse chasers, such as astrophysicist Fred Espenak, also known as "Mr. Eclipse"; cartographer Michael Zeiler, creator of GreatAmericanEclipse.com; and Xavier Jubier, the lead developer of the interactive Google Maps site that details the timing and phases of eclipses.

Jetzt, da die Gemeinschaft gewachsen ist, nutzen Enthusiasten und neu entdeckte Finsternisjäger Online-Plattformen, um ihre Pläne und Erfahrungen auszutauschen.

Now that the community has expanded, amateur and newly-identified eclipse chasers are using online platforms to share accommodation plans, ask for advice, and tell stories about past trips abroad. Of the ten ambraphiles interviewed by TIME for this story, two traveled only within the U.S. for the 2017 eclipse and for the current astronomical event, six are traveling from other countries to see the April 8 eclipse in the U.S., and many already had plans to view the next total solar eclipse in 2026, with the most popular destination becoming theSpain. “We're trying to do our best to see these eclipses while we can,” says Tezel, the Facebook group's moderator. "We may be a little more dedicated or a little crazier. You decide."

Ein großes Hindernis auf dem Weg zum Eclipse-Follower könnten die Kosten sein.

The most significant obstacle to becoming an eclipse follower may be cost. Olivier Steiger, 65, says he strategically plans his eclipse trips to save money. To maximize time on his money, Steiger plans to discover other natural phenomena during this trip: he plans to follow the northern lights for a few nights before heading to the U.S. for the eclipse, and possibly hunt for hurricanes and see tornadoes in Texas afterward. Steiger says it's cheaper to travel within Europe, and he can usually find deals depending on where he wants to go. This time he's traveling from Switzerland to.Milan, to take a cheap flight to Iceland, and then fly to Denver, and then move south.

Marwick, a mother of two, says the cost of traveling with her family determines her destinations, accommodations and length of time away from work. “If you have a family, there's a difference between getting on a plane to Toronto for $400 or getting on a plane that's going to, you know, come out to $3,000 to Texas and it's a lot more time consuming,” she says.

Being frugal allowed Adams, from England, to backpack through theChicago, Nashville, Austin and Fort Worth in the four weeks before the eclipse. "I don't acquire the luxuryhouses. I don't buy expensive bags and clothes,” she says. “I want my money to be spent on experiences like the eclipse.”

For many Ambraphiles, the eclipse trip will be their only extended vacation of the year. “It's kind of an excuse for us to leave the country and go to places we might not have been before,” Madhavan says. Tunzel, who has a copy of the Fifty-Year Canon of Solar Eclipses, which includes maps of eclipse paths through 2035, jokingly calls his catalog his vacation planner.

Madhavan is traveling to Toreon, Mexico for the first time this year, but has also traveled to countries like Australia in 2023 to see an eclipse that lasted only about a minute. “We traveled halfway around the world for [about] 56 seconds of total eclipse, which sounds really crazy,” he says, ”but the sun itself and the phenomena we saw around this eclipse were just beautiful.”

That moment is never guaranteed, but the wait is worth it. “It's like a calling,” says Tezel. “We drop everything, we get together ... the eclipse happens, and then we go back to what we do in our normal lives.” And then the cycle starts again.