NASA astronomer and eclipse expert Fred Espenak has let us know that you can get yourself a printed copy of Total Solar Eclipse of 2009 July 22, the official NASA technical publication about this upcoming event. It's filled with details about where, when, and what meteorological conditions to expect along the path of totality that will cross India, China, and the Pacific Ocean.

While the document is available as a PDF file from the Web page for the 2009 eclipse, if you want to be old school and have the 74-page book, all you need to do send Fred a large envelope with the proper postage on it. Details are available at that same link.

This eclipse is a member of Saros 136, in the same family as the "Big One" on July 11, 1991, which I was fortunate enough to see from La Paz, Mexico. It remains the only total solar eclipse I've seen, but it was a great one.

Perhaps you'd like to complete your eclipse-bulletin collection for your home library? Past ones are available too, including the bulletin for this year's total eclipse in August.

Also, if you have NASA's Eclipse Web Site in your bookmarks and haven't been there in a while, note that the URL has changed to "eclipse.gsfc.nasa.gov." The old addresses don't work now.