The following text may have been generated by Optical Character Recognition, with varying degrees of accuracy. Reader beware!

The Canadien Champion, Tuesday, March 10, 1 99"- A li*ttie ramn fails on star-gazer 9s parade Photo 05fuGRHAMMPAINE Amateur astronomer Leslie Webb sets up ta, view the sky from his Milton backyard. More often, h. travels to a Hamilton observatory or carts his gear Up Highway 25 past Acton to get a better look. 2 1I 1 By IRENE GENTLE Special ta The Champion Milton amateur astronomer Leslie XVchh knosw s irsi h.oid hos'.th(, best laid plans can go awry. Mr. Webb decided that in 1998 he'd see is first total solar eclipse. For two-years he planned a trip to Antigua, where a dry climate should have been perfect for an unfettered view of the late February event. "It rained," reported a bemused Mr. Webb. "Then there were patchy clouds. There were pockets of blue sky, so literally it was like Russian roulette." That left the star buff with a decision. Should he stay put and hope for high winds to clear the sky, or grab a cab and race to the other side of the island in hopes of a clear blue yonder? Mr. Webb stayed put. It looked like a good bet as clear skies held out for up to 90 per cent of the eclipse. 'hen the clouds came back. "It turned out there was a pocket in the cloud on the other side of the island, so if Id gone north instead of south I'd have won," said a let down Mr. Webb. "Even Ben Johnson couldn't have moved that fast. But that's the Murphy's Law of amateur astrono- It's also the nature of eclipses. With the shadow of a typical eclipse being only about 60 miles wide, that means there's a narrow range for the phenomenon to be seen. Then there' s the time factor: A total eclipse lasts only two minutes, meaning even Jacques Villeneuve couldn't have gotten Mr. Webb to the other side of the island in time. StilI, Mr. Webb was in Antigua, after ail. He is not exactly shattered. In fact, he's still kind of awed. "I've seen a partial eclipse before but it's nothing the same." With the total eclipse, "You have about 10 minutes of this eerie ight and then it goes dark. The birds get quiet ffitsOtcy 01111k 1t ý, oghlt te CýThe Star'ý even corne out. You could see Venus corne out on the western horizon." Plus, it's Antigua. "I bought an atlas where it had written this eclipse would take place in the Sibenia. I don't know how they made that kind otf a mistake," said Mr. Webb. "If that were the case my wite would have said 'See you when you get back, honey.' But this way you get a week in Antigua out of it." If cloud cover is a natural annoyance to amateur stargazers, even more irrntatirlg is a man-made invasion of the skies. It's caused by city lights. "What' s changed dramatically since I start- ed this hobby is the light pollution. Your own backyard isn't a great place to look anymore," said Mr. Webb, who travels to a Hamilton observatory or carts bis gear up Highway 25 past Acton to get a better look. Mr. Webb also wamns against buying the wrong equipment. 'The amateur bas better equipment than the professional had 40 years ago. The problem is il' you buy equipment at department stores you can't see anything witb it," said Mr. Webb. "And you don't have to buy a telescope, especially if you don't know how to use it. That's like buying a Maserati without know- ing how to drive."