August 6, 1999 Web posted at: 1:08 p.m. EDT (1708 GMT) by Mary Lisbeth D'Amico

From...

MUNICH, Germany (IDG) -- My house in a small Bavarian village an hour southwest of Munich happens to be in the totality zone of our century's -- no, excuse me, our millennium's -- last full solar eclipse. But while I'll be stepping outside on August 11 at around noon Central European Time, sporting my certified "will-not-make-you-go-blind" glasses to enjoy the spectacle, many more Germans may be tuning into this cosmic event on the Web.

Sure, TV will provide you with high-quality pictures of the eclipse. But the Web provides eclipse enthusiasts with a unique kind of before, during and after experience.

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"This lets you see the view from a selected choice of different spots rather than one place, plus you can research the event," says Claudia Burkhardt, a spokeswoman with the technology company mediaWays. The Gütersloh, Germany-based company is providing the technology for simultaneous eclipse Webcasts from a handful of European cities for the German Web site.

Eclipse.1999.de offers users information on eclipse history, how an eclipse works, and the chance to exchange e-mails with featured experts -- Dr. Hubertus Woehl of Germany's Kiepenheuer Institute for Sonnenphysic and the Max Planck Institute's Dr. Rainer Schwenn. There's also the de rigeur online shopping opportunity, where users can purchase eclipse-related books.

Eclipse.1999.de's German Webcasts will take place in Munich, Augsburg, Pforzheim, as well as in Linz, Austria, Bucharest, Romania and Cornwall, England. The site will also provide satellite photos from the German weather service, and offers online forums where users can trade ideas, travel plans and complaints.

In one such exchange, University students in Augsburg, Germany gripe that their city is being put in the shade by smaller towns that are planning flashier eclipse events. The city of Pforzheim, for example, plans to transmit pictures from a Stratos balloon stationed 25 kilometers off the ground onto a huge wall in the town square.

"As the saying goes, the best thing about Augsburg is the train to Munich," complained one user. "Good night, Augsburg. We'll wake you in the 22nd century when the next eclipse comes," responded a user from Stuttgart.

Already this week, eclipse.1999.de is seeing significant increases in traffic to its site, says Burkhardt. She cannot estimate how many users will log on over the course of the big day, but says mediaWays expects the number of hits to far exceed its last mega-event Webcast, the Berlin Love Parade, when ravers and other youngsters gathered in the streets for their annual party.

Eclipse.1999.de is but one of literally hundreds of Web sites around the globe aiming to capture part of the celestial happenings for those who can't be in the narrow swath stretching from the southeast tip of England through Central Europe, Turkey, the Middle East, Pakistan to India's Bay of Bengal -- or for those who just think the two-minute, six-second event is more fun seen through the interactive lens of the Internet.

Sites target everyone from serious astronomy buffs to the more esoterically-minded, who might want to inform themselves, for example, about how they can "locate and shape spaces in harmony with both the physical and the spiritual environment " while preparing for an astronomical event of major proportion.

In an example of life imitating art, another Web site in England is claiming that its Webcast of a festival on the Lizard peninsula in Cornwall will be an event in itself. The Lizard Webcast will bring eclipse-voyeurs not only shots of the eclipse, but a feeling of being at the week-long gathering, expected to draw over 20,000 people.

Calling itself the "the most vibrant and engaging Webcast to ever grace the computer screens of the viewing masses," the Lizard Webcast will provide audio and video feeds with shots of the festival grounds, and will let users chat with members of music groups attending the event.

Another modest Japanese Web site, which tracks all solar eclipses, makes even bigger claims. It plans to unite "the solar system, humanity and the Internet," to create history on August 11.

Who knows, maybe out there in the universe there are life forms that think its cooler to follow the events on the Net than to go outside and watch it themselves.

But the comment posted in one online discussion group brings those thoughts back to earth. "For me, the mystical experience of the eclipse is the most important event," one user wrote. "I don't need lots of noise and a big show."

Mary Lisbeth D'Amico is Munich correspondent for the IDG News Service.