Fred Espenak

Known to the public as Mr. Eclipse, Fred Espenak had been a member of TWAN since the beginning of the project in 2007. At age 72, his truly inspiring and adventurous life ended on 2025 June 1, after documenting 31 total solar eclipses, in all continents, since 1970. He provided the most reliable eclipse predictions to the world both through his NASA Goddard position as a scientist and on his websites. He also published reference works for historians such as Five Millennium Canon of Solar Eclipses (2000 BC to AD 3000), and a similar book for lunar eclipses. In recognition of his efforts asteroid 14120 is named after Espenak.From the TWAN director, Babak Tafreshi: “I learned about Fred and his NASA eclipse bulletins in 1995, when I was in high school preparing for my first total eclipse in Iran. In 2003, I met him and his wonderful wife Pat Totten on a month-long icebreaker expedition to document the first-ever total eclipse experienced by human in Antarctica. There I learned how focus and dedicated he is on what he loves to do, and how much he likes to share and educate others. In 2007, Fred supported my new established photography project (The World at Night) by joining the team, and continued to be an active member in recent years.” See his resources on eclipsewise.com and night sky photography on twanight.org/espenak and astropixels.com