Man has lived in thrall to the sun since the dawn of civilisation. The ancient Egyptians, Sumerians and pre-Columbian Central and South Americans worshipped our local star as the bestower of life, and among them the Aztecs offered up human sacrifices to appease it as the ultimate source of light and enlightenment.

The ancient Greeks gave their god Apollo to the Romans, whose feast of Sol Invictus (unconquered sun) on December 25 was adopted by the early Christians as the birthday of Christ.

Today, after nearly 5 billion years of spinning, the sun still exerts a fascination over us all.

Once in a while the skies go dark even though it is not night. Instead of the sun we see a black disc as the moon moves directly into line between Earth and sun. Above the horizon we can see Venus, Mercury and other bright planets and stars close to the sun. The corona around the black disc is formed by plumes of flame erupting from the star’s surface and surging thousands of miles into space — a reminder that its core burns at 15,000,000C.

Watching a total eclipse of the sun is an exhilarating, scary experience, once witnessed never forgotten. An unnatural twilight turns the landscape orange and yellow and then an eerie darkness descends.

With the “path of totality” (the track of the moon’s shadow across Earth’s surface) typically only 100 miles wide you often have to travel to remote places to see an eclipse. The total eclipse on August 11, 1999, was certainly the most watched in history, because the path of totality crossed Cornwall, central Europe, Turkey and India.

Partial and annular solar eclipses are more common. An annular eclipse occurs when the sun and moon are exactly in line, but the apparent size of the moon is smaller than that of the sun. Hence the sun appears as a very bright ring, or annulus, surrounding the outline of the moon.

The last total eclipse was on March 29, 2006, and it traversed north Africa, Greece and Turkey. The next is on August 1, 2008, and can best be viewed in Novosibirsk, Siberia, or just north of Xian, home of the terracotta warriors, in central China.

Having made the effort to reach the right place, clouds willing, it is important to protect your eyes.

Forget designer sunglasses and buy glasses made with filters from reputable suppliers of astronomical equipment.

Fred Espenak, noted eclipse photographer and astrophysicist at the Nasa Goddard Space Flight Center, suggests using a piece of No 14 welding glass. “Being able to hold this up to your eye and look directly at the eclipse gives people the most amount of satisfaction,” he says.

You can also use a small mirror to project the sun onto a shaded wall, or create a “pinhole camera”, using two pieces of white paper and a pencil.

How to do it

What Watch a total eclipse

Why To stand in the shadow of the moon

When A solar eclipse occurs only during a new moon when it passes between Earth and the sun, totally or partially obscuring our view. Only 26% of eclipses are total so mark your diary with these: August 1, 2008, covering northern Canada, Siberia, Mongolia and China; July 22, 2009, India, Nepal, Bhutan, China, southern Japan; July 11, 2010, south Pacific, Easter Island, southern South America

Getting there Ring Of Fire Expeditions (www.eclipsetours. com), which specialises in astro-tours, is quoting $2,999 (£1,539), excluding flights, for the 2008 eclipse tour to China.

More details Nasa’s solar eclipse page at tinyurl.com/ sgucz has all the astronomical data and eclipse path projections anyone might want. For fabulous pictures visit www.mreclipse.com