In the context of the European Middle Ages as the period roughly covering from the 5th to the 15th centuries, the astronomical records are rarery found in scientific treatises. At least, not until the 15th century. A few surprinsing examples in which the observations were recorded in a particularly original way on stone are found. In this poster we will shortly review the only four cases in which this occurred in Europe.

This contribution presents earliest records in the Indian stone inscriptions and literature that specifically mention the eclipse as total or annular and the eclipses that timed with wars. Solar cult temples can be found all over India. In a few, the assigned dates coincide or are close to the dates of solar eclipses of large magnitude in the area.

Total solar eclipses are popular targets for amateur astronomers. At the same time, the eclipses are still scientifically important to observe the solar corona. Therefore, the eclipses are a good chance for amateurs to participate in scientific observations. In fact, some of amateur astronomers in Japan have been carried out scientific observations at the total solar eclipses collaborating with professional solar scientists over more than ten years. Some scientific results have been produced from the collaboration. We present here our collaborative activities as a practical example of citizen science.

I have written elsewhere from a (mostly) celebratory point of view about early international astronomical projects. This version looks at some of the same projects, but from a less cheerful point of view.

Nicolae Donitch gave a special role to Romania’s membership of the IAU, even though it had basically adhered to it in 1922, but only on the 12th of July 1928 was Romania’s membership in the IAU recognized. He was a passionate observer of eclipses, of the zodiacal light, and a good instrument builder. His tortuous destiny was somehow similar to the destiny of many Romanians from Eastern Moldova: he was born in Chişinău, the capital of Bessarabia at that time; he studied in Odessa; after the first revolution in February 1917 he left Russia and remained in Odessa until the arrival of the Bolsheviks in 1920, who would completely destroy his laboratory. He then moved to his private Astrophysics Observatory in Dubăsarii Vechi, which he had set up in 1908, and stayed until 1940, when Bessarabia was once again torn away from Romania. He relocated to Bucharest, but soon after, when communists came to power, he had to leave the country on a permanent basis. As he severed all the ties with people from the country that had fallen into the red zone of communism, we completely lost track of him. It was only recently that, after thorough research, we could discover his traces, and learn of his last years of life.

We describe the history of solar-eclipse supervision since the formation of the International Astronomical Union, as the supervising body morphed from a full commission to a subcommission to its current status as an Inter-Divisional Working Group of the Education, Outreach and Heritage Division and the Sun and Heliosphere Division.