That is, the fact that the moon can “completely and exactly cover the Sun”, causing a total eclipse.

The sun, he pointed out, is 1.4 million kilometres in diameter and 150 million kilometres from Earth. The moon is 3500 kilometres in diameter and 385,000 kilometres from Earth.  

Col, president of the Astronomical Society of the Hunter, said Australia would experience eight total solar eclipses in the next century. 

The next one, in 2028, will be a big one for Newcastle. The path of totality will fall across parts of the Hunter, the entire Central Coast and Sydney.

This means large areas will experience a total eclipse, which casts a shadow almost as dark as night.

According to a map on the website timeanddate.com, areas of the Hunter that don’t experience the total eclipse will experience a partial eclipse, with 80 per cent to 90 per cent of the sun covered by the moon.

The map shows that the path of totality will dissect Lake Macquarie on an angle from Swansea to Toronto, extending to Cessnock and beyond. Areas to the south of this line will experience a total eclipse, while areas north will experience a partial eclipse.

It’s safe to say traffic will be quite busy that day [July 22, 2028] on the roads heading south from Newcastle into Lake Macquarie.

Col said a partial eclipse can last for about 90 minutes, but a total eclipse usually lasts for one to 7 minutes.

“Avid eclipsophiles hire jets and fly along the path,” he said, adding that this increases the time they get to witness the spectacle.

Col has seen five eclipses – South Australia in 2002, Turkey in 2006, China in 2009, Cairns in 2012 and the US in 2017. 

“A real eclipse chaser has to have 20 under his belt,” he said.

Those who have seen 20 eclipses are named umbraphiles [ones who love eclipses]. The umbra is the darkest part of the shadow of a total eclipse.

“I know a Swiss guy who has seen them at both poles and all over. There are one or two eclipses per year, but all over the Earth. I also knew a guy who fell for a Russian girl online and went to Siberia to meet her parents. It was overcast, very dark and cold with snow all over,” Col said.

They hadn’t even known an eclipse was due to occur. 

“As they entered the house, a gap came in the clouds and the sun and moon went into totality.”

That’s one for the astrologers who say a solar eclipse marks a new beginning. 

Office kitchens are hazardous places at the best of times, especially the fridges. 

It’s a curious thing when lunchboxes of food are left for too long in the back of fridges. The words cross and contamination do come to mind.

A Topics spy sent us this message circulated at a Newcastle-based office last week. 

“Who owns the bag in the fridge which contains prawns, salmon and an old salad? These seem to have been in the fridge for a number of days as they stink!” it said.

Topics reported last week that Margaret O’Brien used an Aldi bag to move a diamond python off the road at Macquarie Hills, stopping it from being roadkill.

She’s been at it again. This time the snake was in her house, also in Macquarie Hills. 

“I opened my flyscreen door to go inside and was met with a snake looking to get out. I caught it and put it in an esky.”

It was a baby snake, which made her wonder where its siblings were.

She didn’t know the snake’s type, but she knew it wasn’t happy in the esky. Its fang were out “like it’s ready to attack”.

She’s a brave soul that Margaret.