On April 15, many of us in the eclipse community received this message from Fred Espenak, the man who for years was affectionately referred to as Mr. Eclipse:
Dear Friends.
I want to share some sad news.
I was diagnosed with Idiopathic Pulmonary Fibrosis (IPF) five years ago. I did not have any significant symptoms until last year. That changed dramatically in 2025 and my health has rapidly deteriorated.
I have spent the last two weeks in a Phoenix hospital undergoing exhaustive testing to determine whether I am a candidate for a lung transplant. Unfortunately, my IPF has progressed too far for a transplant.
I expect to be placed into hospice care tomorrow and will probably be gone in a few days or less.
But I cannot complain. I have had a marvelous life of eclipses, astronomy, a NASA career, and my wonderful wife Pat, the greatest love of my life.
I have made so many good friends through eclipse chasing.
I wish those I leave behind many more years of clear eclipses and awe for the heavens.
Farewell,
Fred
Fred passed away peacefully June 1 in hospice at their home in Portal, Arizona. This is, of course, incredibly sad for those of us who knew him. He was an indefatigable promoter of eclipses, which he considered nature’s grandest phenomena.
His websites AstroPixels.com, MrEclipse.com, and EclipseWise.com remain invaluable resources with extensive information about numerous celestial phenomena, including detailed maps and timing of past and future lunar and solar eclipses.
Inspired by eclipses
The first total solar eclipse Fred observed occurred March 7, 1970. That was also my first solar eclipse. And though we viewed it from different locations, we occasionally compared memories about the event. He was fun to talk to, but intense when it came to eclipses.
Starting in 1978, and continuing through 2010, Fred produced the “NASA Eclipse Bulletin,” a detailed report of the top upcoming eclipse for that year. These publications included timings, usually for hundreds of cities, predictions for what the Moon’s edge would look like, and maps that showed the path of totality. I was working in the planetarium field at the time, and I found the data in these bulletins invaluable. I asked Fred to put me on the “send immediately upon release to …” list, which he kindly did.
But it wasn’t just Fred’s research, it was also his outreach — the talks he gave about eclipses through the years — that inspired many people who became serious eclipse chasers. I don’t think anyone has had a greater impact in this area than Fred.
Fred worked as an astrophysicist at NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center until he retired in 2009. He married his wife, Patricia Totten, in 2006.
Farewell, my friend. I’m certain you passed behind the Moon one last time on your way to the Great Beyond.
