#!/usr/bin/env perl

use strict;
use warnings;
use Data::Dumper;
use Carp;

my @sites;
open(my $ifh, '<', 'eclipse.txt') or croak($!);

# Skip header
for(1..5) {
    my $tmp = <$ifh>;
}   

while((my $line = <$ifh>)) {
    chomp $line;
    next if($line eq ''); # Ignore empty lines

    my %entry;

    $line =~ s/\ +/ /g; # Collapse spaces

    if($line =~ /^(.*?)\s[-\d]/) {
        $entry{location} = $1;

        # Remove location name
        $line =~ s/^.*?\s([-\d])/$1/;

        # Split along spaces
        my @parts = split/\ /, $line;

        foreach my $name (qw[long1 long2 lat1 lat2 elevation h m s PA Alt]) {
            $entry{$name} = shift @parts;
        }

        push @sites, \%entry;
    }
}   

close $ifh;

print Dumper(\@sites);

##</code><code>##

$VAR1 = [
          {
            's' => '59',
            'elevation' => '0',
            'long2' => '45.',
            'lat2' => '55.',
            'lat1' => '-36',
            'location' => 'Auckland',
            'm' => '33',
            'h' => '4',
            'long1' => '174',
            'PA' => '313',
            'Alt' => '13'
          },
          {
            'h' => '4',
            'm' => '40',
            'PA' => '326',
            'Alt' => '11',
            'long1' => '173',
            'lat2' => '35.',
            'long2' => '55.',
            's' => '34',
            'elevation' => '30',
            'location' => 'Blenheim',
            'lat1' => '-41'
          },
          {
            'h' => '4',
            'm' => '42',
            'PA' => '327',
            'Alt' => '9',
            'long1' => '175',
            'lat2' => '35.',
            'long2' => '25.',
            's' => '28',
            'elevation' => '0',
            'location' => 'Cape Palliser',
            'lat1' => '-41'
          },
...