The coming April 8, 2024 total eclipse
Map by Michael Zeiler (GreatAmericanEclipse.com). Click for original.
On April 8, 2024 a large swath of the United States, from Texas to Maine, will have the opportunity to witness personally a total eclipse of the Sun by the Moon.
If you have never experienced a total eclipse, then you must do whatever you can to see this event, since the next eclipse within the United States will not happen again until 2044. Diane and I made a special trip to Idaho Falls, Idaho in 2017 to see that eclipse, and without doubt it was an experience that is difficult to describe. As I wrote afterward:
Totality was amazing. I was amazed by two things. First, how quiet it became. There were about hundred people scattered about the hotel lawn, with dogs and kids playing around. The hotel manager’s husband set up speakers for music and to make announcements, but when totality arrived he played nothing. People stopped talking. A hush fell over everything. Moreover, I think we somehow imagine a subconscious roar from the full sun. Covered as it was, with its soft corona gleaming gently around it, it suddenly seemed still.
Secondly, the amazing unlikeliness of the Moon being at just the right distance and size to periodically cause this event seemed almost miraculous. Watching it happen drove this point home to me. And since eclipses themselves have been a critical event in the intellectual development of humanity, helping to drive learning and our understanding of the universe, it truly makes me wonder at the majesty of it. I do not believe in any particular religion or their rituals (though I consider the Bible, the Old Testament especially, to be a very good manual for creating a good life and society), but I do not deny the existence of a higher power. Something made this place, and set it up in this wonderous way. Today’s eclipse only served to demonstrate this fact to me again.
Reader and professional photographer Jody Smyers emailed me this past weekend asking me if I planned to write about the eclipse (having seen little on Behind the Black about it). I responded that “I have posted nothing about the April eclipse, mostly out of an admittedly unconscionable lack of interst. My bad. (2017 checked this off my bucket list.)” This post is my effort to correct that mistake.
Jody also sent me a detailed Map & Viewing Tipsheet he had written up, which you can download here [pdf]. His advice is sound and thorough, including providing the most important safety tips about protecting your eyes. I know the importance of this from personal expericence, because though Diane and I had good filters during the 2017 eclipse, even so I noticed my eyes were very tired for several days afterward. If you go to see this majestic event, you must do so with care.
Jody also makes this very important point:
Don’t make the mistake of settling for someplace “close enough”. The amazing spectacle of totality can be seen ONLY from inside the red-shaded band. Outside the band, even right next to it at 99% eclipse – it’s just another partial eclipse and is NOT the same experience! You will not see the sun’s corona or the 360 degree twilight, nor the planets and stars at mid-day.
Finally, for those interested, Jody has partnered with another photographer, Curtis W. Callaway, to put together an eclipse five-day workshop at Callaway’s farm in Texas for those who wish to see the eclipse while also getting some professional photography instruction beforehand. They still have a few openings left, and will be right on the centerline of the eclipse.
To repeat: If you have never witnessed a solar eclipse live, this will be your last chance to do so within the U.S. for two decades. Take advantage of it and go see it. You will have no regrets at all.
On Christmas Eve 1968 three Americans became the first humans to visit another world. What they did to celebrate was unexpected and profound, and will be remembered throughout all human history. Genesis: the Story of Apollo 8, Robert Zimmerman's classic history of humanity's first journey to another world, tells that story, and it is now available as both an ebook and an audiobook, both with a foreword by Valerie Anders and a new introduction by Robert Zimmerman.
The ebook is available everywhere for $5.99 (before discount) at amazon, or direct from my ebook publisher, ebookit. If you buy it from ebookit you don't support the big tech companies and the author gets a bigger cut much sooner.
The audiobook is also available at all these vendors, and is also free with a 30-day trial membership to Audible.
"Not simply about one mission, [Genesis] is also the history of America's quest for the moon... Zimmerman has done a masterful job of tying disparate events together into a solid account of one of America's greatest human triumphs."--San Antonio Express-News
Map by Michael Zeiler (GreatAmericanEclipse.com). Click for original.
On April 8, 2024 a large swath of the United States, from Texas to Maine, will have the opportunity to witness personally a total eclipse of the Sun by the Moon.
If you have never experienced a total eclipse, then you must do whatever you can to see this event, since the next eclipse within the United States will not happen again until 2044. Diane and I made a special trip to Idaho Falls, Idaho in 2017 to see that eclipse, and without doubt it was an experience that is difficult to describe. As I wrote afterward:
Totality was amazing. I was amazed by two things. First, how quiet it became. There were about hundred people scattered about the hotel lawn, with dogs and kids playing around. The hotel manager’s husband set up speakers for music and to make announcements, but when totality arrived he played nothing. People stopped talking. A hush fell over everything. Moreover, I think we somehow imagine a subconscious roar from the full sun. Covered as it was, with its soft corona gleaming gently around it, it suddenly seemed still.
Secondly, the amazing unlikeliness of the Moon being at just the right distance and size to periodically cause this event seemed almost miraculous. Watching it happen drove this point home to me. And since eclipses themselves have been a critical event in the intellectual development of humanity, helping to drive learning and our understanding of the universe, it truly makes me wonder at the majesty of it. I do not believe in any particular religion or their rituals (though I consider the Bible, the Old Testament especially, to be a very good manual for creating a good life and society), but I do not deny the existence of a higher power. Something made this place, and set it up in this wonderous way. Today’s eclipse only served to demonstrate this fact to me again.
Reader and professional photographer Jody Smyers emailed me this past weekend asking me if I planned to write about the eclipse (having seen little on Behind the Black about it). I responded that “I have posted nothing about the April eclipse, mostly out of an admittedly unconscionable lack of interst. My bad. (2017 checked this off my bucket list.)” This post is my effort to correct that mistake.
Jody also sent me a detailed Map & Viewing Tipsheet he had written up, which you can download here [pdf]. His advice is sound and thorough, including providing the most important safety tips about protecting your eyes. I know the importance of this from personal expericence, because though Diane and I had good filters during the 2017 eclipse, even so I noticed my eyes were very tired for several days afterward. If you go to see this majestic event, you must do so with care.
Jody also makes this very important point:
Don’t make the mistake of settling for someplace “close enough”. The amazing spectacle of totality can be seen ONLY from inside the red-shaded band. Outside the band, even right next to it at 99% eclipse – it’s just another partial eclipse and is NOT the same experience! You will not see the sun’s corona or the 360 degree twilight, nor the planets and stars at mid-day.
Finally, for those interested, Jody has partnered with another photographer, Curtis W. Callaway, to put together an eclipse five-day workshop at Callaway’s farm in Texas for those who wish to see the eclipse while also getting some professional photography instruction beforehand. They still have a few openings left, and will be right on the centerline of the eclipse.
To repeat: If you have never witnessed a solar eclipse live, this will be your last chance to do so within the U.S. for two decades. Take advantage of it and go see it. You will have no regrets at all.
On Christmas Eve 1968 three Americans became the first humans to visit another world. What they did to celebrate was unexpected and profound, and will be remembered throughout all human history. Genesis: the Story of Apollo 8, Robert Zimmerman's classic history of humanity's first journey to another world, tells that story, and it is now available as both an ebook and an audiobook, both with a foreword by Valerie Anders and a new introduction by Robert Zimmerman.
The ebook is available everywhere for $5.99 (before discount) at amazon, or direct from my ebook publisher, ebookit. If you buy it from ebookit you don't support the big tech companies and the author gets a bigger cut much sooner.
The audiobook is also available at all these vendors, and is also free with a 30-day trial membership to Audible.
"Not simply about one mission, [Genesis] is also the history of America's quest for the moon... Zimmerman has done a masterful job of tying disparate events together into a solid account of one of America's greatest human triumphs."--San Antonio Express-News
I have seen 4 total eclipses and they all have something unique about them. My first was in the 1980s in Great Falls Montana. The shadow came from the Southwest and although the sky nearby was clear, a distant cloud bank in the SW allowed you to see the shadow approaching rapidly. Even knowing exactly what was happening, it was a bit intimidating!
Another was in Southern Turkey, by the Aegean Sea and a Greek temple. Beautiful display and locale, but diminished by somebody who thought it would be really cool to have a full orchestra playing during totality!
I had a pair of eclipse-viewing binoculars with a permanent filter built in, which were completely safe but somewhat novel then. So my wife and I took turns watching through them, while the other fended off the well-meaning tourists who rushed up to warn us that we were going to burn our eyes out!
I had just started a new job in 2017, so my eclipse viewing that time consisted of walking outside the building and finding a spot with a relatively clear eastern view. Portland wasn’t quite in the center of the path, but was pretty close. It got dark enough that all the streetlights came on for a few minutes. The thing I remember most about the experience was the amazing drive in to work, it would normally have been about half an hour of traffic as I joined the thousands of people headed north into Portland, but on that day, I saw maybe a dozen cars total. The number of people who took the day off and drove and hour or south to see the totality was staggering.
My wife and I took a little road trip from the St. Louis suburbs to the small town of De Soto, MO for the 2017 eclipse. Nothing quite compared to the awe and majesty of the event, save for being there for the birth of my twin daughters some 3 years later. As luck would have it, we moved back home to Sullivan county, IN in 2021, where we find ourselves very close to the centerline of totality for the 2024 event just down the road in Vincennes, IN.
Having traveled to the centerline in 2017, I think this year we’re gonna set up in our backyard to grill burgers and bratwurst. Friends and family from as far as Atlanta will converge at my house, and we’ll view the eclipse from “close enough” to the centerline to be worth it. I can’t wait for my three children to experience this event, as well as my parents, who’ve never seen a total eclipse in all their 65-years on this Earth.
It will pass right over me.
I proposed to my wife during the last total eclipse in 2017 (what can I say, I’m an epic space nerd). We already have a cabin near Erie, PA for this one. Looking forward to bringing some family along this time.
For the 2017 eclipse my wife and I were at my parent’s home in Salem, OR. Unlike Portland, Salem was in the path of totality. My previous total eclipse was in the 1979 wasn’t that spectacular due to overcast skies. 2017 made up for that. Wonderous experience which did have a spiritual feel. Highly recommend traveling to see one at least once in your life.
I concur with everyone saying to go see it.
There are maps that show the percentage of cloud cover by climatology. Here’s an example: https://s.w-x.co/eclipse2024clouds.jpg
I got lucky last time and I’m hoping and hoping for clear skies again. You roll the dice and take your chances!
Back in 2017, the better 1/2 agreed to take a long weekend with me and go south to see the eclipse. We left the D.C. area headed for McClellanville, South Carolina, the last town on the continent before the shadow made its way over the Atlantic. We arrived almost three hours early not knowing anyone or even where we were going to observe from. It had rained heavily that morning and we were in the dumps thinking it may persist, but the sun broke out just as we pulled off of Rt 17 at our destination.
McClellanville will always be remembered for its ante-bellum houses, live mossy oaks, the smell of the sea and the gracious hospitality of the residents. The townies seemed to be out in force setting up stands and chairs on their lawns and sidewalks and selling beverages, snacks and home-made wares. We stopped near the middle of town at a nice little park about two acres across with porta-a-potties set up near the road. Obviously, someone in that town was turned on and thinking ahead.
We parked and got busy setting up our chairs, cooler and blanket, and then had a walk around to see the town up close. When we got back, a group of vendors had shown up in lunch trucks or bar-b-que trailers and started cooking up some great smelling grub. More and more people arrived as the morning went on and they wandered out to find their spot on the lawn. The park had turned into a mini festival site. Small bands set up and entertained, kids with wagons were selling bottled water with their parents right behind selling beer and bottles of wine. As I said, someone was turned on down there.
As the event neared, the park was nearly filled with everyone excited and eager. The shadows under the oaks were adopting an “arch-like” shape due to the moon as the darkness crept up on us. Then … we were in it and dead center too. We saw the ring of fire, the corona, the stars and we listened to the quiet. Birds settled into the trees, and totally confused bees were flying into people all around us trying to get home.
And we stood there for four or five minutes with a thousand of our closest friends, smack dab in the middle of one of nature most spectacular shows that can only be described as awe inspiring. There are just no other words for it. The size of the pieces of matter in play at that moment just dwarf our own miniscule presence to the point you can actually feel the delta. For everyone there, the memory will qualify at the “I know exactly where I was that day” level … never to fade away. When it was all over, everyone at that park had become “event-friends” and for life. Huge smiles, hugs and high-fives made the rounds. Wow. It was like it happened yesterday.
I will be in Sandusky, Ohio with the better 1/2 and a 6-year-old grandchild come the weekend of April 8th with high hopes for a good clear day and more stellar memories.
In 2015 I reserved a motel room in Grand Isle, Nebraska and paid in full, in advance. The clerk asked me why, and I told her about the total eclipse coming up and that I wanted to be sure I had a room. She’d never even heard it was coming.
My wife and I drove down there from MN (where we used to live) and found a nice place just off a secondary road by a bridge, with a very large parking area and clear views from east to west. Being Nebraska it was flat and the only trees were over by the small river. The town was absolutely packed and you couldn’t find a room for any price. We had a nice breakfast at the motel and then went out to our selected area.
There were only two other vehicles there, and I was parking when my wife suggested that I turn the truck around and face the highway, which turned out to be an excellent idea. As the morning went on, the place absolutely filled up. We were blessed with mostly clear skies, and the few clouds were far to the east (a storm, as it turned out). We met all kinds of people, including one man with a good telescope and sun filter material over the objective. As the moon started to impinge on the sun, people (who had been fairly loud, some drinking) started to get quiet. As the eclipse went on the guy with the telescope was sharing it with anyone who wanted to look for a few seconds.
Just before totality the wind, which had been gently blowing out of the west, died completely. The birds stopped singing, and there was an incredible hush over the entire landscape when it became total. People stopped talking, the one or two boom boxes that had been playing were silenced, and there was an almost total silence. This was my first (and will probably be my last) total solar eclipse, and watching as the corona appeared was almost magical. Totality lasted just a few minutes, and as soon as the edge of the sun peaked around the arc of the moon, sound returned to the area…people who had been whispering were laughing and exclaiming, the birds started to chirp and sing again, and the landscape lost that funny monochrome appearance that totality had given it.
The only problem was the drive home…there had been an accident somewhere in Lincoln and the entire 90-some miles of interstate turned into a parking lot. We got off the freeway and dead-reckoned our way through the backroads up through Iowa and finally to home. It took an ungodly number of hours, but we never regretted taking the time to make the trip. Something to check off on any human being’s bucket list who has an interest in watching the sky.
We enjoyed the last eclipse to “blackout” SC in our little town where it seemed like EVERYONE was there! We had cousins from OHIO visiting so they got to do OUR eclipse and this year they’ll have their own! One “odd” group even set up in the middle of a CEMETERY! Turns out they were our neighbors from down the street!! They said they had a great view of everything! As for me? Nah – no cemeteries during an eclipse!!
I have seen several partials, this one will be my first Totality!
If the weather will cooperate, as a professional wx guesser I know that no matter how much I want clear skies for that day, I will along with everyone else not capable of orbital flight will wait impatiently and take our chances.
(that just so happens to be under the center of the Totality path!).
I have reservations at my favorite Trout fishing river in North central Arkansas,
and I have my new SeeStar S50 telescope and plan on a lot of deep sky Astrophotography from nice dark skies.
This new little scope also does Solar pictures and video as well.
So even if the weather does mean things,
I still plan on enjoying my trip,
MSG Grumpy
I saw a full annular eclipse in Maine in 1994. At work in a small business district in our town we all gathered out front to watch. There were only a few small clouds. Everyone was making with the shadow boxes or sepecial glasses and a proffesional photographer was there with his equipment. Right during totality a small cloud went under the Sun and Moon. It was one of those clouds where you could still see through it, only reducing the brightness. Being the first to notice I pointed up and said “look!”. We could look right at it without any danger. It was awesome.
Totally (pun intended) agree with the impression it makes. My first and (so far) only experience was on March 7, 1970. Drove down from Philadelphia to Norfolk VA for a wonderful 3+ minutes of totality in perfect weather. Remember it like it was yesterday!
Missed it in 2017 by some 300 miles; considering making the trip this year – didn’t realize it would be another 20 years before the next domestic one.