The Eclipse
On the eighth of April, a celestial dance ignites! The sun, a fiery titan, waltzes with the moon, a celestial enchantress. Twilight emerges as the moon eclipses the sun, and a blazing crown takes its place, a heavenly counterpoint. We hold our breath. Then, a triumphant roar—the sun breaks free, banishing the inky veil. Light floods back, a testament to the cosmos’ dance. This epic spectacle, forever etched in memory, becomes a tale whispered through generations—the day the sun danced with the moon! Who doesn’t like a good eclipse? They are the stuff of legends. This solar eclipse promises a longer, darker experience with an active sun, and it’s accessible to a large population. Why is this one special? Duration and Darkness: • This year’s eclipse will be longer, with a duration of nearly 4½ minutes. • During the path of totality, where the moon completely blocks out the sun’s disk, the sky will fall darker than before. Active Sun: • The sun will be close to solar maximum in 2024, which is the peak of its roughly 11-year activity cycle. • Bright, petal-like streamers of plasma will extend from the sun’s outer atmosphere (the solar corona). • There’s an increased chance of a coronal mass ejection, a large puff of hot gas blasted away from the sun’s surface. Accessible Path: • Approximately 32 million people will be inside the path of totality, which is about 2½ times as many as during the 2017 eclipse. • Major East Coast cities like Baltimore to Boston are only about 200 miles from the path of totality. • This accessibility means millions more people will witness this astronomical...
The Lesson of the Eclipse
With the advent of the April 8th Total Solar Eclipse that will cross North America including the United States, parts of Canada, and Mexico, I began musing about a wonderful eclipse story from my childhood. Growing up in the 1950’s and 60’s, I was an avid reader, and especially loved the works of Samuel Langhorne Clemens, better known by his famous pen name, Mark Twain. Along with classics like The Adventures of Tom Sawyer and Adventures of Huckleberry Finn, Twain was also famous for his often biting satirical works. One such book, A Connecticut Yankee in King Arthur’s Court, tells the story of Hank Morgan, a 19th century mechanic from Hartford, Connecticut, who receives a blow to the head and awakens from unconsciousness to find himself in England during the reign of King Arthur. Without giving away the entire plot, (and if you have not read this or seen the delightful 1949 movie version starring Bing Crosby, please do), he uses his “modern knowledge” to make King Arthur’s court believe he is a great wizard and even a challenger to Merlin! The total solar eclipse trope comes when he is about to be burned at the stake and remembers that an eclipse is taking place that very day as the sky begins to darken. He admonishes the assembled that this will be the end of the world and only he can “bring back” the Sun and save everyone. Needless to say, his “advanced” knowledge, quick thinking, and “Yankee ingenuity” saved him. When news of the April 8th eclipse was announced, I began to see posts on social media and...Our Sponsor
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