INDIANAPOLIS, IN — For the past few weeks, 9-year-old Kaleb Boone has been mapping the sky. He maps, measures, plans, and carefully evaluates the weather. The reason for this is simple. This is what every astronomer predicting a major cosmic event must do.
When Comet 12P/Pons-Brooks With boomerangs coming back toward us after decades of wandering the outer solar system, scientists will be ready to catch it in action thanks to their meticulous calculations. When giant star Betelgeuse One day it will reach its tipping point and explode. Even though we do not know when that day will happen, there is a structure that will prevent those interesting supernova details from being lost. But Boone has his sights set on perhaps his favorite space muse: Our star, the sun.
He is trying to find the best spot where he and his family can watch the game. 2024 total eclipse of the sunThat’s when the Moon passes between our planet and the face of its golden anchor, dipping a lucky sliver of Earth into a few moments of day and night. Luckily, Boone finds himself in Indiana, a state that already naturally falls into that groove. But an important question remains: Is one part of Indiana’s integrity path better than another?
“I’ll be at the zoo,” Brandi Tracey told Space.com. She will be with her young children, hoping to witness what non-humans might be thinking during the strange event.
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I can’t shake the feeling that we humans are almost worshiping solar eclipses Because of the existential reminder they present to us: The entire Earth is a spaceship swinging everyone around the sun, and a dusty gray sphere has probably always been on that journey with us. The Moon is apparently our planet’s closest and best friend. So does an otter care about all this? Let alone an otter living in a zoo? A fish? Capybara? Turtle?
“The birds are coming in and the bats are coming out,” says senior project scientist Jane Rigby. James Webb Space Telescopehe told Space.com. Reflecting on his experience of the total solar eclipse in 2017, he said it was perhaps the most profound moment he had ever been a part of. The word he used was “otherworldly.”
“It’s a very emotionally intense time,” he said. “People were screaming, people were crying, I noticed little kids staring at adults.”
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Rigby had seen 2017 solar eclipse from a farm with about 60 other people. In those precious few minutes when the moon completely blocked sunlight from reaching it, the air suddenly seemed to freeze. “The part of my brainstem, the part that evolved to escape saber-toothed cats, was telling me, in all caps, ‘Oh my God.’ Sun is eaten. “Run away now,” he said, laughing.
And though he’ll be looking up into the sky from Indiana, this time to watch the beautiful space traffic hit again, he’s made sure one thing remains the same. “This is actually the first business trip I’ve brought my family on.” said. “We felt we had to see it together.” It’s a theme that resonates with many Indiana residents hoping to catch a glimpse of wholeness.
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Megan Philip will be babysitting, but she won’t let that stop her from taking her 8-year-old step-grandson out to see his silhouette. moonand Amy Bare will be on a houseboat with loved ones while our sun rarely recharges its social battery. Karena Lopez, who partially saw the eclipse in 2017, has a hazy memory of the event. But that’s just one more reason for him to make a mental note of this incident. He’ll probably be home during totality, but he’ll “definitely” go out.
The list goes on. Some eclipse watchers will clink glasses at a winery discussing their slight doubts about how big of a deal this will actually be, some will lounge at an area resort preparing articles for publication about their inner monologues, and some will simply exist wherever Unchanging life takes them. But I have yet to meet anyone who anticipates being alone, which was truly surprising to me. I imagine an experience as heavy as this could be enhanced even more if you’re alone. I’ve heard the terms “I’m held” and “we’re held” before, and so far I feel like Indiana is a “we’re held” state. What matters here is not the perspective, but the energy.
Interestingly, the “me and we” discussion reminds Rigby of how people view spirituality. For some, religion is deeply personal, but for others, religion is about community. It makes one wonder whether those who follow the religion will choose the relevant eclipse experience.
Laura McPhee, owner of a stunning bookstore in Indiana called Pen and Pink, remembers the last time she saw a total solar eclipse. While I was studying feminist literature in Paris, the solar eclipse of 1999 happened by chance. “The moon completely eclipsed the sun for less than three minutes,” she said. “This was the last total eclipse of the 20th century and also the last total eclipse of the second millennium.”
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Crowds and crowds settled on the parchment-colored steps of the Sacré Coeur, and he vividly remembers how sharply the temperature dropped during the fullness, just as Rigby said. But at least what remains of my interpretation of his anecdote is that other people perceived temperature drop as well. Being cold wasn’t a special feeling in those moments of completeness, and there were the gasps, screams of surprise, and camera flashes to prove it. It’s not often that you feel so confident that you’re connected to a stranger through your unspoken thoughts.
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Rigby is one of those eclipse chasers in limbo, unsure of where he’ll be when totality occurs (mostly because he accidentally booked a plane ticket back to DC a few hours after totality was expected to begin). He figures that if he rebooks his flight, maybe he’ll get a seat on the roof of the airport rental car facility. As unpleasant as it may sound, he’s not worried. Uncertainty is part of being an astronomer; You never know when clouds may interfere with your observations or when what you thought was standard, boring information might change.
And after all, one of the best parts of the eclipse is that everyone gets a front row seat to the sky. So perhaps the ideal vantage point in totality is wherever you are.
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