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I knew about tomorrow's total eclipse when I was less than 10. My older brother had a little paperback on astronomy with a map showing the track of this one and the one nine(?) years from now. I knew then it would probably pass south of my house. I was realistic enough to understand that it was so far in the future that I might not live to see it. It didn't quite sink in that I might well be living somewhere entirely different, if I did live that long. I certainly never thought, that the house I was living in then would be completely gone.
If I was still living in about that area near St. Louis I'd certainly have been thinking recently about picking a spot and driving the ten miles or so to where I could see the total eclipse, assuming the weather would be cooperative. But as far as going hundreds of miles to see it? I'm not that interested any more. TV is a lot better than it was 60 years ago, and you know it's going to be on. I don't really need to see it in person.
If the weather is good they will see it in Columbia, Missouri where I went to university. A friend in the physics department invited me up to the roof of the physics building to watch a partial eclipse from there. It was pretty impressive. The advance of the shadow was a lot more noticeable from high up than it is from the ground.
The most spectacular thing I've seen in a partial eclipse? Oddly the place I was working ran completely out of work on the day of an eclipse, and we were all temporarily laid off in the middle of the day. I got home in time to see the height of the eclipse. I didn't need to look up. The trees surrounding the house provided thousands of pin holes and there were crescent suns literally everywhere on the long driveway and lawn. I have a picture of similar crescents on an agave from another partial eclipse a few years ago here in Phoenix. But sadly I don't have a good way to post it here any more.
One evening this past week the local TV station posed the question 'Where is the best place in Arizona to view the eclipse?" Well, duh, the closest point to the path of totality. That will be Four Corners, the only place in the US where four state borders meet. There is a monument there and a even parking lot. You can walk through land in all four states in a minute or so. The layout of the place has changed over time. There used to be a driveway around the monument and you could drive through all four states in a matter of seconds at low speed. The land in Arizona and New Mexico is part of the Navajo reservation. They announced that the schools on the reservation will be closed tomorrow because of the eclipse. Not so the kids can see it. No, Navajo tradition is to go inside and stay there during an eclipse. No talking, no TV, no radio, no phone, just meditation. It probably started as a way to keep people from looking at the sun and harming their eyes, and developed into something semi-spiritual.
If I was still living in about that area near St. Louis I'd certainly have been thinking recently about picking a spot and driving the ten miles or so to where I could see the total eclipse, assuming the weather would be cooperative. But as far as going hundreds of miles to see it? I'm not that interested any more. TV is a lot better than it was 60 years ago, and you know it's going to be on. I don't really need to see it in person.
If the weather is good they will see it in Columbia, Missouri where I went to university. A friend in the physics department invited me up to the roof of the physics building to watch a partial eclipse from there. It was pretty impressive. The advance of the shadow was a lot more noticeable from high up than it is from the ground.
The most spectacular thing I've seen in a partial eclipse? Oddly the place I was working ran completely out of work on the day of an eclipse, and we were all temporarily laid off in the middle of the day. I got home in time to see the height of the eclipse. I didn't need to look up. The trees surrounding the house provided thousands of pin holes and there were crescent suns literally everywhere on the long driveway and lawn. I have a picture of similar crescents on an agave from another partial eclipse a few years ago here in Phoenix. But sadly I don't have a good way to post it here any more.
One evening this past week the local TV station posed the question 'Where is the best place in Arizona to view the eclipse?" Well, duh, the closest point to the path of totality. That will be Four Corners, the only place in the US where four state borders meet. There is a monument there and a even parking lot. You can walk through land in all four states in a minute or so. The layout of the place has changed over time. There used to be a driveway around the monument and you could drive through all four states in a matter of seconds at low speed. The land in Arizona and New Mexico is part of the Navajo reservation. They announced that the schools on the reservation will be closed tomorrow because of the eclipse. Not so the kids can see it. No, Navajo tradition is to go inside and stay there during an eclipse. No talking, no TV, no radio, no phone, just meditation. It probably started as a way to keep people from looking at the sun and harming their eyes, and developed into something semi-spiritual.