An eclipse is not natural history (in the modern sense), but it is something too monumental to ignore.
The total solar eclipse of 2024 was magnificent. We watched it in our own back yard. We were in the zone of total eclipse by 20 kilometers, so we had about a minute and a half of totality.
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| The horizon at totality. Looking about 90 degrees left of the sun's position. |
Now I understand why people go to such lengths to see one of these events. The moment of totality is strangely beautiful. It really is quite unlike any other condition of light that I have ever experienced. It got quite dark, although not like the darkness of the middle of the night. I could easily make my way across the yard with no need for assistance. But we could see the planets and a few bright stars. There was a rosy ring of sunset-like light around the horizon (at least, where there were thin clouds, which we had for the late afternoon). It was dark, but there was this weird structure in the sky: the sun’s corona with a black hole in the middle. It had the appearance of a bizarre thing that might have been depicted in the Lord of the Rings movie. (Has Peter Jackson witnessed a total eclipse?) I scrambled to take photos (with several cameras), and then before you know it, the sun re-appeared. In a few minutes, it was all over – daylight returned. The afternoon warmth soon followed.
This was genuinely a once-in-a-lifetime experience for us. The closest I’ve come was a 2017 total eclipse that occurred several states north. (I chose to stay at work.) Why are these things so rare? It’s worth reminding oneself.
There is a great lecture on the conditions for an eclipse that you can see on Youtube. Another clear presentation is here. Eclipses are rare because most of the time, the moon’s shadow misses the earth altogether. The moon’s orbit is inclined at an angle from the Earth, so the moon is either too high or too low for an eclipse. But twice per year, there is an “eclipse season”, where the three-way alignment occurs. There is a wonderful illustration of this below. The other major factor at play is that at the time of alignment, the moon may be at the more distant portion of its elliptical orbit, causing it to be too small to block the sun. The “eclipse season” is not fixed on the calendar: it moves through the months according to a complicated pattern.
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| Illustration of the conditions for an eclipse. (Source) |
The moon’s shadow can land anywhere on the earth, depending on a lot of variables. It had never occurred where we live (in my 62 years) until this year on the 8th of April, in the afternoon. (In 1963, 1970, and 1979 I was otherwise occupied.) It was the first warm day of the year, and the snow on the open fields had disappeared. From first contact to last was a period of 2 hours 20 minutes. For most of that time, I would not have noticed much of anything if I had been in the dark about the whole affair.
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| My photos of the eclipse. Taken with a solar filter on my zoom lens, steadied on my tripod. If you expand the image, you can see sunspots. |
Things look different for about a half hour surrounding totality. We were blessed with open skies with just wispy clouds, and it was odd to see it getting darker despite the high position of the sun in the sky, near 3:30 pm. The temperature (about 12 C, high fifties F) dropped notably, and we reached for jackets.
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| Imaging the partial eclipse by the ancient method. I made "pinholes" by crossing my hands, with fingers slightly spread. |
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| A delicate crescent. This was taken moments before totality. I was mesmerized by this scene, causing me to be late getting the camera ready for totality. |
I was clicking away with cameras. At totality, things got dark, and planets and a few stars suddenly appeared. The bizarre-looking light in the sky reigned overhead. I removed the solar filter from my lens, and tried to capture the corona. Not being experienced in these matters, I fumbled and got a rather overexposed image. (I struggled with focus, too. The correct spot was slightly down from infinity, but my electronically-controlled focus adjustment was wandering. Need better equipment.)
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| Totality. Taken without the solar filter. The part of the corona immediately surrounding the black disk is saturated. (Blame the photographer.) But the gossamer tentacles of the outer corona are fairly well registered here, comparing mine to other images that day. |
I listened for responses from wildlife. There was no really notable reaction. Our Barred Owl stayed silent. The Woodcock, which I still haven’t heard this year, didn’t take the bait. And then, it was over. The sun emerged as a bright dot at the lower left, and ten minutes later, it was another warm spring afternoon.
It was a unique experience nonetheless. The eerie light was otherworldly. And we didn’t have to leave home!