During the Eclipse, Don't Just Look Up

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So in 2017, I was in a

park in Tennessee, and it was having an Eclipse event, and everyone had their Eclipse glasses.

This is Atlantic staff writer Marina Corin.

On Slack, she goes by Outer Space Bureau Chief.

And so

you could put them on, and then you could see the moon eating away at the sun, kind of like a little Pac-Man.

And then

there was no sun.

It was just this silver, milky white ring that kind of looked like an engagement ring, like hanging in the sky.

Like there was a tiny little speck on the corner that looked like the diamond.

And

inside the ring and outside of of it, it was all the same color, like the same deep evening purple.

And I remember looking at the grass beneath me and the light was just shimmering.

What do you mean, shimmering?

I wish I knew.

I've never seen anything like it before, but I think like the very edges of the sun that were visible and we could see this glowing ring, they were just doing something to like the way they were radiating was creating these weird, like shimmering waves on the grass, which you hadn't seen before, no, or since.

And I remember when the moon finally slid right in front of the sun, like people screamed, and to hear people cheer and laugh and cry out, it was like so weird to have that collective reaction.

Obviously, we have those types of reactions regularly, but this felt different.

This is Radio Atlantic.

I'm Hannah Rosen.

In August 2017, Corin and millions of other people witnessed the Great American Eclipse.

The path of totality touched 14 states, spanning from Oregon to South Carolina, and lasted all but a couple of minutes from the ground.

Those minutes go real, real fast.

I would know because I missed it.

Now, seven years later, I and all of you have another chance to see one.

Lots of spots in the U.S.

will fall in what's called the path of totality Monday, April 8th.

An eclipse is many things, but one of them is a measure of time.

During the last eclipse, my youngest kid was in elementary school.

Now he's thinking about college.

And in 2045, which is when we'll see the next total eclipse of this scope and scale in the U.S.,

he will be nearing 40,

which is impossible to contemplate.

So let's reel it back.

What is an eclipse?

That's a great question.

It is a cosmic alignment.

I guess you could say, of the Earth, the Moon, and the Sun.

And total solar eclipses, and I'll get to what that means, actually happen quite a bit.

About every 18 months or so, there is a spot on Earth where if you stood at the right place in the right time, the moon from our perspective would pass in front of the sun and block the sunlight reaching Earth.

And so all of a sudden, daytime would turn into night, or kind of like a twilight, dusky color.

And the only thing that you would see in the sky, if there's no clouds, of course, would be a ring of light.

Like that's the edge of the sun that kind of escapes a little bit from the moon shadow and is visible.

Right.

It's like an imperfect cover.

Already that's interesting because celestially it sounds like, well, it's just another Tuesday.

It's not a particularly interesting

orbital mechanical event.

It's just amazing to us.

Yeah, I mean, there is a tiny bit of science to be done.

So that little bit of sun that you still can see is called the corona, which is the outermost layer of the sun.

And it's not visible really at any other time from Earth, except during an eclipse.

So there's like corona studies, but I think

like scientists have wrung out as much as they could from that.

Right.

And is everyone looking at the same things?

Like, is everyone's head swiveling?

Like, what's happening?

Aaron Ross I think most people were looking up at the sky.

People were taking pictures.

But I remember I made sure not to take any pictures during those three minutes in 2017.

And I don't plan on taking pictures now.

Why?

Because no camera, like unless you have like a really, really good camera, it's not going to capture.

Your little iPhone camera is not going to capture it properly.

I think actually experiencing it without a screen is more powerful because you can

feel the temperature change on your skin too when the sun goes away.

Like it gets a little bit cooler.

And I think it's like an experience for all the senses.

And if you're trying to take pictures of it, you're kind of missing out on that experience.

But I had talked to a lot of eclipse chasers in the lead up to this event.

And they had told me explicitly, look around you, take in your surroundings, see what you can hear, feel.

So I was actively trying to do that.

Because most people are just looking up and actually what you should be doing is seeing how your entire environment changes, not just looking at that one.

I think so, because the color is just so strange.

And to see a second ago, everything around you was sunlit and bright and familiar.

And now it is cast in these like strange, shimmery colors.

And I think like, You do have kind of a primal reaction to it.

I think I could almost feel in my body that something was

very strange, but intellectually I knew that it was exciting.

It's like both sides of awe, the fearful kind and the like wonder and astonishment kind.

That is close to a spiritual experience.

Or at least it has all the ingredients of a spiritual experience.

It sticks for me as something beautiful that I will probably only experience twice in life.

But But it doesn't translate into, at least it hasn't for me, into like

the way I go about the world.

An eclipse chaser?

What's an eclipse chaser?

They are

people who are so obsessed with eclipses that instead of waiting for totality to come to them, they chase after it.

Hello, this is Fred.

Fred, this is Hannah Rosen from the Atlantic.

Hi, Hannah.

Hi.

Sorry about that.

We had a few.

So I've talked to people that have

experienced, I think, 20-something total solar eclipses, and that meant that they were in the path of totality for those few moments.

Are you getting ready to travel?

Uh, yeah, next week we leave for Mexico.

Oh, you do?

You're going to Mexico.

Where exactly?

To Mazatlan.

To Mazatlan.

They just love it.

They plan their lives around it.

Wow.

If you have a friend's wedding on an eclipse day, these eclipse chasers will not, they're not going to be it that way.

Is there anything particular about this eclipse that you're looking forward to or talk to people about?

Well, it's the next one.

That's what's special about it.

After the break, more total eclipses, including a total eclipse of the heart.

Seeing a partial eclipse might be a three.

And seeing a total eclipse is a million.

Really?

Wow.

Yeah.

Yeah.

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Could you characterize an eclipse chaser or talk about an individual one?

Is there something they have in common?

Do they talk about it in terms of logistics?

Like, oh, there was the 2017 one and the other one and the other one.

Or is there something comes in their voice?

Like, what are they looking for?

What are they chasing when they're chasing an eclipse?

I think the thrill of it, because it is a thrilling experience.

And they say that it never gets old.

Every time I see one,

my heart is beating fast, the adrenaline is pumping, the hair on the back of my neck is standing up in anticipation for it.

It is a spectacular event.

And anyone who has not seen a total eclipse can't really appreciate how incredible it is.

Wow.

To the

to see this thing in the sky,

the closest thing I can compare it to is it seems supernatural.

This is Fred Espinack.

He's a retired astrophysicist and, of course, an eclipse chaser.

And how do you rank among the other eclipse chasers?

I mean, do you feel sort of on par mostly?

I guess

I don't know how to say this.

without sounding like I'm bragging, but I'm somewhat of a celebrity when we go to these events.

Oh, that's so nice.

How does that manifest itself?

Like everybody knows your name or what?

Well, because

I've

there's probably

I doubt if there are any more than 10 or 20 people on the planet that have seen as many total eclipses as I have.

How many eclipses have you seen?

I've been to 30 and I've seen probably 24.

Oh, I see.

Total eclipses.

Total eclipses.

Yeah.

How did you get started on this?

Was it personal or a field of study?

No, it was personal.

I saw a partial eclipse as a kid and realized that a total eclipse was much more spectacular than a partial eclipse.

And there was one passing through the eastern United States.

And I thought that this was a one chance in a lifetime to see a total eclipse.

It occurred in 1970.

And I thought I was pretty well prepared.

I had a small telescope with me.

I drove drove down to the eclipse path,

had some good weather, managed to see the eclipse, but what I was not prepared for was the impact that seeing totality had on me.

No descriptions come close to what it's actually like.

It was my first close encounter with what I call a true awe,

where you feel insignificant and part of something much greater that you don't completely understand.

Was that a pleasant or an unpleasant feeling?

Oh, very pleasant.

Really?

Why would it be pleasant to realize that you were insignificant?

Well, insignificant and yet part of it.

And somehow it suddenly put things in kind of a greater perspective.

You know, academically, you know, you're on this planet and it's spherical, even though there's no evidence to your everyday experience that you're on a spinning bozzing through space.

But all of a sudden, that just seemed intuitively correct.

For me, my theory is that like these people are not,

and like the rest of us, we will live our lives out on this one planet.

So we have to

understand

the universe and commune with the universe from this one single point on Earth.

So if you can hop on a plane and go and kind of cover the Earth and commune with space in this way,

then why not?

And then you can say, you know,

I've been a part of some type of celestial alignment multiple times

because this is the only place I could do it from.

So why not try to experience it as much as possible?

It's something I tell everybody should be on their bucket list.

Everybody needs to see one at least once in their life.

Yeah.

Here is a golden opportunity where you don't really have to travel very far.

And there are over 30 million Americans that live right in the path.

Yeah.

Does that make you feel good that lots of people are going to get to share that experience?

Yeah.

You know,

I think we get too jaded with the artificial world that we live in.

And this is reality.

This is the real universe that we live in and it's a chance to connect with that.

And there's nothing in our power to stop this eclipse.

Yeah.

It's going to happen.

And sometimes it's a good reminder that there are things beyond our control.

You've written about the eclipse as a collapse of time.

What do you mean by that?

Hmm.

Or a colliding of your past and future self.

Yeah, yeah.

I remember thinking in 2017 that 2024 felt so far away away and that it would never come.

And now here we are.

Yeah.

And

I spoke to an illustrator named Andy Rash, who wrote a children's book called Eclipse based on his experience of seeing the 2017 eclipse with a son who was seven.

His son is 14 now.

And so Andy and I were talking about the way that eclipses mark time in our lives.

And I asked him, have you talked to your son about the fact that after this, you have to wait until 2045?

And Andy said, no, because

his kid's 14.

He's living in the moment.

He's watching eclipses with his dad.

He doesn't need to think that far into the future.

And probably that span of time is just too abstract for him.

What about for the dad?

Like, he's got to be thinking, how old am I going to be in 2045?

Oh, yeah.

He's...

really sentimental and sappy about it for sure because his hope

is that he and his son will be together in 2045 to see this, but his hope is also tied up with his hopes for his child.

Like what kind of adult will he grow into?

What kind of man will he be?

That will become apparent in 2045.

And, you know, the eclipse will be there to meet that person.

How old are you now?

72.

And how old were you then?

When I saw that first total eclipse, I was 18.

How many more eclipses do you think you'll see?

Boy.

It depends on how well my health goes out.

I mean, I'm going to keep going to them for as long as I can.

But realistically, will I live till 80, 90?

Hard to say, but

it becomes more and more clear to me each time I see a total eclipse that it's getting to the point where I'm going to see my last one.

I mean, it's just like death.

You don't know when the last one is.

But it causes, you know, one to pause and wonder that, well, you know,

here's another chance to see it.

It might be the last time.

Yeah, yeah.

Well, I hope not, for your sake.

Fred, thank you so much for joining us for this interview.

We really appreciate it, and I hope this trip goes exactly the way you want it to.

Thank you so much.

Clear sky to everybody.

Thanks.

Bye-bye.

Bye.

This episode of Radio Atlantic was produced by Janea West.

It was edited by Claudina Bade and Andrea Valdez, fact-checked.

by Will Gordon and engineered by Erica Wong.

Claudina Bade is the executive producer of Atlantic Audio, and Andrea Valdez is our managing editor.

I'm Hannah Rosen.

Thank you for listening and clear skies to all of you.