From what I’ve read, there quite a few solar eclipses in the world every few years, so why is this one in particular so scientifically interesting?
In: Planetary Science
Nothing besides how long you’ll have to wait if you miss this one, it’ll be 2045 before the next total eclipse that’s as accessible to people living in most of the US.
https://time.com/4897581/total-solar-eclipse-years-next/
I grew up in the Midwest in the 1960s. There were zero total eclipses within convenient driving distance until 2017. THIS one is passing directly over my house.
So the specialness is really the rarity of the event. The next total eclipse visible in the lower 48 is in 2044, which I likely won’t see because I’ll be dead.
It’s a weird thing. If you put a white sheet on the ground, you can sometimes see shadow bands.
The shadow is traveling across the earth at super sonic speed.
I can tell OP never seen totality, the 2017 was came right over my city and I can see why ancient societies thought it was god doing it.
The 2024 crosses the US from southwest to northeast, covering a lot of country. Not as much as the 2017 eclipse, but *that* eclipse and the hype it generated is still fresh in everyone’s mind.
Most importantly to me (which I haven’t seen listed here), is the fact that **the next solar eclipse which passes across the United States won’t happen until Aug. 12, 2045.** Some of us won’t be around for that one.
I’m sure that the April 8 eclipse isn’t generating nearly as much excitement in the rest of the world, except among eclipse chasers who would be excited anyway.
I’m near Toronto.
It is the first total eclipse in my area for over 100 years. The next one won’t be until 2144.
So, it’s clearly once in a lifetime kinda thing.
Eclipses in general are pretty special. A moon has to be just the right distance to completely occlude a star while still leaving the corona visible like it does on Earth. Earth has what seems to be a pretty big moon for its size, which is probably the result of an early solar system collision, and our moon is slowly moving away from the planet, which means that eclipses like we see now have only been visible for some of the Earth’s history and will eventually not be as dramatic as they are now. It’s entirely possible that this is a rare enough cosmic coincidence that it would be a source of considerable interest and tourism if we ever meet other civilizations. And I’ll be able to watch it out of my bedroom window in a month if the weather cooperates.
It’s passing through Central Texas where my parents live and I’m going to their house to see it. But everyone else is also going to Central Texas, so much so that some rural counties have already declared disasters because they don’t have the infrastructure to handle what will amount to a few cities worth of people coming in. The small town where my parents live is advising people to stock up on food and gas well before the event and expect urban type gridlock from the Thursday before until the day after
It’s not scientifically interesting. It’s a long full total eclipse over the United States where many of us live, so lots of people have the chance to see it.
The other answers are correct, for some context the last one was farther south in 2017, I got to see totality in South Carolina
So I guess the fact that it’s passing over the center of the US is why it’s special. Many more opportunities for people to check it out.
If you can, i definitely recommend going to a place where you can see totality. It is really an incredible experience.
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