Solar Eclipse 2024
When I was growing up, a fair number of books or movies featured some kind of solar eclipse—an epic, transformative moment—as an essential plot line to their story. I'm not sure if that's what made me interested, but it's been something I've wanted to see for a while. I know back on April 4, 2015, I was super excited to see my first lunar eclipse from our home, and I woke up before 5 AM to freeze my butt in a chair outside for several hours.
I missed my opportunity to see one in 2017; it was the first day of a half-year internship, and being stuck in Washington D.C. for training, there wasn't much to see anyways. This year would be different. I had a reminder on my calendar months in advance to form a plan, I got the day off from work, and I overnight road-tripped with a couple of friends down to Bloomington, Indiana. We set up camp in a reclusive neighborhood with some older folks who were nice enough to not kick us out of their yard.
The day was sunny, and we had plenty of time to gradually watch the shadow of the moon traverse the sun, excitement constantly building. It felt like a normal day for the longest of time, and without eclipse glasses, you wouldn't notice anything. But the sky gets slightly darker, and the air slightly cooler. In the final few minutes before, you can count down as the last sliver of sun gets covered.
Words fail to capture the chill in the air, how quickly it becomes dark, how vivid the 360° sunset is, and how bright the corona dominates the sky. It's just magical. I tried, of course, to take photos, but the cell phone camera can't capture the light well, and I completely failed to push record and capture video. But I was there, I saw it, and it was magnificent!
Going in to it, some people said it might be life-changing. I don't know about that one; I still had to show up to work the next day after an exhausting 11 hours return trip through traffic. I also don't think it compares to some of my favorite memories like attending BronyCon for the first time. But in terms of natural wonders, it takes the cake. I'm still in complete awe about it over 24 hours later.
I give total solar eclipses 5 stars.