Map of Solar Eclipse Cooldown: Totality or GTFO

Map of Solar Eclipse Cooldown: Totality or GTFO

As usual, XKCD is spot on This graph of solar eclipse cooling as a function of distance from the path of totality. The image's alternative text reads:

A partial eclipse is like a cool sunset. A total eclipse is like someone breaking into the sky.

See more 2017 edition. After viewing the 2017 total solar eclipse, I wrote:

We saw Bailey's beads and the diamond ring effect. And then…sorry, words are not enough here. When the moon finally slipped completely in front of the sun and the sky darkened, I don't even know how to describe it. The world stood still and time. Overall, Mouser took the photo at the top of the page. I've seen photos like this before, but assumed the beautifully brilliant corona was enhanced by filters in Photoshop. But no… that's what it actually looks like in the sky as seen by the naked eye (however small). Hands down, it's the most incredible natural phenomenon I've ever seen.

We Heart:

Not exactly what I expected, but this isn't the case. I have seen photos of coronas around the sun, but this is not the case. I expected those photos, like many astronomical images, to capture long exposures, other wavelengths, and things that the naked eye can't see. I thought there might be a light shining in a circle, or nothing, or I don't know. What I didn't expect was an unholy horror that sucked the life and light and heat of the universe with long arms, and what I saw in pictures was not an exaggeration, but a failure of the human eye to capture the scale of this thing. , and not cameras, are uniquely suited to absorb horror.

Annie Dillard:

I saw a partial eclipse in 1970. A partial eclipse is very interesting. It has almost nothing to do with the total eclipse. Seeing a total eclipse, kissing a man to marry him, or flying in an airplane has a similar connection to falling out of an airplane. Even if one experience precedes the other, it in no way prepares you for it.

I'm really looking forward to Monday and crossing my fingers for clear skies – the path of totality passes over my house.