2024 total solar eclipse: A remarkable alignment of celestial bodies - opinion

• Published date: 10 April 2024
• Author: JEREMY CLUCHEY
• Publication title: Jerusalem Post, The: Web Edition Articles (Israel)

The day before the eclipse, we piled into the car with our kids and dogs and drove the two-and-a-half hours to our Airbnb, a quaint old home a few blocks from downtown Millinocket. Walking the main avenue 24 hours ahead of the big show, there was little traffic and few signs of the excitement to come. Shops and restaurants that would typically be closed on a Sunday evening were lingering open, but people were scarce. The 2020 census population count was 4,114. Perhaps, I thought, the massive influx of tourists the media had been projecting was not going to materialize

The first sign that I was wrong came around six the next morning. Walking our dogs, I spotted multiple cars with out-of-state plates and bleary-eyed drivers, clutching coffee mugs and slowly circulating through the quiet small town streets. Over the next few hours, they arrived steadily, paying enterprising locals $20 to park in makeshift parking lots (plus $5 for eclipse glasses if needed!). There was not a cloud in the sky, and following a chilly early spring, the temperature began climbing to an unseasonable 16 degrees Celsius (60 degrees F.). Something was in the air.

We made our way into town around lunchtime and set up our chairs on an open patch of grass in Veterans Memorial Park. The town had organized music, food trucks, local vendors, and even a whoopie pie-tasting contest (worth Googling if you're unfamiliar). The atmosphere was one of festive anticipation. Apart from some seasoned professional eclipse-watchers with enormous telescopes and camera lenses as long as your arm, it was clear most of the hundreds of attendees – ourselves included – weren't entirely sure what we were in for.

Watching the Moon bite the Sun

The eclipse started slowly… and then it happened fast. Donning our glasses, hundreds of strangers gazed skyward together and watched the moon gradually take a bite out of the sun...