The 2024 Total Solar Eclipse
Readers, please enjoy this guest blog post by Debra L. Burris, author of the new Weather Magic.
On April 8, 2024, my farm in the Arkansas Ozarks will be near the midline of totality of the solar eclipse. My astrophysicist self has been involved in all sorts of planning events, and I’ve given dozens of presentations to civic groups, planetarium shows to school groups, and a fair number of programs at metaphysical fairs. This is one of my favorite parts of my job: sharing my love of celestial objects as their mysteries with people. I also love connecting my spiritual practice to science.
Talking to people about the why of the eclipse (why it is so rare to see a total solar eclipse) is usually where I start. Firstly, it takes the right moon phase (a New Moon) so that the moon is between the Sun and Earth. Next, the orbital planes of the Earth and Moon have line up so that the shadow of the New Moon falls on the surface of the Earth. Then, the shadow of the Moon needs to cross the location where you are. Since the Moon’s shadow is pretty small compared to the size of the Earth, the likelihood of being in the right place at the right time is pretty low. The last factor, and the one that is the least predictable, is that the skies need to be clear. That is the one factor that has me worried for April here in Arkansas: we could have clear, blue skies, but we could also be hiding in our tornado shelter!
Our thanks to Debra for her guest post! For more from Debra L. Burris, read her article “How One Witch Prepares for Severe Weather Season.”
