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A Celestial Adventure
Experiencing a total solar eclipse
IMAGE: GETTY IMAGESOn April 8, 2024, Case Western Reserve—and portions of a dozen U.S. states, Mexico and Canada—will be in the path of a rare total solar eclipse.
For millennia, humans have pictured these heavenly dramas in various ways: as a dragon devouring the sun (Chinese), a decapitated head floating in front of the solar disc (Hindu), or a naughty squirrel gnawing at the flaming circle (indigenous North American). The very word "eclipse" stems from the Greek ekleipsis, for "being abandoned," a reference to the gods departing, angry with lesser mortal beings below.
Modern humans no longer harbor primal fear of natural phenomena. An eclipse is a measurable, predictable event. We have scientifically stripped away myth for math, fear for physics and imagination for centuries of always-improving astronomical observations.
But if Cleveland skies are clear, even four breathless minutes (3:13-3:17 p.m.) of sudden surreal twilight will transcend the science.
"There's nothing else like it in nature," said Glenn Starkman, PhD, a Distinguished University Professor and vice chair of the Department of Physics. "It is guaranteed to be one of the singular celestial adventures of a lifetime.
"Unless it's cloudy," he added, "like that ever happens in Cleveland."
Below, Starkman and other faculty experts from the College of Arts and Sciences offered some of their favorite eclipse facts.
The temperature will drop up to 7 degrees Fahrenheit.
The horizon will be enveloped in sunset as if every direction is west.
The size of Earth's moon is 400 times smaller than the sun, but about 400 times nearer to our planet—a (nearly) perfect match.
Scientists and citizen observers who have seen total eclipses have described birds returning to their nests; spiders, bees, butterflies and others stopping their daytime activity, while animals who forage in the evening (deer) or at night (owls) have suddenly roused from their slumber and others (frogs) have sometimes begun an evening chorus.
The last total solar eclipse visible in Ohio was in 1806. The next one will be in 2099.
