On April 8, millions of observers in Ohio will witness a total solar eclipse, a rare celestial event that promises to be an otherworldly experience.
On April 8, millions of observers in Ohio will witness a total solar eclipse, a rare celestial event that promises to be an otherworldly experience.
Wayne Schlingman, director of the Arne Slettebak Planetarium at The Ohio State University, can still remember how momentous his first exposure to one was in 2017, when the last total solar eclipse to be visible in the United States swept a dark, narrow line across its coasts.
“I was not prepared for the emotional effect of seeing this wall of darkness coming at you,” he said. “It was a phenomenal experience that I can’t really put into words.”
Eclipses once existed firmly in the realm of the unexplainable; in many cultures, they were perceived as a consequence of various myths and superstitions. Now we know they occur only when the Earth, the moon and the sun’s paths are in perfect alignment.
“Our moon is fairly far from the Earth, and it’s on a 5 degree tilt,” said Schlingman. “But twice a year, when the moon has to cross the plane of the Earth’s orbit, if it happens to be the right phase, an eclipse will happen.”
Depending on the arrangement of the cosmos, the type of eclipse we can see from Earth also changes. Solar eclipses occur when the moon passes between the Earth and the sun, casting a shadow that blocks the sun’s light from view on the ground, but lunar eclipses are the result of when the sun casts Earth’s shadow onto the moon. In both cases, areas on Earth that fall within the range of complete coverage during these events are in the path of totality.
