01.30.2024
WHERE TO SEE 2024’s MAGNIFICENT TOTAL SOLAR ECLIPSE
VOGUE I BY NICOLE KLIEST I 01.30.24
Over many millennia, the narrative of the total solar eclipse was surrounded by mythology. Derived from the Greek ekleipsis, translating roughly to disappear or abandon, the word eclipse has struck awe (and sometimes fear) in the hearts of many civilizations. The ancient Chinese believed a celestial dragon was swallowing the sun, and that it predicted the future of the emperor. Native Americans of the Chippewa tribe shot burning arrows toward the sky to replenish the sun’s supposed extinguished flames. The phenomena commanded such reverence that Greek historian Herodotus cited a total solar eclipse as bringing an end to a years-long war between the Lydians and the Medes (“when they observed the change, ceased fighting, and were alike anxious to have terms of peace agreed on”). In Homer’s Odyssey, the poet wrote of a total solar eclipse: “The sun has perished out of heaven and an evil mist hovers over all.”
In more recent years, it’s lost much of that mystical, fascinating lore, but still presents boundless opportunities for scientific research. In 1919, a total solar eclipse helped to prove Einstein’s Theory of General Relativity by measuring how images of stars shift when the sun is close. Even now, this astronomical event has allowed scientists to observe a great deal, gleaning insights about our universe, and of space and time. (According to NASA, a team of researchers once chased an eclipse’s path in a high-speed jet.)