It’s prime time for eclipse-chasers: A total solar eclipse will trace a line from coast to coast on Monday, and the anticipation is at its peak. So are the travel costs.
Hard-core eclipse fans made their travel arrangements long ago. That was also the case back in 2017, when a similar all-American solar eclipse turned central Oregon into one of the nation’s hottest hotspots (made even hotter by that summer’s wildfires). Witnessing a total solar eclipse in person is something everyone ought to do at least once in their life, and if you want to get in on the experience this time around, it’s still possible.
I should know: That’s exactly what I’m doing.
Last week, I caught a cold at exactly the wrong time to go ahead with my meticulously planned, 14-day road trip to a viewing spot near Austin, Texas. I was resigned to passing up totality. Then, on Thursday, I received a text from my brother in the Cincinnati area, inviting me to join him for an eclipse expedition to Indiana.
Why not, I thought. After a couple of hours of online searching, I snagged the last room available at a resort near Nashville, Ind., at $300 for Sunday night — and I reserved a $1,030 flight from Seattle to Cincinnati, with my brother picking me up. If I needed a rental car, that would have been another $500 or so.
I’m bracing myself for the hordes of visitors, the horrors of eclipse-day traffic and the hang-ups in wireless internet service that you have to expect in the zone of totality. And I’m reminding myself that the experience of seeing day turn to night for a few minutes, with a black sun hanging over a cheering crowd, should be as magical as it was when I saw my first total solar eclipse 45 years ago.
Even if you don’t think it’s worth making an expensive dash to the zone of totality, there are ways to get in on the fun online — or see the eclipse’s partial phase in skies closer to home, provided you have the right equipment.
Seeing the partial eclipse
If you’re in the Pacific Northwest, you probably won’t even notice Monday’s eclipse unless you know in advance and have the proper viewing equipment at the ready. For example, in the skies over Seattle, only 20% of the sun’s disk will be obscured, which barely makes a difference to the naked eye.
The partial eclipse begins at 10:38 a.m. PT and ends at 12:21 p.m., with maximum eclipse at 11:29 a.m. Speaking of the naked eye, don’t try to gaze directly at the sun during that time. The partially eclipsed sun is way too bright, and you can damage your eyes if you look too long.
To stay safe, you can use eclipse glasses, which can still be ordered online with a chance of pre-eclipse delivery (but make sure the vendor is reputable). You can construct a pinhole camera over the weekend, following NASA’s instructions. Or you can use a colander or your knitted-together fingers to try projecting crescent-shaped patterns onto a sidewalk.
To witness a partial eclipse, the sun has to be visible in the sky — which can be a problem for Seattleites in April. And sure enough, the forecast calls for mostly cloudy skies on Monday.
Where can you go? The New York Times provides an interactive cloud-forecast map that reflects the outlook for the entire country on eclipse day. You can also go to the National Weather Service’s graphical forecast map, advance the time frame to April 8, and check the regional sky cover percentages.
Based on current forecasts, your best bet in Washington state would be the Tri-Cities region. It may not be worth making the drive from Seattle for the eclipse alone, but I’ll just note that the area abounds with wineries.
Taking in totality online
Watching a total eclipse on a computer screen is nothing like experiencing it in person, but it might be the best you can do if you’re stuck beneath Seattle’s clouds. Fortunately, NASA is planning a big show from 10 a.m. to 1 p.m. PT on Monday, with live shots potentially coming from more than a dozen locations along the track of totality. There’ll also be a telescope-only video feed tracking the eclipse.
San Francisco’s Exploratorium museum is planning its own array of live webcasts from locales in Texas and Mexico. Other webcasts will be available from TimeAndDate.com and the University of Maine. And just in case you prefer to get your video from television rather than the internet, TV networks are planning live coverage at midday Monday.
If you’re looking for an online-only twist to Monday’s eclipse coverage, check out Twitch.tv/esportnealive from 11 a.m. to 1 p.m. PT. Twitch has teamed up with NASA, Epic Games/Microsoft and the National Esports Association to create eclipse-themed versions of Fortnite and Minecraft, and a livestream of the gameplay by a handful of streamers will appear alongside live eclipse footage from NASA.
Eclipse coverage has come a long way since 1979, when I saw my first total solar eclipse at the Goldendale Observatory, near the banks of the Columbia River. I can only imagine what it’ll be like when America’s heartland has its next rendezvous with totality in 2045. If I’m lucky, I’ll be around to see it — perhaps via telepresence, or maybe as I’m riding in my autonomously guided flying car.
Next week, check back for recaps of the GeekWire team’s experiences in Nashville, Ind., and other locales in the eclipse zone.
