China Daily (Hong Kong)

Millions in US to gaze on once-in-a-lifetime eclipse

Up to 7 million people expect to gather along route for rare event

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CHARLESTON, South Carolina — Twilight will fall at midday on Monday, stars will glimmer and birds will roost in an eerie stillness as millions of Americans and visitors witness the first total solar eclipse to traverse the United States from coast to coast in 99 years.

The sight of the moon’s shadow passing directly in front of the sun, blotting out all but the halo-like solar corona, may draw the largest live audience for a celestial event in human history. When those watching via broadcast and online media are factored into the mix, the spectacle will likely smash records.

“It will certainly be the most observed total eclipse in history,” astronomer Rick Fienberg of the American Astronomic­al Society said last week.

The eclipse begins its cross-country trajectory over the Pacific Coast of Oregon in late morning. It will reach South Carolina’s Atlantic shore some 90 minutes later.

The total eclipse of the sun is considered one of the most spellbindi­ng phenomena in nature but it rarely occurs over a wide swath of land, let alone one of the world’s most heavily populated countries at the height of summer.

The advent of social media and inexpensiv­e high-tech optics have boosted public awareness, assuring what many US experts predict will be unpreceden­ted viewership for the so-called “Great American Eclipse”.

Some might take issue with that prediction, citing a solar eclipse visible over parts of India, Nepal, Bangladesh and Central China in July 2009. National Geographic estimated 30 million people in Shanghai and Hangzhou alone were in its path that day.

On Monday, the deepest part of the shadow, or umbra, cast by the moon will fall over a 113-km-wide, 4,000-km-long “path of totality” traversing 14 states. The 12 million people who live there can view the eclipse at its fullest merely by walking outside and looking up, weather permitting.

Some 200 million Americans reside within a day’s drive of the totality zone, and as many as 7 million, experts say, are expected to converge on towns and campground­s for the event. Many are attending multiday festivals featuring music, yoga and astronomy lectures.

Millions more could potentiall­y watch in real time as the eclipse is captured by video cameras mounted on 50 high-altitude balloons and streamed online in a joint project between NASA and Montana State University. A partial eclipse will appear throughout North America.

Adding further to the excitement is the wide availabili­ty of affordable solarsafe sunglasses produced by the millions and selling so fast that suppliers were running out of stock.

Zoos, aquariums and other wildlife parks will use the event to observe how birds and mammals react when the moon’s shadow blots out most of the sun’s light in the middle of the day.

The South Carolina Aquarium in Charleston will carefully monitor the behavior of creatures during the minute and 36 seconds when the area goes dark.

In general, researcher­s are not particular­ly concerned that the sudden midafterno­on darkness will upset animals too much even though the eclipse’s approach will come as a complete surprise to them.

“A little bit of excitement in the days of the animals is a good thing,” said aviculturi­st Monty Wallace. “You don’t want the same thing happening to you every day.”

It will certainly be the most observed total eclipse in history.”

astronomer with the American Astronomic­al Society

 ?? CHARLIE RIEDEL / ASSOCIATED PRESS ?? Elementary school pupils in the US state of Missouri practice the proper use of their eclipse glasses in anticipati­on of Monday’s solar eclipse.
CHARLIE RIEDEL / ASSOCIATED PRESS Elementary school pupils in the US state of Missouri practice the proper use of their eclipse glasses in anticipati­on of Monday’s solar eclipse.

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