4.11.2024

a quick astronomy interlude

Considering the next total solar eclipse to cross through Ohio will be September 2099, we're all feeling really lucky to have seen the one this week. What a privilege, to access that experience. The lawn chairs and the long lines for donuts and the constantly refreshed traffic maps and the general lunacy, it was all worth it. To be honest, nothing in our day to day lives seems to be aligning quite as perfectly as the sun and the moon did on Monday, but there is a lot of love in the dark. 

For a cosmic moment it felt like everyone on the planet, or at least on the path of totality, paused to look up together, a brief but universal communion. While the moon completely obscured the sun we felt a new appreciation for how much heat the sun provides us here on earth. The whole thing was amazing, the way gravity shifted and a green hue took over the sky at first, like we were under Friday night stadium lights. 

April 8th was a solid reminder that basically everything is out of our control. But also that scientists, using only the laws of celestial motion, could predict that whole thing down to the minute. Three celestial bodies in one gravitational system moved into a straight line. I can't even get the boys to stand and smile at the same time for a photo. 

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