The Strong Emotion and Unexpected Joy of Experiencing a Total Eclipse of the Sun

EngineerDestin SandlinofSmarter Every Dayexplains the science behind the April 2024 total solar eclipse that will cut a wide swath across Mexico, the midwestern United States and then finally Canada.

This is your biggest opportunity, if you live in the United States or in northern parts of Mexico, to see a total solar eclipse. . ...The actual moment is called totality. That's when the disk of the moon obscures or occludes the disk of the sun. And all kinds of things happen right then in that moment.

Sandlin also addresses the strong emotion that he and other science vloggers felt during the total eclipse in 2017 and the unexpected joy of actually experiencing one, which is why he highly encourages people to travel to see one.

And I don't want you to miss it because I love you and I want you to love eclipses.

He spoke with eclipse expert Dr. Gordon Telepun, who explained how to see the eclipse through a pinhole projector. He suggests using a light colander or a cheese grater as a pinhole projector or making one from scratch

Get some paper and punch holes in it. Do your name or do the date, whatever you want to do. Bring a colander to the eclipse. ... Kitchen utensils are great....Or a cheese grater.

The Solar Eclipse Timer App

Dr. Telepun also created a handy Solar Eclipse Timer" that is available to download for iOS or Android.

My mobile eclipse timing app called Solar Eclipse Timer has a unique feature that allows novice eclipse photographers to be successful with capturing an equal sequence of the partial phases before and after totality.