Millions of people are preparing to observe the first total solar eclipse for 99 years that travel the country from coast to coast.
The United States, the country par excellence of the massive phenomena, is preparing to live an unusual one. On Monday, for the first time in 99 years a total solar eclipse will cross the US from coast to coast. Millions of people will follow the event, which has unleashed a citizen craze with palpable and unpredictable consequences.
In the Mecca of capitalism, finding the right glasses to observe the eclipse of August 21 is a chimera, since almost all have spent weeks. To get some you have to beg for acquaintances in scientific institutions or make long lines in the museums that distribute them free for certain hours a day.
A man is wearing a T-shirt that reads: Where will you be on August 21 during the solar eclipse? Some ladies hold their spectacles in their hands to observe the astronomical event, although hours remain to occur. In the bars there are special drinks on the eclipse. And schools and most facilities close on Monday.
In order to obtain a pair of spectacles one has to beg for acquaintances in scientific institutions or make long lines in museums that distribute them free for certain hours a day
In Charleston (South Carolina), a city of 134,000 people, up to a million visitors are expected to see the total solar eclipse. There is hardly any place to sleep and many people stroll down the street. Although the nerves get worse because it is possible that the sky is cloudy and even rains at the time of the eclipse, the residents and visitors give off enthusiasm.
"People are so excited," says Courtney Odom, 31, who works in a paint shop that has organized special classes to paint a picture of an eclipse in Charleston. The interest has been enormous. "We did very well this weekend," he says.
It is an astronomical phenomenon of magical sensations. The moon passes in front of the sun and the sun is no longer seen. Suddenly on Monday morning, it will become gradually dark and for one or two minutes, depending on the area, the darkness will be total. The stars will shine and the birds will remain motionless.
In a strip that will cross diagonally from west to this US, the eclipse will be seen in full. In the rest of the country the eclipse will be partial, as in Central America, northern South America and Europe. Total solar eclipses are not unusual: they occur in some part of the planet every 18 months, but the difficult thing is that they can be seen from inhabited points. After Monday, the next total eclipse visible from the earth will take place in January 2019, with Argentina and Chile as better countries to contemplate. And the next eclipse in North America will occur in April 2024.
Monday's eclipse will hit the continental United States at 10:16 am local time in Lincoln Beach, Oregon. From there, its shadow will shift to the east for about 90 minutes. The strip will be 113 kilometers wide and 4,000 kilometers long. It will cross the states of Oregon, Idaho, Wyoming, Montana, Nebraska, Iowa, Kansas, Missouri, Kentucky, Tennessee, Georgia, and North and South Carolina. It ends in Charleston (South Carolina) at 14:48 local time.
The best place to see it will be Cardondale, Illinois, where the sun will be covered by the moon for the longest time: 2 minutes and 41 seconds. The trajectory of the eclipse passes over rural areas and small cities, so traveling by car is almost obligatory. The most populated city from which you can see is Nashville (Tennessee), which has 609,000 inhabitants.
Many believe that the audience will be massive in a country with more than 300 million inhabitants and in the heat of summer. "It will certainly be the most observed total eclipse in history," said astronomer Rick Fienberg of the American Astronomical Society.
And there will be those who will have unusual views. A cruise company will sail the East Coast during the time of maximum darkness and not only that: aboard the ship will perform the singer Bonnie Tyler, author of the hit Total Eclipse of the Heart. And an airline company, Air Charter Service, has organized flights to be able to see the event from the air.