☽ Eclipse 2024 ☾

Introduction
Get yourselves ready, dear students of astrology and astronomy! 8 April 2024 will surely be a day of signs and wonders in the heavens! Beginning at Penrhyn Atoll (Cook Islands) and stretching in a graceful northeastwards curve across the Pacific Ocean, all of North America, and then the northern Atlantic Ocean and ending at a point of convergence south of Rekyavik (Iceland) and west of Penzance (Cornwall) and Penzer (Brittany) the umbra of the Great Eclipse of 2024 will make for a spectacular show across the North American continent!

ASTRONOMICAL
So, what is an eclipse anyway? An eclipse is an astronomical even where one sufficiently large heavenly body, such as a moon or a double planet, passes through the space between the planet's star and the planet itself. From our perspective on Earth, only three bodies are capable of passing through the space between the Earth and the Sun: Mercury, Venus and the Moon. Although both planets are much larger than the Moon, they appear very small due to their great distances. From our perspective, they appear as tiny dark dots crossing the surface of the Sun. We call those "transits". The Moon, however, appears to be much larger due to him being so m much closer. In fact, at our time in Earth's history, the Moon and the Sun appear to be almost identical is size in the sky! For this reason, the Moon is able to completely cover the disk of the Sun, and this we call an "eclipse".

There are two phases to an eclipse. The first is called the umbra, or shadow. The second is called the penumbra, coming from Latin paene umbra, almost a shadow. Seen from space, the penumbra is a circle almost 10,000 miles wide. In this broad area, the eclipse will be "partial", that is, the Moon will seem to take a bite out of the Sun! The umbra, however, is where all the excitement happens! The umbra is only about 100 miles wide, and this is the long thin slice of Earth's surface where the Sun will be entirely blotted out.

But you have to be quick! Even though it is 9190 miles long, the actual circular shadow of the Moon will transverse that great distance in only three hours and seventeen minutes --- that's 2828 miles per hour! No broom, enchanted motor car or magic carpet can hope to keep up! Yet a certain intrepid professor of astronomy and a couple of his mates are going to make the voyage!

ASTROLOGICAL

It is interesting to note that the Great Eclipse should begin near an island with a Celtic name beginning with P and ending near other Celtic places also beginning with P. Penrhyn is Welsh for cape or promontory; Penzance is Cornish for Saintshead; Penzer might mean something like tip of the billhook in Breton. Also of note, the Moon makes landfall at a place in Mexico called Mazatlan, the Place of Deer, however, the Aztec day Mazatl falls on the ninth of April! And the Moon departs the land again, nearly three and a quarter hours later, over Bona Vista, N.L. in Canada. Astrologically, Bona Vista is more connected with John Cabot, who is said to have cried "o bona vista!" (o good sighting!) when he reached the coast of Newfoundland or Labrador on St John's Day in 1497.

Here, in the realm of astrology, we might consider the ranges of meaning and interpretation of an eclipse. The Great Eclipse of 2024 is entirely a North American phenomenon. Although it begins in the southern Pacific and ends in the northern Atlantic, the penumbra of the Moon will be visible to the entirety of North America, from Panama in the south, to Yukon in the northwest and Greenland in the northeast.

If you're lucky to be in a place directly under the umbra, and keep your astrological wits about you, you'll likely be able to see a wonderful, nearly perfect alignment of several other prominent heavenly bodies:

- Looking towards the southern sky, to the left (SE) and slightly above where the Sun is, you'll find Uranus and Jupiter (though Uranus won't be visible without a telescope);
- Moving towards the right (W) and very near Jupiter, you might see the Devil Comet (12 Pons-Brooks);
- Directly above the eclipsed Sun will be Mercury (probably too close to the Sun to see it well without a telescope);
- Slightly below and a little to the right (W) of the Sun will be Venus;
- About as far towards the SW and below the eclipsed Sun as Jupiter was in the SE, you'll find Saturn and Mars very close to one another

Feel free to consider possible juridical astrological meanings or interpretations of this massively awesome alignment, with regard to current events in wizarding or muggle history! If natal astrology is more your cup of tea, consider what this alignment might portend for a child born on that day and hour.

HOW TO VIEW THE ECLIPSE:
Weather permitting, almost everyone in North America and the Caribbean will be able to see some amount of solar coverage. The farther northwest and the farther southeast you are from the Moon's track, the less coverage you'll see, but everyone in northern Mexico, central and eastern USA and eastern Canada should see 50% or more coverage.

I can not stress this enough!

DO NOT LOOK AT THE SUN WITHOUT PROPER SAFETY EQUIPMENT!!!

If any of you do, I promise you, I will give you a T-minus in astronomy for the rest of your years at Hogwarts!!

But never fear! It is possible to look at the eclipse safely, once you have the right safety equipment! There are "eclipse glasses" that are being sold. They look like muggle 3D moving picture spectacles --- cardboard frames with very dark plastic lenses. They're available at a wide variety of Muggle shops. Make sure they are marked ISO 12312-2 compliant! When you look at a very strong lightbulb through them, you should see no more than a faint dot of light.

Alternatively, you can find welding masks and lenses relatively cheaply in Muggle hardware and automotive shops. These are more durable than the eclipse glasses, and are made for rugged use. Welding lenses are designed to protect users whilst looking into the extremely bright and energetic light generated by the torch and molten metals. They are manufactured in various strengths, called "shade" between 1 and 20. I have a pair of Sun watching goggles that employ shade 17 lenses. Lenses above shade 13 will afford sufficient protection, according to NASA.

Never use ordinary sunglasses! Never use old x-ray films!

No matter which option you choose, be sure to test the glasses by looking at a strong lightbulb before you go looking at the Sun! You should only see a very faint pinpoint of light through sufficiently strong lenses!

WHERE TO SEE THE ECLIPSE:

Everywhere on this map! Just look up at the right time! Check out https://eclipse2024.org for more information!