Lights Out

This August, a giant shadow will be cast onto the Earth. No, this isn’t a “Yo Mama so fat” joke. The Moon will come perfectly in between the Sun and Earth. This is known as a solar eclipse.

Mark your calendar because lights go out August 21, 2017. The spectacle will cross coast to coast. The last time a total eclipse like this went over the U.S. was June 8, 1918, almost 100 years ago. The path will go from Oregon to South Carolina at a diagonal. Those states will experience the Sun being covered 100%, while the Sun in Pennsylvania will be 85% eclipsed.

To be clear, there won’t be two Suns over the U.S. It will be a singular Sun, but different locations will see the eclipse at different angles which results in different views.

Phones must be charged and ready to capture this rare event.  The shadow will be cast onto Earth from 1:10 PM to 3:55 PM while the max coverage (aka the best time to take a picture) will occur at 2:35 PM.

Some people are not too excited because they may miss out on the event, like physics teacher Mrs. Nickels. Being that the once in a lifetime astronomical event just so happens to be on an in-service day of the next school year, she won’t be seeing any eclipse. But she will overcome the impossible by pulling a few strings here and there.

Nickels said, “I will probably be excusing myself from a meeting to watch it outside here at the school.”

She’s not the only one though, Nickels said she’ll be with, “Whoever sneaks out of the meeting with me.”

Although we have plenty of information surrounding eclipses and can accurately predict them for decades and the precise time, ancient civilizations had no idea what to do.

For example, in ancient China people thought a dragon ate the Sun during an eclipse. They would chant, beat drums, and fire cannons to scare the dragon away. This tactic did not work in case you were wondering.

According to National Geographic, Greeks thought that “the Sun has perished out of Heaven, and an evil mist has overspread the world.” The Ancient Greeks believed a total eclipse to be a bad omen. They believed it signalled that the gods were angry, and that it marked the beginning of disasters and destruction.

That may not be entirely wrong though considering it’s 2017 and we’re on the verge of World War 3. Happy summer y’all! HAGS!