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What’s being billed as the Great American Eclipse is almost upon us. Its path of totality will pass from Oregon to South Carolina on Monday. And even if you’re not right in the line of the total solar eclipse, much of the rest of the country will experience a partial eclipse.
As the anticipation builds, read up on some of The Conversation’s eclipse coverage. From a meteorologist prepping to collect two and a half minutes of totality data, to descriptions of how past cultures interpreted eclipses
and what they thought they could foretell, our academic authors are providing stories you may not see elsewhere. We have your oddball
questions answered, tips from an astronomer on how to watch, even stories about Ben Franklin’s almanacs and eclipse hunting expeditions through the centuries.
Then you’ll be ready to strap on your eclipse glasses and gaze skyward.
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Hiscox and students practice for the big day with a weather balloon.
Joshua Burrack
April Hiscox, University of South Carolina
Meteorology researchers across the country are prepping experiments for the mini-night the eclipse will bring on August 21 – two minutes and 36 seconds without the sun in the middle of the day.
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NASA’s projection of the August 21 solar eclipse.
NASA
Shannon Schmoll, Michigan State University
An astronomer explains how and why – and when – eclipses happen, what we can learn from them, and what they would look like if you were standing on the moon.
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A 1765 painting of Helios, the personification of the sun in Greek mythology.
Wikimedia Commons
Roger Culver, Colorado State University
The sun was worshiped as a deity in many cultures – and witnessing it get extinguished could be a particularly terrifying event.
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A solar eclipse observed over Grand Canyon National Park in May 2012.
Grand Canyon National Park
Gonzalo Rubio, Pennsylvania State University
More than 2,000 years ago, the Babylonians understood the cycle of eclipses. They also regarded them as signs that could foretell the death of a king.
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Franklin’s lifelong quest was spreading scientific knowledge to regular people.
Mason Chamberlin
Carla J. Mulford, Pennsylvania State University
Franklin advanced a scientific – not supernatural – understanding of astronomical events such as eclipses. His satirical character 'Poor Richard' mocked those who bought into astrological predictions.
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Have telescopes, will travel: English astronomers await an 1871 eclipse in India.
The Illustrated London News, 1872
Barbara Ryden, The Ohio State University
For centuries, scientists have known when and where eclipses will be visible. They pack their bags, head for the line of totality and hope for the best – which doesn't always happen.
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A total solar eclipse will be visible across parts of the United States Aug. 21, treating amateur and professional astronomers alike to sights similar to this NASA’s Solar Dynamics Observatory ultraviolet image of the moon eclipsing the sun on Jan. 31, 2014.
(NASA)
Bryan Gaensler, University of Toronto
If you've ever wondered why you can look at a solar eclipse and why it can harm your eyes, the answer is in the sun's rays.
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