THE USM SOUTHWORTH PLANETARIUM

207-780-4249     www.usm.maine.edu/planet

70 Falmouth Street     Portland, Maine  04103

43.6667° N                   70.2667° W 
Altitude:   10 feet below sea level

Founded January 1970

Julian date:  2458579.35

2018-19:   CXIX

         "Hey, at least we're slowly catching up..."

THE DAILY ASTRONOMER

Monday, April 8, 2019

Five Years from Now

let's hope we're not looking forlornly through descending snow toward a light year thick bank of lead-dense cumulonimbus clouds while the total solar eclipse occurs wholly unseen by us. Just having snow in April -such as well, now- makes us so mad we could groin kick a cyclops.    Having wintry weather occlude a solar eclipse will truly strain our preternatural capacity for politeness.     Five years from now, the moon will move directly in front of the Sun from our perspective and we'll -weather permitting- observe a total solar eclipse.

Why, one might ask, are we already discussing an event that is literally half a decade in the future?   Because, as planetarium astronomers, we know that five years passes as rapid blinks in the fourteen billion year old cosmos.  (We also know that eclipse-related accoutrements such as eclipse glasses will become so precious and scarce in about four years that even devout pacifists  will be stick fighting over them.   It is time to start the preparations.)  

Five years from now -April 8, 2024- we'll experience the next "Great American Eclipse."    The totality path will slice along Mexico, through the United States -including Maine- and into the maritime regions of Canada.  (Note: As Portland, ME will not be in the totality path, 97% of the state's population will have to travel to witness the event.)     And, what an event it will be!!  (See below)

Five years from now, we might behold the above spectacle.  The full moon completely covering the Sun, thereby enabling us to observe the rarefied corona.     While totality won't last long, the sight will certainly leave an indelible impression on those fortunate enough to observe it.     A bona fide miracle of celestial mechanics.

Five years from now, we'll hopefully be amidst a crowd of hundreds or thousands of souls gazing up the heavens and shuttering a bit at the strange and untimely onset of darkness.         

Five years from now, we have no idea what will transpire with the weather.  Astronomy allows us to predict celestial events many centuries in the future.     Meteorology can't predict the weather in a fortnight, let alone five years.

Five years from now, the world will reserve a moment to admire father Sun and mother Moon conjoining in the day sky.    Right now, it is quiet...the dormancy preceding the festival.     Yet, we're preparing already....because five years from now, we'll say, where did those last five years go?