Summer solstice kicks off over a year of intense solar activity, including eclipses
SAN FRANCISCO -- You may have missed the moment of the summer solstice, which brushed the Bay Area at 7:57 a.m. Wednesday morning. It did not go unnoticed.
Thousands gathered at Stonehenge, about 85 miles south of London, to observe the moment of the rising solstice sun. The site is aligned to the sunset of the winter solstice and the opposing sunrise of the summer solstice. No one really knows what the original aligners were up to, as they left no written record of their civilization. But boy, could they haul stones.
NASA's pitching this as the year (and a half) of the sun due to the spate of solar activity happing between now and the end of 2024. Events include an annular eclipse in October, a total eclipse in April, increased solar activity from the approaching 2025 peak of the solar cycle, and the Parker Solar Probe getting close enough to the sun to flash cook a pizza in December of next year.
NASA has provided nifty maps of the paths of both annular and total eclipses. It's fairly rare to have annular or total eclipses visible in the U.S. While the last total eclipse was just six years ago in 2017, the before that dates back to the WWI era. Bay Area fans of major celestial events are advised to travel to witness the total eclipse in 2024, as totality won't be visible locally.
An annular isn't as earth-shattering as it is eye-shattering if you don't use eye protection. You just can't look at it with the naked eye. Still, projected onto paper or seen with a solar filter on his scope or one of many other safe ways NASA has outlined s a pretty amazing thing.
I tried to see the annular eclipse in 1992, which brushed San Diego at sunset. Thinking I was clever, I sailed to Catalina, which theoretically should have had a moment or two more of annularity before the whole show sank in the west.
Picture me, then: racing up the 405 in heavy traffic with the day waning, leaping onto a ferry tossed at sea, whitecaps towering. Why whitecaps? Because a cold front was sliding south on its misty belly, lowering the skies just in time for…
Yeah. I didn't see a thing. Mr. Weatherman. I still have a color photo of me, drenched, with umbrella, in leaden skies. San Diego, on the other hand, had a spectacular view of the damn thing at sunset, perfectly framed by a few high clouds well in advance of the fateful front. My girlfriend sent me a framed color photo. This was destroyed during the Clinton years.
That's the thing about eclipses. Get on a cruise, hop on a jet, or drive to Kentucky. You just can't say that the AirBnB you'd better rent now will be cloaked in cumulus or sparkling in cerulean skies. The life of the amateur astronomer is not an easy one. But if you catch totality in all its glory, it'll change your life. That's all I'm saying.
Thanks to Goddard Spaceflight Center for providing access to their scientists.
