On August 1, 2008, Anthony Ayiomamitis captured this beautiful image of the solar corona.
The big event is nearly here. After years of chatting about the Great American Eclipse, nearly everyone we know is ready to head off on one direction or another to bask under the darkness of totality. If you’ve never seen a total eclipse, the effect is really almost magical. There’s no better way to feel the power of nature, to see the orbits of the moons and planets and stars come together, than to witness this great spectacle.
Astronomy Magazine has quite a few eclipse activities underway.
In August, we published a special issue packed with 92 pages of material on the eclipse, including great stories by Michael Bakich, Rich Talcott, and others, as well as Michael Zeiler’s fantastic, detailed maps of the eclipse.
On eclipse day, we will be livestreaming the eclipse in 4K resolution on Astronomy.com, featuring talented amateur astronomer David Brewer’s videography. The livestream will also be carried on our sister title Discover’s website, at Discovermagazine.com.
Several of our editors will be in the field to experience the eclipse and report on it. Along with our tour partner, TravelQuest International, Rich Talcott and I will be accompanying about 350 magazine readers on two trips throughout many western national parks.
I will be on the National Parks of the American West tour, heading from Arizona to the Black Hills of South Dakota. Rich will be on the National Parks of the American West tour, heading southbound, starting in the Black Hills and ending in Arizona.
On eclipse day, both groups will meet at Jackson Hole, Wyoming, to view the eclipse. There we’ll also be joined by our old friend Jay Anderson, and Rich, Jay, and I will speak about the eclipse.
Michael Bakich will be holding his own big eclipse event in St. Joseph, Missouri, at Rosecrans Memorial Airport.
Alison Klesman will view the eclipse from just south of St. Louis, Illinois.
Some of our colleagues from Discover Magazine will also be in the field: Bill Andrews will be on another Kalmbach/TravelQuest trip, seeing the eclipse from Nashville, Tennessee. Eric Betz will be with an eclipse group in Madras, Oregon, alongside our good friends from Lowell Observatory.
On eclipse day, Rich and I will attempt to provide some live coverage, probably via Facebook Live, should we have the requisite bandwidth.
We will also be blogging and sharing eclipse photos and experiences on Astronomy.com as soon as we can assemble them.
And of course we will be producing full coverage in the magazine. Please send us your photos and reports!
You can see lots about the eclipse here: astronomy.com/great-american-eclipse-2017, including a helpful interactive map that allows you to see circumstances for the eclipse from any location.
You can also see our eclipse widget powered by SkySafari5 here: astronomy.com/eclipsecountdown
All of us at Astronomy Magazine and with our associated brands and social media partners wish you the very best for the Great American Eclipse. And it’s a happy note that we get another wonderful American eclipse a mere seven years later. ENJOY!!