Centuries ago, priests may
have celebrated eclipses at Stonehenge with religious rites. But today, the residents of Redding, Calif.,
are celebrating with barbecue parties. "It's become a very social event," said Tim Young, a physics professor from
the University of North Dakota who helped organize an eclipse webcast from Shasta College in Redding.
The event began in Asia, where the edge of the moon's shadow touched down at dawn on Monday (on the other
side of the International Date Line). The central part of the shadow, where the annular "Ring of Fire" effect was
visible, started racing eastward along a roughly 200-mile-wide, 8,500-mile-long track. The annular phase can be seen from
any one place along the track for just a few minutes. In contrast, the partial eclipse rises and recedes over the course of
a couple of hours, and is visible from vantage points across a much wider swath of the world. (This NASA map provides the time schedule.)
Right now, the shadow is streaking across the Pacific: The first
hints of a partial eclipse won't show up on the U.S. West Coast until around 5 p.m. PT (6 p.m. MT, 7 p.m. CT, 8 p.m. ET).
The annular phase is due to reach its peak for Americans after 9 p.m. ET, along a line stretching from the Oregon-California
coast to around Lubbock, Texas.
Roger Ressmeyer / Corbis
See stunning images from past solar eclipses going back to the 1920s.
Would-be watchers heeded warnings about eye safety, and snapped
up thousands upon thousands of eclipse-viewing glasses in the days leading up to the event. The University of Nevada at Reno
reported that it sold 17,000 of the glasses at $2 each last week, and had to order 10,000 more. Young said he brought 600
of the special spectacles with him to Redding. His supply was quickly drawn down to less than 100. There was a run on welder's
glass as well, in Redding and elsewhere in the eclipse zone. "It's become a mad grab for resources," he said.
Young, who has been involved in more than a dozen webcasts since 2004, said
interest in today's eclipse picked up surprisingly quickly. "Three days ago, it was not that big a deal, but as
the news started playing it up, people got excited," he said.
The
appeal isn't all that surprising, however. Eclipse experts say the phenomenon touches something deep in the human psyche.
By - Alan Boyle
