Almanack Contributor Mark Walp

The upcoming solar eclipse will be visible in a fairly wide belt from Oregon to South Carolina. Many enthusiasts (including my neighbors) have made plans to vacation in prime viewing spots, since the phenomenon will not be visible in the Adirondacks. Here we will only experience a partial covering of the sun.

News of the eclipse has been widely reported in the press and on social media and seems to have captivated the nation. Thousands of webpages are devoted to the coming eclipse, from the official NASA site to some pretty strange sites better left unnamed. This isn’t so surprising; it strikes at something primitive in us, while at the same time piquing our post-modern interest in astronomical science, or even in the history of natural science.

And it also is nothing new. » Continue Reading.