{"id":28592,"date":"2024-03-18T18:40:22","date_gmt":"2024-03-19T00:40:22","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/coloradans-making-travel-plans-to-see-total-eclipse-in-april-2024\/"},"modified":"2024-03-19T00:40:22","modified_gmt":"2024-03-19T00:40:22","slug":"coloradans-making-travel-plans-to-see-total-eclipse-in-april-2024","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/coloradans-making-travel-plans-to-see-total-eclipse-in-april-2024\/","title":{"rendered":"Coloradans making travel plans to see total eclipse in April 2024"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

\"The
The moon is seen passing in front of the sun during a solar eclipse in La Higuera, Chile on July 2, 2019. Tens of thousands of tourists and locals gaped skyward Tuesday as a rare total eclipse of the sun began to darken the heavens over northern Chile. (Esteban Felix\/Associated Press file)<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/p>

You may hear a collective gasp from a large swath of the country on April 8, 2024.<\/p>\n

That\u2019s when the daytime sky will darken from Texas to Maine as a total solar eclipse moves across the country. Boulder author David Baron, who\u2019s witnessed eight total eclipses on five continents, said everyone should experience it at least once in their life.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt is the closest thing to space travel that you can experience without leaving the surface of the earth,\u201d he said. \u201cSuddenly, the sky that you know is gone \u2026 and you can actually look into space toward the center of the solar system. You\u2019re seeing a sky you\u2019ve never seen before.\u201d<\/p>\n

Unfortunately, Colorado will only see a partial eclipse and venturing to see the full one won\u2019t be as easy as it was in 2017, when a total solar eclipse passed through Wyoming. But Baron will be traveling to Texas, joining hordes of visitors to the Lone Star State and to others along the path of the eclipse.<\/p>\n

\"(Courtesy
(Courtesy of NASA)<\/span>cca<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/p>

Baron wrote the 2017 book \u201cAmerican Eclipse: A Nation\u2019s Epic Race to Catch the Shadow of the Moon and Win the Glory of the World,\u201d which focuses on the total solar eclipse of 1878 and the impact it had on the United States.<\/p>\n

A total eclipse occurs when the moon passes between the earth and the sun, completely blocking the face of the sun for a few minutes. Baron said even though the sun is blocked, you can see its outer atmosphere, called the Solar Corona.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s like a wreath or a crown, and it\u2019s beautifully textured and it shimmers, he said.<\/p>\n

More people are in the 2024 total eclipse\u2019s path, but that doesn\u2019t mean travel will be easy \u2013 or cheap<\/div>\n

Baron said the upcoming eclipse in April will have a larger audience than in 2017, since it will pass through more populated parts of the country.<\/p>\n

More than 30 million people are in the path of the total eclipse this year, so about one in 10 Americans will be able to see it from home. And more than half the population of the United States lives within a day\u2019s drive of what\u2019s called the path of totality.<\/p>\n

\n

What to know about the 2024 eclipse<\/h4>\n

Date<\/strong>: Monday, April 8, 2024<\/p>\n

Time<\/strong>: Begins around 11:30 a.m. MST; reaches peak around 12:40 p.m. <\/p>\n

MST<\/h3>\n

Where<\/strong>: Partial eclipse in Colorado; total eclipse in cities including Dallas, Texas; Little Rock, Arkansas; Cleveland, Ohio; Buffalo, New York; Indianapolis, Indiana; Burlington, Vermont.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

Coloradans may have experienced sticker shock when looking into flights for early April to Texas, where the bulk of viewers are expected to be. Tickets from Denver to Austin and San Antonio are more than $1,000 and car rentals are as high as $100 a day.<\/p>\n

\u201cTexas is expecting apocalyptic traffic,\u201d Baron said.<\/p>\n

Indiana, which anticipates breaking the record for its largest tourism event in its history, will send troopers throughout the state to deal with anticipated traffic congestion.<\/p>\n

Baron, who will be watching from Waco, Texas, said Texas has a better chance for clear skies than other states. The total solar eclipse will also last a bit longer in Texas \u2013 about four and a half minutes.<\/p>\n

By comparison, in 2017, people in Wyoming and Montana saw the eclipse for two and a half minutes.<\/p>\n

How to safely view a partial and total eclipse<\/div>\n

Baron said it\u2019s critical for people who want to view the total or partial eclipse to have special light-filtering glasses, which can be purchased online or in some hardware stores. Some libraries have them as well.<\/p>\n

If you\u2019re in the path of the total eclipse, you can safely look at the sun when it\u2019s completely covered, Baron said. That\u2019s because all that\u2019s visible is the sun\u2019s atmosphere, which is only about as bright as the full moon.<\/p>\n

But any time that an eclipse is just partial, the glasses protect you from burning your eyes.<\/p>\n

For those in Colorado, the day will seem as bright as ever. But look closer, and you\u2019ll see something out of the ordinary.<\/p>\n

\u201cIf you look under trees, where the light is filtering between the branches, you may notice little crescents all over the ground,\u201d Baron said \u201c(That\u2019s) because the spaces between the branches act as pinhole projectors projecting the image of the crescent sun on the ground.\u201d<\/p>\n

There was eclipse tourism in the 1800s too \u2013 and it helped promote a growing U.S.<\/div>\n

Baron\u2019s book on the 1878 eclipse, which also passed through the U.S., points to a pivotal time in America\u2019s history. While the country had emerged as an economic power, \u201cthe Europeans looked down their noses at us when it came to art, music, literature and science,\u201d Baron said.<\/p>\n

But the total eclipse of 1878 spurred large expeditions to parts of the country, including Colorado, and provided an opportunity for the country to, \u201cshow it could do science too and that we should be taken seriously in the intellectual realm,\u201d Baron said.<\/p>\n

At the time, Denver was overrun by tourists.<\/p>\n

\u201cThere were no hotel rooms left,\u201d Baron said. \u201cPeople ended up sleeping on cots in hotel hallways and dining rooms because there were no real rooms left anymore.\u201d<\/p>\n

The unifying power of a total eclipse<\/div>\n

In a newly released edition of Baron\u2019s book, he writes in the afterword about the total eclipse of 2017 and the effect it had on the country. It was shortly after Donald Trump was elected and right after the white supremacist rally in Charlottesville, Virginia.<\/p>\n

\u201cYou had people fighting on both sides of what seemed to be an insurmountable divide of red versus blue America,\u201d said Baron.<\/p>\n

But, he said, a total eclipse was unifying.<\/p>\n

\u201cPeople gathered at stadiums and at libraries to share this moment of awe at the universe, something completely apolitical,\u201d Baron said. \u201cAnd it was remarkable how many people on that day talked about how nice it was at this time of great division in America for people to come together and just share a moment of togetherness.\u201d<\/p>\n

For those who want to see a total eclipse in its full glory, the next one to visit the contiguous United States won\u2019t be until 2044 \u2013 so this year\u2019s might be worth the adventure.<\/p>\n

To read more stories from Colorado Public Radio, visit www.cpr.org<\/em><\/a>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

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