Anticipation building for 'fascinating and wondrous' total solar eclipse in August

Judging by the sold-out hotels, Airbnb rentals and campsites in a line bisecting the United States from Oregon through South Carolina, plus predictions for clogged highways and roads in a dozen states, something big is happening in August. 

That's what a rare couple of minutes of darkness in the middle of a summer day can do.

What's been dubbed the Great American Eclipse has been anxiously anticipated by astronomers and star gazers for years. Now the rest of the general public is catching on.

On Aug. 21, the moon will pass between the sun and Earth. Like a toddler standing smack dab in front of the TV, the moon will blot out the sun, plunging those on the other side into darkness.

It will be the first total solar eclipse on America's mainland in 38 years and the first time "totality" — the path of total darkness — will sweep coast to coast since 1918. Because this eclipse will be seen only in the U.S. and it passes through so much American real estate, experts are saying it will be the most watched eclipse in history.

Just the number of people living in the path of totality is more than 12 million. And with 2 in 5 people in the continental United States living within 300 miles of totality, untold millions more will take it in.

Now, here's the bad news for Wisconsinites: We're not in the path. The nearest spot is south of St. Louis or southern Illinois.

That leaves two options: Get on the road and join millions of eclipse chasers, or live with seeing a partial solar eclipse, which will look unusual, but nowhere near as fascinating as total darkness. Milwaukee will get 83% of the eclipse at 1:18 p.m., with the moon starting to move across the sun at 11:53 a.m. and finishing at 2:40 p.m.

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Evoking reverence

Solar eclipses are the result of the unique geometry of the sun, moon and Earth. And they happen only during a new moon — the first phase of the moon, when the celestial body's orbit can't be seen from Earth.

They actually occur once every 18 months or so, but most are only visible in remote locations or out in one of the oceans, and relatively few people see them.

There are plenty of photos and video of total solar eclipses, but witnessing one is another matter. It's been described as the moon wreathed in a crown of soft, silvery light, like a medieval painting of a saint. Novelist James Fenimore Cooper likened the moon to a vast black orb when he saw a total solar eclipse at his Oswego, N.Y., home in 1806.

"In my humble opinion there's nothing more beautiful than a solar eclipse," said Bob Bonadurer, director of the Milwaukee Public Museum's Daniel M. Soref National Geographic Dome Theater & Planetarium. "It's fascinating and wondrous and indescribable in another sense. When you see a picture it doesn't really do it justice."

Bonadurer is leading a sold-out Milwaukee Public Museum tour of 110 umbraphiles, or eclipse chasers, on a five-day trip that includes visits to museums. The group has reservations at four parks in Missouri and southern Illinois so that if one location is shrouded in clouds, Bonadurer will have alternatives.

While the exact paths and times of eclipses, both solar and lunar, were figured out years ago, the one wild card is weather. Clouds or rain will make it difficult if not impossible to see the eclipse.

Kathy Brehmer is heading to Nebraska to glimpse the eclipse because it's relatively flat, without mountains to obscure views. If the skies are cloudy, she can get on Interstate 80 and drive until she clears them.

The amateur astronomer has given eclipse lectures at Schlitz Audubon Nature Center in Milwaukee and traveled to Aruba in 1998 and Zimbabwe in 2001 to see total solar eclipses.

She recently re-read her journal entry from the Aruba trip.

"My breathing was shallow. My heart was beating fast. The birds come out. You can see the planets. It's something you'll never forget; that's why there are eclipse groups who travel to see them whether it's in Vietnam or Antarctica or China," Brehmer said.

Bonadurer and Brehmer know it might sound strange to travel great distances, spending time and money to be in place on Easter Island or a village in Africa for two to three minutes of total darkness.

"Yes, I can do the math," said Bonadurer. "If you can equate dollars and minutes, it doesn't seem the best. Believe me, it's worth it. Trust someone who has seen four and is awed every time."

Unusual history

The history of eclipses is filled with unusual events.

Eclipses were noted thousands of years ago in ancient cuneiform tablets. Chinese court astrologers were decapitated in 2100 B.C. for failing to predict a solar eclipse.

Herodotus mentioned a solar eclipse that was seen as an omen by two warring nations in 585 B.C. They decided to stop fighting and go home.

In 1919, observations made during a solar eclipse that crossed South America and Africa confirmed Albert Einstein's theory of relativity, which predicted that light bends in a strong gravitational field.

"The scientific interest in solar eclipses has evolved from pinning down the location of the moon to discovering planets near the sun," said Jim Lattis, director of the University of Wisconsin-Madison Space Place. Lattis is giving free lectures on the  eclipse at 8 p.m. July 21 and 7 p.m. on Aug. 8.

Michael Bakich has traveled to see 13 total solar eclipses and is hosting a viewing event at the St. Joseph, Mo., airport. The senior editor and photo editor of Astronomy magazine, published in Waukesha, saw his first eclipse in 1970 near Virginia Beach, Va. Today, he's 12 for 13, with only his trip to China in 2009 a washout.

Bakich recommends against first-timers trying to photograph the eclipse. "Why would you want to be looking down, messing around with f-stops and filters?"

"When the sun is covered by the moon in the sky nearby you'll be able to see bright planets and maybe a couple of bright stars," said Bakich. "If you just take a few seconds to scan the horizon, turn around in a circle. At that point you're covered by a circular shadow but at the edges you've got sunrise and sunset, but it's all around you."

For those already looking ahead to a second time, the next total solar eclipse viewable in the United States will travel from Texas to the East Coast in April 2024.

As for Wisconsin, it will be a while longer. The next total solar eclipse won't be seen here until September 2099.

The Milwaukee Public Museum is highlighting the Great American Eclipse at its Wisconsin stargazing shows in the Daniel M. Soref National Geographic Dome Theater & Planetarium. An eclipse preview is scheduled from 10 a.m. to 3 p.m. at the museum July 29 and Aug. 12.