The first solar eclipse visible in our area in a long time will take place on Monday, April 8th, 2024, beginning at 1:53 p.m. The next solar eclipse will be in 2044 but it will be visible in South Dakota. You’ll have to travel for that one. Better get a pair of glasses pronto.
A solar eclipse happens in the same place once every 350 years.
People have been booking motels and coming from great distances to see this event, which you will be able to see for free. Grabill Hardware has a magazine showing the path that it travels. It is traveling Northeast and it looks like Harlan is just on the edge. It’s hard to tell exactly on the map because it has no cities, only counties.
It appears to me that the closest way to get to the very center, would be to take US 24 to Antwerp. Just look out for the traffic in Antwerp that day.
According to Mrs Google the eclipse begins at 1:53 p.m. and ends at 4:24 p.m. which is well over 2 hours. Would you believe I’m having a difficult time subtracting those numbers. I think it’s 2 hours and 71 minutes whatever that is.
I have heard that it gets nearly dark in daytime, I really don’t know. I wonder what our ancestors would have thought, when it’s suddenly totally dark. I think it becomes twilight. Especially the farmers if their chickens went to roost. They probably wouldn’t have known ahead of time. On February 29th, 1979, there was a total party atmosphere. People had driven for hundreds of miles to see the unique event. Pack your picnic basket and let’s all go to Antwerp. Let’s hope it is not a cloudy day and we can see this wonderful event. We’ll all be watching the weather forecasts and hoping for a sunny day.
I have since learned that the total eclipse only lasts a couple of minutes max. Perhaps West Bend will give us more info. I have heard there is a plane that will travel from Dallas to Detroit following the eclipse. That one is booked but I guess they opened another. The radio said you can book a motel in Vincennes for only 7,000 bucks. Guess I’ll just go to Antwerp.
–James Neuhouser
