The Great North American Eclipse of 2024 is our next readily accessible opportunity to witness first hand one of the most grand of all astronomical phenomena, a total solar eclipse. As it is less than three years away and careful planning is required for a successful experience, now is a great time to start getting ready. As April 8, 2024 approaches there will be much said about the eclipse in the press, on social media and in discussions among amateur astronomers like us. This talk will provide the foundational material for interpreting this coverage and for formulating travel and observing plans by exploring how and why solar eclipses occur, and what an observer can expect to see. This will be the first in a series of topics on the 2024 eclipse.

Part 2 of this topic will revisit The Great American Solar Eclipse of 2017: The Collective Experience of the Howard Astronomical League presentation to explore how HAL members and guests prepared for the eclipse and traveled to eclipse viewing sites, the problems that they encountered, what they learned four years ago, and how those lessons might be applied to preparations for the 2024 eclipse. For Part 3, the ultimate goal of this series, a similar presentation will be prepared that documents our collective 2024 eclipse experience.

Jim Johnson’s presentation (Part 1): (PPTX 9.4MB) (PDF 1.25MB)