Fifth Day of the Zenith

As you've no doubt heard by now, there will be a solar eclipse over North American and much of the United States tomorrow. The path of totality won't pass over me here in Atlanta, but a partial eclipse will be visible in the mid-afternoon (weather permitting). The current forecast calls for partial clouds tomorrow, so what can be seen remains to be seen. 

Last year, I thought about going up to Maine, where the total eclipse will be visible, to visit by brother and nephew and to see the eclipse. I went so far as to check at the local hotel in the small town he lives in, and rooms were still available (it was October). I even thought about using the time up in Maine to climb Mt. Katahdin again - I haven't done that since 1979. I talked to my daughter and son-in-law about joining me, but they were non-committal (they had an upcoming  six-week trip to Vietnam on their minds). But the trip would have been too soon after Big Ears, and after leaving Eliot, my cat, alone for four days, I didn't want to traumatize him further by leaving again so soon. That's my excuse and I'm sticking with it.

Of course, all of the expected lunacy and foolishness one would expect about an eclipse has surfaced and been amplified on social media.  Some thought the eclipse caused the minor earthquake that recently rattled the Northeast, or vice versa. Others opined that it has something to do with the collapsed bridge in Maryland. Georgia embarrassment Marjorie Taylor Green tweeted the brain fart, "God is sending America strong signs to tell us to repent. Earthquakes and eclipses and many more things to come. I pray that our country listens." Me, I'm waiting for one more sign before I repent - the Capitol Rotunda to collapse and crush Madge to death beneath its rubble.

Angus MacLise developed the Universal Solar Calendar back in 1969, and I'm sure he had no thoughts about the April 8, 2024 total solar eclipse when he named April 3rd through 7 the First to Fifth Day of the Zenith. Now, zenith by no means implies eclipse, but it does direct one's attention on the skies and to astronomy. He just got lucky, I suppose, just as he did a week ago when Good Friday fell on Day of the Ascendant and Easter on Day of Mourning ("now the son is dead, the father can be born").

Much music has been written on the theme of an eclipse. Tomorrow, boomers will probably be listening to Pink Floyd's Dark Side of the Moon or Bonnie Tyler's Total Eclipse of the Heart. Others will pull out their copies of Gustav Holst's The Planets. If you're inclined to listen instead to Sun Ra's Space Is the Place, may I suggest a deeper dive and play Sun-Earth Rock from 1970's Night of the Purple Moon?

Personally, mid-afternoon tomorrow, I'll be playing the Labèque sisters' 2023 interpretation of composer David Chalmin's Eclipse (produced by Bryce Dessner of The National).