You owe it to yourself to experience a total solar eclipse
-
0:02 - 0:06Before I get to bulk
of what I have to say, -
0:06 - 0:09I feel compelled just to mention
a couple of things about myself. -
0:10 - 0:13I am not some mystical,
-
0:13 - 0:15spiritual sort of person.
-
0:16 - 0:18I'm a science writer.
-
0:18 - 0:20I studied physics in college.
-
0:20 - 0:23I used to be a science
correspondent for NPR. -
0:24 - 0:26OK, that said:
-
0:27 - 0:30in the course of working
on a story for NPR, -
0:30 - 0:32I got some advice from an astronomer
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0:32 - 0:34that challenged my outlook,
-
0:34 - 0:36and frankly, changed my life.
-
0:37 - 0:39You see, the story was about an eclipse,
-
0:39 - 0:44a partial solar eclipse
that was set to cross the country -
0:44 - 0:46in May of 1994.
-
0:46 - 0:49And the astronomer -- I interviewed him,
-
0:49 - 0:52and he explained what was going to happen
and how to view it, -
0:52 - 0:57but he emphasized that, as interesting
as a partial solar eclipse is, -
0:57 - 1:02a much rarer total solar eclipse
is completely different. -
1:02 - 1:06In a total eclipse,
for all of two or three minutes, -
1:06 - 1:09the moon completely blocks
the face of the sun, -
1:09 - 1:14creating what he described
as the most awe-inspiring spectacle -
1:14 - 1:16in all of nature.
-
1:17 - 1:19And so the advice he gave me was this:
-
1:20 - 1:23"Before you die," he said,
-
1:23 - 1:27"you owe it to yourself
to experience a total solar eclipse." -
1:28 - 1:31Well honestly,
I felt a little uncomfortable -
1:31 - 1:33hearing that from someone
I didn't know very well; -
1:33 - 1:34it felt sort of intimate.
-
1:34 - 1:38But it got my attention,
and so I did some research. -
1:39 - 1:41Now the thing about total eclipses is,
-
1:41 - 1:43if you wait for one to come to you,
-
1:43 - 1:47you're going to be waiting a long time.
-
1:47 - 1:51Any given point on earth
experiences a total eclipse -
1:51 - 1:55about once every 400 years.
-
1:55 - 1:59But if you're willing to travel,
you don't have to wait that long. -
1:59 - 2:03And so I learned
that a few years later, in 1998, -
2:03 - 2:06a total eclipse was going
to cross the Caribbean. -
2:07 - 2:11Now, a total eclipse is visible
only along a narrow path, -
2:11 - 2:12about a hundred miles wide,
-
2:12 - 2:15and that's where the moon's shadow falls.
-
2:15 - 2:17It's called the "path of totality."
-
2:17 - 2:19And in February 1998,
-
2:19 - 2:23the path of totality
was going to cross Aruba. -
2:23 - 2:27So I talked to my husband,
and we thought: February? Aruba? -
2:27 - 2:29Sounded like a good idea anyway.
-
2:29 - 2:30(Laughter)
-
2:30 - 2:32So we headed south,
-
2:32 - 2:35to enjoy the sun
and to see what would happen -
2:35 - 2:37when the sun briefly went away.
-
2:38 - 2:41Well, the day of the eclipse
found us and many other people -
2:41 - 2:43out behind the Hyatt Regency,
-
2:43 - 2:44on the beach,
-
2:44 - 2:46waiting for the show to begin.
-
2:46 - 2:49And we wore eclipse glasses
with cardboard frames -
2:49 - 2:53and really dark lenses that enabled us
to look at the sun safely. -
2:54 - 2:58A total eclipse begins
as a partial eclipse, -
2:58 - 3:02as the moon very slowly makes its way
in front of the sun. -
3:02 - 3:06So first it looked the sun
had a little notch in its edge, -
3:06 - 3:09and then that notch grew
larger and larger, -
3:09 - 3:11turning the sun into a crescent.
-
3:12 - 3:16And it was all very interesting,
but I wouldn't say it was spectacular. -
3:16 - 3:18I mean, the day remained bright.
-
3:18 - 3:21If I hadn't known
what was going on overhead, -
3:21 - 3:23I wouldn't have noticed anything unusual.
-
3:24 - 3:29Well, about 10 minutes before
the total solar eclipse was set to begin, -
3:29 - 3:31weird things started to happen.
-
3:32 - 3:34A cool wind kicked up.
-
3:35 - 3:39Daylight looked odd,
and shadows became very strange; -
3:39 - 3:41they looked bizarrely sharp,
-
3:41 - 3:45as if someone had turned up
the contrast knob on the TV. -
3:46 - 3:50Then I looked offshore,
and I noticed running lights on boats, -
3:50 - 3:52so clearly it was getting dark,
-
3:52 - 3:54although I hadn't realized it.
-
3:54 - 3:56Well soon, it was obvious
it was getting dark. -
3:56 - 3:58It felt like my eyesight was failing.
-
3:59 - 4:01And then all of a sudden,
-
4:01 - 4:02the lights went out.
-
4:04 - 4:05Well, at that,
-
4:05 - 4:08a cheer erupted from the beach,
-
4:08 - 4:10and I took off my eclipse glasses,
-
4:10 - 4:13because at this point
during the total eclipse, -
4:13 - 4:16it was safe to look at the sun
with the naked eye. -
4:16 - 4:18And I glanced upward,
-
4:20 - 4:23and I was just dumbstruck.
-
4:26 - 4:30Now, consider that, at this point,
I was in my mid-30s. -
4:30 - 4:37I had lived on earth long enough
to know what the sky looks like. -
4:38 - 4:39I mean --
-
4:39 - 4:40(Laughter)
-
4:40 - 4:43I'd seen blue skies and grey skies
-
4:43 - 4:47and starry skies and angry skies
-
4:47 - 4:49and pink skies at sunrise.
-
4:50 - 4:53But here was a sky I had never seen.
-
4:54 - 4:57First, there were the colors.
-
4:57 - 5:00Up above, it was a deep purple-grey,
-
5:00 - 5:01like twilight.
-
5:01 - 5:03But on the horizon it was orange,
-
5:03 - 5:04like sunset,
-
5:04 - 5:06360 degrees.
-
5:06 - 5:09And up above, in the twilight,
-
5:09 - 5:12bright stars and planets had come out.
-
5:12 - 5:13So there was Jupiter
-
5:13 - 5:15and there was Mercury
-
5:15 - 5:16and there was Venus.
-
5:17 - 5:19They were all in a line.
-
5:21 - 5:23And there, along this line,
-
5:24 - 5:27was this thing,
-
5:27 - 5:30this glorious, bewildering thing.
-
5:30 - 5:35It looked like a wreath
woven from silvery thread, -
5:35 - 5:38and it just hung out there
in space, shimmering. -
5:41 - 5:44That was the sun's outer atmosphere,
-
5:44 - 5:46the solar corona.
-
5:46 - 5:48And pictures just don't do it justice.
-
5:48 - 5:53It's not just a ring or halo
around the sun; -
5:53 - 5:57it's finely textured,
like it's made out of strands of silk. -
5:58 - 6:00And although it looked
nothing like our sun, -
6:00 - 6:03of course, I knew that's what it was.
-
6:03 - 6:06So there was the sun,
and there were the planets, -
6:06 - 6:10and I could see how the planets
revolve around the sun. -
6:10 - 6:13It's like I had left our solar system
-
6:13 - 6:16and was standing on some alien world,
-
6:16 - 6:18looking back at creation.
-
6:19 - 6:21And for the first time in my life,
-
6:21 - 6:25I just felt viscerally connected
to the universe -
6:25 - 6:27in all of its immensity.
-
6:28 - 6:30Time stopped,
-
6:30 - 6:33or it just kind of felt nonexistent,
-
6:33 - 6:36and what I beheld with my eyes --
-
6:36 - 6:38I didn't just see it,
-
6:38 - 6:40it felt like a vision.
-
6:42 - 6:45And I stood there in this nirvana
-
6:46 - 6:51for all of 174 seconds --
less than three minutes -- -
6:51 - 6:54when all of a sudden, it was over.
-
6:54 - 6:55The sun burst out,
-
6:55 - 6:57the blue sky returned,
-
6:57 - 7:00the stars and the planets
and the corona were gone. -
7:00 - 7:02The world returned to normal.
-
7:03 - 7:04But I had changed.
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7:06 - 7:09And that's how I became an umbraphile --
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7:10 - 7:11an eclipse chaser.
-
7:11 - 7:12(Laughter)
-
7:12 - 7:16So, this is how I spend my time
and hard-earned money. -
7:17 - 7:23Every couple of years, I head off
to wherever the moon's shadow will fall -
7:23 - 7:25to experience another couple minutes
-
7:25 - 7:27of cosmic bliss,
-
7:27 - 7:29and to share the experience with others:
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7:29 - 7:31with friends in Australia,
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7:31 - 7:33with an entire city in Germany.
-
7:33 - 7:38In 1999, in Munich,
I joined hundreds of thousands -
7:38 - 7:43who filled the streets and the rooftops
and cheered in unison -
7:43 - 7:45as the solar corona emerged.
-
7:46 - 7:48And over time, I've become something else:
-
7:48 - 7:51an eclipse evangelist.
-
7:51 - 7:53I see it as my job
-
7:54 - 7:59to pay forward the advice
that I received all those years ago. -
7:59 - 8:01And so let me tell you:
-
8:03 - 8:05before you die,
-
8:05 - 8:10you owe it to yourself
to experience a total solar eclipse. -
8:10 - 8:14It is the ultimate experience of awe.
-
8:15 - 8:19Now, that word, "awesome,"
has grown so overused -
8:19 - 8:22that it's lost its original meaning.
-
8:22 - 8:26True awe, a sense of wonder
and insignificance -
8:26 - 8:29in the face of something
enormous and grand, -
8:29 - 8:30is rare in our lives.
-
8:31 - 8:34But when you experience it, it's powerful.
-
8:34 - 8:37Awe dissolves the ego.
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8:37 - 8:39It makes us feel connected.
-
8:39 - 8:42Indeed, it promotes
empathy and generosity. -
8:43 - 8:48Well, there is nothing truly more awesome
than a total solar eclipse. -
8:48 - 8:51Unfortunately, few Americans
have seen one, -
8:51 - 8:53because it's been 38 years
-
8:53 - 8:56since one last touched
the continental United States -
8:56 - 9:00and 99 years since one last crossed
the breadth of the nation. -
9:01 - 9:04But that is about to change.
-
9:04 - 9:06Over the next 35 years,
-
9:07 - 9:11five total solar eclipses will visit
the continental United States, -
9:11 - 9:14and three of them
will be especially grand. -
9:15 - 9:20Six weeks from now, on August 21, 2017 --
-
9:20 - 9:23(Applause)
-
9:23 - 9:27the moon's shadow will race
from Oregon to South Carolina. -
9:27 - 9:33April 8, 2024, the moon's shadow
heads north from Texas to Maine. -
9:33 - 9:35In 2045, on August 12,
-
9:35 - 9:38the path cuts from California to Florida.
-
9:39 - 9:41I say:
-
9:42 - 9:44What if we made these holidays?
-
9:44 - 9:45What if we --
-
9:46 - 9:47(Laughter)
-
9:47 - 9:50(Applause)
-
9:50 - 9:55What if we all stood together,
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9:55 - 9:57as many people as possible,
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9:57 - 9:59in the shadow of the moon?
-
9:59 - 10:05Just maybe, this shared experience of awe
would help heal our divisions, -
10:05 - 10:08get us to treat each other
just a bit more humanely. -
10:09 - 10:15Now, admittedly, some folks consider
my evangelizing a little out there; -
10:15 - 10:17my obsession, eccentric.
-
10:18 - 10:23I mean, why focus so much attention
on something so brief? -
10:23 - 10:27Why cross the globe --
or state lines, for that matter -- -
10:27 - 10:30for something that lasts three minutes?
-
10:31 - 10:32As I said:
-
10:33 - 10:35I am not a spiritual person.
-
10:36 - 10:39I don't believe in God.
-
10:39 - 10:40I wish I did.
-
10:41 - 10:43But when I think of my own mortality --
-
10:44 - 10:46and I do, a lot --
-
10:47 - 10:51when I think of everyone I have lost,
-
10:51 - 10:52my mother in particular,
-
10:54 - 10:56what soothes me
-
10:56 - 10:59is that moment of awe I had in Aruba.
-
11:00 - 11:03I picture myself on that beach,
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11:03 - 11:04looking at that sky,
-
11:05 - 11:07and I remember how I felt.
-
11:09 - 11:11My existence may be temporary,
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11:12 - 11:14but that's OK because, my gosh,
-
11:15 - 11:17look at what I'm a part of.
-
11:18 - 11:20And so this is a lesson I've learned,
-
11:20 - 11:23and it's one that applies
to life in general: -
11:24 - 11:28duration of experience
does not equal impact. -
11:28 - 11:33One weekend, one conversation --
hell, one glance -- -
11:33 - 11:35can change everything.
-
11:37 - 11:40Cherish those moments
of deep connection with other people, -
11:40 - 11:41with the natural world,
-
11:41 - 11:43and make them a priority.
-
11:43 - 11:46Yes, I chase eclipses.
-
11:46 - 11:48You might chase something else.
-
11:48 - 11:51But it's not about the 174 seconds.
-
11:52 - 11:55It's about how they change
-
11:55 - 11:57the years that come after.
-
11:57 - 11:58Thank you.
-
11:58 - 12:03(Applause)
- Title:
- You owe it to yourself to experience a total solar eclipse
- Speaker:
- David Baron
- Description:
-
On August 21, 2017, the moon's shadow raced from Oregon to South Carolina in what some consider to be the most awe-inspiring spectacle in all of nature: a total solar eclipse. Umbraphile David Baron chases these rare events across the globe, and in this ode to the bliss of seeing the solar corona, he explains why you owe it to yourself to witness one, too.
- Video Language:
- English
- Team:
- closed TED
- Project:
- TEDTalks
- Duration:
- 12:16
Brian Greene edited English subtitles for You owe it to yourself to experience a total solar eclipse | ||
Brian Greene edited English subtitles for You owe it to yourself to experience a total solar eclipse | ||
Brian Greene approved English subtitles for You owe it to yourself to experience a total solar eclipse | ||
Brian Greene edited English subtitles for You owe it to yourself to experience a total solar eclipse | ||
Brian Greene edited English subtitles for You owe it to yourself to experience a total solar eclipse | ||
Brian Greene edited English subtitles for You owe it to yourself to experience a total solar eclipse | ||
Brian Greene edited English subtitles for You owe it to yourself to experience a total solar eclipse | ||
Camille Martínez accepted English subtitles for You owe it to yourself to experience a total solar eclipse |