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Much of the country will have the opportunity to witness a rare total solar eclipse next month.
For a few minutes on April 8, the moon will align perfectly with the sun, darkening the skies all the way from Texas to Maine.
“It’s a strange experience to see that shadow move across the sun,” said Geoff Goins, manager of Interpretation and Fees for Capulín Volcano National Monument in New Mexico. “You can see planets near the sun. “You can see stars and everything.”
This unusual phenomenon, which he compared to twilight, can confuse animals and cause traffic jams, but is expected to surprise onlookers.
“Everyone has seen photographs, but when you see them in person with your own eyes, it’s that personal experience with something that’s happening in the cosmos that impacts you right here.” “He,” she said, patting his chest.
Goins remembers everyone around him yelling and screaming during the last solar eclipse in 2017. He traveled to Grand Teton National Park for that one and plans to travel again for the next viewing.
“Our park has a program that day. Here it will be a partial eclipse,” Goins said about the Capulín volcano. “But I’m the astronomy nerd here, so I’m going to focus.”
Travelers will be able to see the total solar eclipse at 27 units within the National Park System next month, but there are many more parks with stunning skies all year round.
Where can I see the eclipse in 2024?
A interactive map published by the National Park Service, using data from NASA, shows the following park units within the path of the total lunar eclipse.
Other sites like San Antonio Missions National Historical Park in Texas, William Howard Taft National Historic Site in Ohio, and Fort Stanwix National Monument in New York they are located just outside the path of totality of the eclipse.
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Which national park has the best stargazing?
In most places, the total solar eclipse will last only three and a half to four minutes, according to NASA, but almost every night, the sky puts on a spectacular show in national parks across the country.
There is no best park for stargazing; There are many. Here are some of the parks with night sky programs. Those with asterisks, like the Capulín Volcano, also have International Dark Sky Association Certification.
Astrotourism 101:How to plan your vacation with dark skies
What happens in national parks at night?
Visitors who leave the parks before the sun sets miss out.
“There are birds that make noises at night. Deer are very active… Many predators hunt at night. Much of rodent activity occurs at night. There are bats at night. There are all kinds of biological activity,” Goins said. When he previously worked in Bryce Canyon, which houses moonlight walkshe loved pointing out the evening primrose that only blooms at night.
Night is also when the sky comes to life.
“If you go outside, you’ll see a sky you’ve never seen in your life if you grew up in a city,” he said.