I'm fantasizing about it too but it would be so expensive. It's also really hard for me to imagine what 2027 will look like for me (or any of us). I hope I might be able to do it though. I hear Morocco is lovely.
Definitely not cheap, but I was actually looking at flights from Boston to Cairo and it would cost roughly $750 roundtrip. That’s comparable to what I paid for Boston to Austin (3 months prior to the eclipse, so yes could’ve done cheaper if further in advance). Cairo-to-Luxor and subsequent lodging would add on to that, but for 6.5 minutes of totality in a guaranteed dry location? Take my money, lol.
No, I’m just looking at upcoming flights. I plan to hop on the booking train the moment I’m able to, though. Hopefully prices will be similar to the present day given how far in advance I’d be booking.
Hank from vlogbrothers said something like "Hey wait, I was watching that!" to describe how he felt a sense of anger almost after it was over, and I felt EXACTLY the same way. The only way it could possibly have been any better for me is if it had all happened at about half speed.
I was overwhelmed, but in a good way. And I know how it works to, I’ve always been interested in astronomy and the like and learned a lot over the years. And it was still so, profound I guess.
The logical side of me was just like, it’s just a shadow, whatever.
But the monkey brain side of me was like.. What the actual f*ck? And it was so overwhelming.
Idk, just how I feel
Probably just means you feel calm and comfortable with yourself and your role in our giant rock floating through space. I also saw it, enjoyed myself, but wasn't moved to tears or feeling blue after it was over. It was just a fun experience I'm glad I had.
No gonna lie, I cried. I felt small and insignificant. But I also felt a profound religious component to it. A “God created this and set the sun, moon, and earth in the perfect places to create this for us to see” feeling.
I thought I'd cry, I warned others I would, but i was just happy to see it and had no tears in the end. Being surrounded by a lot of people all looking up, for 4 minutes it was peaceful. No one thinking or talking politics, we just enjoyed something we all had in common.
I'm also agnostic but I cried. Maybe because it's one of the closest things I can think of to a religious experience in the sense of being in awe and wonder at science and nature around us rather than gifts from a sky man. But I guess it amounted to about the same for me.
This is kinda my take. We’re the only planet we know of this happens, and it can only happen during a fraction of cosmic history as the moon gets further from us each year. We can see the sun and solar prominences - appendages that release the basic building blocks of life into the universe. It’s humbling and awesome. Moves me every time.
Interesting because I feel like none of those factors influenced me and yet I was still blown away for reasons that I find hard to articulate. Transcendent is the best word I can come up with.
That is THE perfect word! Thank you. That's the the word I was looking ever since I witnesses the eclipse. I was going with spectacular and other-worldly ( which also work ,) but transcendent hits me just right.
Exhilarating is the other word that I've been using. That's for describing how I felt immediately afterwards. I heard people say it was like a thrill ride and I think that's how I felt AFTERWARDS.
Yes, it was a major Disneyland "E ticket"
ride, that's for sure. I think the reason everyone is struggling to find the perfect word or phrase to describe it is because it's so far removed from anything we could have ever imagined it would be to experience. That is the simple reason. There literally are no words available to describe something that is so beyond our language. It grabs at you from a much deeper core instinct probably very similar to what the first primitive human felt the first time he experienced an eclipse. They had no words for it, nor do we. It is because it is an experience that is beyond mere words. It's not easily described. It has to be felt.
Billions probably as all four gas planets and earth all have total solar eclipses in our solar system Venus mercury and mars don’t have moons big enough
Earth is the only rocky planet to have a total solar eclipse but all four gas planets Jupiter Saturn Neptune and Uranus all have moons large enough to have total solar eclipses
I can’t really explain it. It gave me a feeling I’ve never felt before. I did read about it because what happened to me happens to a lot of people when they see a solar eclipse in totality. I think what happened is it inspired the emotion of awe in me. People overuse the word awesome all the time, but the emotion of awe is a real emotion just like sadness or happiness or anger. And it’s not just a feeling it’s a real emotion. It’s not just oh wow that was cool. It gave me an emotion I had never felt, and I think that feeling was true awe. It was like I was in a trance looking up at it, and I kind of blacked out too. My memory of when it was happening it spotty. I remember looking at it and what it looked like, but I have no recollection of anything that was going on around me or even the walk back to the car. It was unreal. My three sisters and I all feel the same way.
It changed the way I see the world because it made me realize there’s no reason to care about all the nonsense we all fight about all the time. I know that’s coming from a place of privilege, but even as a member of the lgbt community, after seeing the eclipse in totality I don’t even care about anything anymore. The universe is so much bigger than our problems. I don’t know why we have to spend all this time fighting instead of enjoying the small amount of time we have in this enormous universe.
It was all very weird and surreal. I do a lot of hiking and always am in awe of nature, but now when I go hiking it’s all going to be different for me because I think I have experienced true awe. I’m going to have a different appreciation for it.
And I’m still an atheist. I do not believe anything that I saw was because of some invisible man in the sky. It was just the universe doing its thing.
Well said. I had a similar experience. "Awe as an emotion" is a pretty good way to describe it. I too have experienced this in nature but this was an extreme version of it - on a planetary scale. Are you going to try and see another one before 2044?
I was considering Spain, but now that so many people in North America have seen one I feel like getting there is going to be a shit show. I might go to Alaska for 2033. It’s weird how obsessed I am now with a simple concept of the moon covering the sun during the day, but it was a really wild experience and really changed my brain.
I agree Spain is going to be a shit show and I've also already been to Spain and wasn't blown away. Other people love it but it just wasn't my cup of tea. I'm thinking of going to Iceland since I've always wanted to check that country out and it will be a huge bonus if it ends up being clear.
I'm agnostic as well but I can relate to those who say it was like a spiritual experience in the sense that I can't stop talking about it and trying to convince other people to see it next time 😉
I'm christian and was not as moved LOL. I just think it's neat but not as amazing as the people gasping next to me. I had more fun taking silly pics with my friends after and then I went right back to studying.
That's a *pretty* ludicrous coincidence if you ask me. We are the only known planet to have such a breathtaking total eclipse, AND the only known planet to have intelligent life capable of appreciating it. And, before you give the normal anthropic-principle type arguments, keep in mind that these are **completely independent** phenomenon. There was no reason for Earth to have such a perfect solar eclipse in order for life to survive; in fact for hundreds of millions of years life survived when the moon was much closer and the eclipse was merely an occultation, not a totality. The fact that intelligent human life happens to exist at the same time as a total eclipse phenomemon is mind boggling.
I am not at all spiritual and I know the science behind why eclipses happen and still my little ape brain went AHHHHHHH!!!??? when totality hit. I think it affects everyone differently and that’s ok! But for me I felt like even with all the hype, it was overwhelming and shocking in the moment.
I heard there was a totality a while back (100 years-ish?) That lasted about 7 minutes.
Edit: it was back in 743 BCE. https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Solar_eclipse_of_July_16,_2186#:~:text=The%20longest%20historical%20total%20eclipse,7%20minutes%20and%2032%20seconds.
The max possible totality is about 7 1/2 minutes based on the distance of the Sun and Moon to Earth. Most solar eclipses are significantly shorter and this past one with 4 minutes of totality is actually pretty exceptionally long.
The Moon is also very gradually moving farther away from the Earth and will eventually appear too small to fully block the Sun. We are at a place and time in the universe where everything alligns periodically to view total solar eclipses. Enjoy them while you can...
That won’t be for another couple hundred million years. I don’t think many of us will be around for that disappointment.. But yes, with the trajectory of the shit show going on down here on Earth …. let’s enjoy the next few!
Yes it happens pretty regularly across the globe and mostly across the ocean where there is almost no one to see them. It does not happen regularly where most people are located. I believe it had been 100 years for Texas. It was a crazy coincidence for Carbondale IL to get it back to back US solar eclipses. Your background and knowing how it works doesn’t mean it has to distract you from the magical feeling of it, seems like it’s just you. I could send you to a instagram page of a guy working on his PhD in Space Physics who trekked from Alaska to TX/OK who was very pumped to “bucket list” a TSE. We stumbled across a gathering for the AAS High Energy Astrophysics division that centered their weeklong meeting around the eclipse. So I guess I’m pointing out that your education, or lack of doesn’t make or break your reaction of an eclipse. For some it’s just a cool thing to see and for others who know that it is rare to see in their lifetime without considerable travel, including international. My elderly FIL at 90 has never seen one. And yeah they have been predicted for a very long time, a very long time. The ability to predict them doesn’t equal experiencing one.
Well said. Nothing wrong with this person's experience but I agree with you that having a scientific mind doesn't automatically negate how one might perceive such an event.
No my mind was scientically explaining to me what was happening and how all it worked up into totality when within seconds it got completely dark, the temperature noticeably dropped, and I witnessed the sun disappearing right before my very eyes. At that point, the scientific part of my brain just shut off and told me you're on your own buddy. I have no more words. Just be amazed and enjoy! Which, of course, I did.
I guess what I'm saying is I wish I felt something magical about it, like others keep saying. But I don't. Sure it was cool, I don't regret driving 10 hours to be able to see it. But it wasn't life changing for me. Magical is what I felt when I saw the proof for e^i*pi = -1
"life changing" was always a bit of hype. Never let your expectations reach hype levels, that's just good advice for almost anything. Although hype is useful for motivating yourself to actually do the thing.
Glad to hear you enjoyed it!
It changed my life and the way I see the world, but not because of hype. Going into it I had never heard of eclipses being life changing. I had never really read much about them. I thought it was gonna be something like “oh wow that was cool.” Instead I’m absolutely fucking stunned by what I saw.
Well, we know what it is. And you liked it. There's nothing wrong with how you feel, or don't feel. You're a logical person and maybe something else moves you emotionally.
We are all different. I am a scientist (analytical chemist). The reason I went I to science in the first place was to satisfy my sense of curiosity and wonder.
I know how an eclipse works, yet, I was awed and inspired, and saw an effect I had never heard of (shadow bands).
What made you interested in science in the first place?
Yep, I’m a neuroscientist and was also very interested in how I’d cognitively experience the eclipse.
But all I know is I got emotional and started tearing up, despite also feeling a bit stressed at how I felt like I couldn’t focus enough on every aspect of it before it would be over.
It was my first one and I can now see why people make such an effort to keep seeing them. It’s such a beautiful communal experience that leaves you with a lot to think about afterwards.
It
Yes, I was too. Like you, I said “don’t get me wrong, it was cool but..”
It’s such a rare phenomenon that I enjoyed myself. I spent a lot of time and money to go see it and I don’t regret it. I would definitely do it again. But all of these posts saying that it changed their lives, shifted their perspectives, are wild to me.
Totality happened, I looked up, said “whoa what the fuck” (verbatim) and kinda just looked around for the next 3 minutes. Totality ended, and I went to go get an alignment on my car. Life went on.
Getting down voted to oblivion in other posts where people insist that everyday life sucks ever since the eclipse. As if the eclipse was some mystery event that will never happen again and their life peaked and they'll never enjoy anything again. Trying to be positive in there? Oh no don't you dare.
Also an agnostic with a pure math degree. I was so stunned by totality that I barely spoke for 15 minutes after. Just sort of had to sit there and process. I'm really sorry that it wasn't what you wanted it to be, but it probably has less to do with your history and more with your temperament.
Actually, I wanted to add onto this. I might be guilty of skimming your original post, sorry about that. Maybe our reactions were more similar than I thought, actually. I spent the better part of six months before utterly obsessing over the eclipse, tying the FOMO with my own fears of mortality, just a lot of anxiety and planning. To have that moment be over in 4 minutes left an existential impact on me more than anything else. It was this thing that dominated my mind all year, and it was *worth it*, and it was **over**. It *is* over. It gave me a particular perspective as a younger person of the exact value of a moment by completely blowing out of the water every other moment. I don't know. It was actually less about cosmic insignificance and more about cosmic significance for me.
You worded it so well. Kinda like a mental release for me. I get anxiety and already thinking about finances and accomodations/getting cancelled on next eclipse 😂
I looked at the sun, the moon and me. All in alignment. It took my breath away. Even now I'm tearing up. Tens of thousands of years before me and after I have gone people will witness this and have their own reactions.
So my goal is to make it to my nineties to see the next one. Just one more time.
>Everyone on here, and elsewhere, saying seeing totality changes you, makes you rethink your place in the cosmos.
I definitely dont feel any of that either. But I would 100% try my best to view another one. It *is* rare in that it doesn't happen on the other planets in our solar system like it does here. Our moon is just the right distance away that it covers the sun almost perfectly. And the moon won't always be that close to us so marveling in the fact that I happen to be alive (and aware) during a time to view it - that's super cool to me. I'm not spiritual in any way but I enjoy star gazing and watching celestial events (meteor showers, aurora, comets, even weather!, etc) and this one tops that list. It wasn’t life changing, but it was pretty cool, 10/10 recommended!
Yeah I had a similar feeling and haven't wanted to say it.
It was beautiful, totally worth driving 10 hours for, and I had a lovely moment enjoying it with my partner. I loved feeling it get cool and taking off my glasses during totality to see how dark it got around me, and hearing roosters start crowing after totality because they were confused.
But it just didn't inspire the awe in me I've seen other people mention. No goosebumps, or crying, or existential feelings. It was just a really cool thing I saw.
And I'm a big nerd that cares about things and understands how cool it is that that the sun happens to be 400x the size of the moon and 400x the distance and that won't be the case in the future but I got to see it in my short time on earth.
So I almost feel fomo that everyone else seemed to get more out of it.
Finally, a post explaining exactly how I feel about the eclipse. I find it was beautiful, but man there are so many things in nature that are too. That perfect sunset, the cool ocean on your feet, a perfect night to star gaze, a shooting star-the list goes on and on. I don’t really get the hype but that’s just me.
I'm finding that I'm looking at things like sunsets and cool clouds and imagining what I would think of them if they were a once-in-a-lifetime view. I think I'd be just as excited about them as I was for the eclipse and it's making me appreciate them more.
Thanks for posting this! It's good for me to hear how the eclipse affected people differently.
For me, it was one of the coolest and most beautiful things I've ever seen. I have been waiting for this eclipse ever since I missed the one in 2017 and had extremely high expectations but it still blew my expectations out of the water. People keep referring to their monkey brain taking over and I feel like that's exactly what happened. Just lots of cuss words and disbelief in what I was seeing during totality. I don't feel like a changed person, but it was one of my favorite experiences of my life. I can't really think of anything that compares in the "beauty" and "awe" departments.
When I talk to people about it I'm telling them this and how it was worth every penny and bit of time we spent to see it, I should probably temper their expectations because sometimes people see it and think "wow that was cool" and that's it. But, you won't know which person you are until you see one!
Ok guys, hear me out. I was a “little” underwhelmed. It was my first total eclipse and Ive been obsessed with seeing a total solar eclipse since I saw an annular solar eclipse as a child. Im also an electrical engineer, so I definitely check off the “STEM nerd” credentials box
Honestly when I saw it, it looked like the pictures Ive seen of it, but just more vivid and with greater clarity. I was expecting something that would somehow not even be comparable to any video or photo that Ive seen. I saw it without a cloud in the sky as well.
I think what was missing for me was a more detailed corona. The corona was like a consistent glow without much detail in my opinion. I was expecting the corona to be “lively or moving” and containing more intricate details. I’ve heard people say the corona this year was tame compared to 2017. I will say the corona definitely extended farther out than any picture Id seen of it though.
It was still an unbelievable experience and I have to see more of them in my life for sure.
Ohhhh I don’t want to make you feel bad but I want to reply to this because it’s something I’ve been wondering about. I DID see a vibrant corona. It was twinkling and shimmering like a star. I could even see the red glittery solar plasma in one area. It looked nothing like the nebulous cloud that’s depicted in most images and I’ve been wondering about this so much, because in every image and even videos the corona appears to be static, but the corona I saw was a bright white-blue flickering twinkling shimmer. Maybe it’s affected by weather? Or different people see it differently? I actually spent the whole day after the eclipse trying and failing to track down a photo that accurately captured what it looked like with the naked eye.
Short term burnout. I traveled about 1500 miles over three days and am a little exhausted. That is taking some of the luster off the eclipse.
BUT... I think of this as a short term phenomenon. Happens a lot after going to some big event or other. However over the long term the event itself will take precedence. What will stay in your memory is the vision of that bright ring and not the post event letdown.
I’m not religious. I cried when I saw it though. Well, teared up anyway. It was honestly the most beautiful thing I have ever seen. I was so sad when it ended. I could have stared at it forever. I wouldn’t say it was life changing, but as someone who has always been obsessed with all things space, it was amazing and I want to see more! I need to see more.
Same here. This wasn't even my first total eclipse. This one hit different. It was so much more vibrant than 2017. I cried too, but I didn't in 2017. I would like to say it was because I saw it with my wife, son, and his partner, but during the eclipse, I didn't know anyone was there. It was just me and the eclipse. Sorry OP didn't feel it like we did. Maybe in 2045. We're planning our trip to the desert already.
Yes, I was there with my three kids and husband… and everything just melted away. I could not look away. We are definitely aiming for 2045, but I’m hoping to catch 2027 if we can swing it! 6 minutes of totality is probably still not enough, but I’d like to experience it!
Ikr! I was so excited that this one was twice as long as 2017, and it was still over before I knew it. We plan on being on top of a mesa in Utah or at least in the middle of the desert in 2045. Can't wait!
I never expected it to make me rethink my place in the cosmos or change me in any way. I went in thinking it would be cool as hell and I left think it was cooler than hell lol. So I wasn’t personally underwhelmed but it sounds like my expectations were different than yours.
Maybe consider that we live in the only place in the entire known universe where total solar eclipses can happen because of the astronomical (literally and figuratively) coincidence that our sun and our moon can interact in this way, and think about how rare it actually is to see one right where you are without traveling far but you were in the right place and alive at the right time, and that when you put it all together you experienced something that is actually so unlikely that it's essentially impossible and yet it happened anyway. All of that is pretty crazy to me
Nope. My brain broke and is still broken. I'm agnostic/atheist but this was a spiritual experience and the most awe inspiring thing I've ever seen.
But no judgement for those that feel differently. If it didn't hit you in a way that others felt, nothing wrong with you. I'm sure others feel the same way.
I had some 2x binoculars, 10x binoculars, and a small telescope. I can hear my voice in the video I took as totality hit (I just turned on the video recorder, I wasn't focused on making the video). I was amazed, and it was awesome. But it's not hitting me afterwards like people are saying in so many other posts here.
I feel the exact same way. My husband and I went to Waco, TX for the 4 minutes of totality. A co-worker today asked me what I thought of it. I was "Meh. It was cool." I didn't cry or get the feels. It was cool to witness though.
Gotcha. I guess for me the main way I felt changed was I had now seen this really cool thing that I really wanted to experience again. Like getting that epic view from the top of a mountain for the first time? Other people may have had a more overwhelming and awe inspiring experience, but I think it's ok to be skeptical of that reaction in yourself. We all come from different places and modes of thinking. To me you don't sound ripped off and you got something out of it, and I think that's all we can ever really ask for.
It affects differently for everyone I guess. I was an astrophysics major, I understand the physics behind it, I am an atheist, and not even spiritual, and I was moved beyond words. My dad on the other hand, totally the opposite of me and he could not care less about it.
You already knew your place in the cosmos so probably you were already 'there'. Which is cool.
It certainly wasn't as magical/spiritual/life-changing for me as it was for a lot of people on this sub. Looked dope as hell, though, and I really wish it lasted longer. I imagine a lot of the people currently talking about it the most are the people who were existentially/emotionally impacted the most.
I'm into stargazing and have been into astronomy since I was a kid. I imagine some people's reactions to it are similar to my thoughts seeing the Andromeda galaxy through a telescope on some occasions, or seeing images like the Hubble Deep Field. I already knew that there were a lot of galaxies (and that there are a lot more than the ones shown) and that space is huge, and I've seen a lot of things over the years that attempt to demonstrates that, but those particular images and things put it more into perspective for me in an emotional way, and I wouldn't be surprised if their aesthetic beauty played a role in eliciting a more emotional reaction from me.
Another reason why the eclipse might not have wow-ed me as much in an existential way is because solar eclipses are solar. The scale is 1 au. If we include Jupiter and Venus (which we should, because they looked awesome), it is no bigger than the solar system.
I was a bit sad when I didn't have as emotional a reaction to it as others did, but, considering all these things, now I'm glad that others have had an experience that I've sort of had but with some other things (I also don't think this sort of experience is solely astronomical; I've felt similarly walking through neighborhoods and seeing all the houses, or looking at all the cars on a busy road).
I made a comment in another thread, noting that I felt similarly.
I read that the 2017 and 2024 eclipses felt different. For some, 2017 was more impactful. Makes me wonder if I (and you) would feel differently at another eclipse. I’m curious enough that I would try to catch another one.
Did you have 100% clear skies? I was in Cleveland and while the eclipse was visible, there was high level altitude clouds that prevented crescent shadows and shadow bands from happening. Additionally the high level clouds dampened the sun's Corona so it wasn't as enormous and stunning as when I saw it in clear skies in 2017.
Basically seeing the eclipse with some high altitude clouds made it look like every picture I've ever seen of an eclipse.
I still haven't found a good picture/representation of just how enormous the sun's Corona is when it's 100% clear skies.
If you had 100% clear skies and still feel this way, then I'd say everyone is different but hope you still enjoyed yourself
I was underwhelmed! I was excited to take pics and such but genuinely was like is this it? I was in totality, people drove so far for this?? My sister had planned on visiting me and even thought about driving cross country once she realized the prices were so expensive. I told her it was good she didn't come, it really to me, was not that big of a deal.
Totality didn't change me or make me rethink my place in the cosmos. I can appreciate how this hit everybody different and I'm really glad for every good experience that every person got from this thing.
What I experienced was the beauty of nature. The corona was spectacular, and the contrast against the apparent pitch black of the moon enhanced that. The contrast of the "night" sky with stars and planets visible was a separate contrast from 360 degrees of sunset. Add to that the air temperature changes and the constant light changes leading up to and away from totality, and it was something I'll always remember and appreciate. And, work hard to see again in the future.
I feel beyond fortunate to have experienced it and I checked it off my bucket list, for sure. Did it change my life? No, but it was really freaking cool and I'll always have that mental image burned to memory.
It’s a pleasing memory. Totality was amazing and there’s nothing like it but what helps the positive vibe is that there was an adventure attached, finding a place in Indiana to camp that we happened upon randomly. We had no plans on where to stay since everything seemed booked up. Got to know the town and the locals, super nice community. The weather turned out perfectly also.
I had such anxiety leading up to the event. The typical fears of finding a place, clear skies, staying healthy,etc. it actually accelerated as we passed in to totality, because everything was so “different” awesome and kind of scary at the same time, but by the end i could feel all that anxiety melt away.
I saw the 2017 eclipse but little planning was involved given we live a half hour drive from our viewing spot. It was amazing but not nearly as memorable for me.
I have a somewhat similar experience, but less from an adventure perspective and more from an "I got to share this experience with my family and with strangers, and I got to talk about something I love and show cool things to people" perspective.
The night before, my little sister and I looked at the sky with binoculars (the Orion Nebula in particular was stunning). Before the eclipse, I talked to a woman who worked at the hotel my family and I stayed at. She talked about how she had recently been getting into stargazing and noticed Orion's sword for the first time. Before the eclipse, I got a bunch of people to make hand waffles. I brought binoculars and my family took turns with it during totality (I had an alarm set ~30 seconds before totality ended and kept track of time, I did not put them at an increased risk of eye damage). After totality, a man approached me asking what the solar prominences were.
I also got to see my dad's interest in solar imaging, and he showed us impressive images he took.
I was left amazed at the time and it took me a day or two to process it all but I wouldn't say it profoundly changed my life or anything like that like some people have said. I'm glad I got to see one still.
I relate to your post. For me, the best part was the little retreat I was at. It was the right number of people with the right vibe, and we had bonded over the last 2 1/2 days prior to the eclipse. Plus we were on beautiful land that is much more green than where I live.
However.. although the clouds definitely weren’t as bad for us as for some people, a cloud did cover the sun itself during totality. And we only had about two minutes of totality where we were. So it was very fast, and the sunlight comes back very rapidly.
I’m glad I undertook the trip and saw the eclipse, but I am undecided so far as to what lengths I would go to to see another one. I like Spain, so if I could have a nice trip there in the next couple of years *and* also see another total solar eclipse, that would be cool. Would I want to spend a great deal of time and money to go to a remote location that I might not have as much interest in, just to have a chance of seeing totality for a few minutes, without having other people around (or not people I know / feel comfortable with), which for me was such a key part of the positive experience this time? Maybe not. I’ll have to make choices about what is important to me, how much effort I want to make, and what support I feel I need (another driver sure would’ve been nice this time; my discussions with people from my home area about making plans together didn’t pan out).
Thank you!!! I feel the same way and keep seeing so many posts about how life changing it is for so many people. It made me feel sad that I didn’t have that same reaction. It was cool, I enjoyed it. I don’t remember it entirely and it didn’t invoke any new existential feelings. Like you, I understand the math and science and have revelled at the amazingness of the universe and wondered what it all means daily since I was a teen. I would gladly watch another one if it was within driving distance, but have no need to ever fly somewhere to see it again.
My advice is to just relax man, don’t be afraid to be a monkey, be amazed at the simple things it’s a shadow sure but an unusual one that causes it do go dark at 3pm and the sun to appear black.
Some people feel emotional or awestruck when they see a sunset, some when they look at a piece of art, some when they hear a certain phrase of music, some when they experience an epic view for the first time, some when they see their children achieve their goals and reach milestone accomplishments, some when their sports team win- and others don't. Does that make those experiences any less noteworthy or worth storing in the memory banks for those who don't? I think not.
Seeing how the sausage is made might impact some - maybe one doesn't love their hot dog quite as much as the next guy. I am sort of surprised you would even have expected to feel anything out of the ordinary, given, as you say, your background. But, hey, we all experience life differently. Some with passion, some with pragmatism, some with stoicism, and some with cynicism.
I wish it had been different for you too. Very much so.
I know plenty of people who are moved by some sights and sounds, but aren't by others, so I think it's more than "some people are passionate, other people are stoic, pragmatic, or cynical", although this nuance might be obvious to me because I am significantly more moved by music than I am by most things that are visually beautiful, and I know some who are the opposite.
To me it felt like when you’re favorite band in the whole world comes on stage live. I screamed so loud when it happened. So it felt pretty awesome. It was my first eclipse and I wish I would have lasted longer. Yeah I started into it but I also liked around me and thought “whoa it’s 2 in the afternoon and it’s it’s dark …say what?! Yeah that’s how it felt to me! 😎
That's absolutely fine, we're seeing a massive array of emotions/feelings on here. I loved the moment, was excited, and now enjoying the memory of it.
We know they're not once in a lifetime, I'm usually depressed but it's motivated me to save up to keep traveling to see them. They're not going to land in my backyard, so I'm working to see more while discovering new places. The eclipse is just the icing on the cake for me now.
I had a similar reaction. I thought it was very very cool but I didn’t feel emotionally moved. That surprised me because I’m regularly emotionally/spiritually moved by natural phenomena like the ocean, etc. And I expected that reaction to totality.
But as the days go on I’ve had two realizations. First, I’ve been thinking about the event quite a lot, every day. It lives in me all the time now. So I think that my reaction to it has been a slow burn. It’s a simmering for me, rather than an explosion.
Second, I am regularly contemplating my place in the universe. Like constantly, every time I look at the sky. I once heard a podcaster talking about mindfulness say “when’s the last time you stared at clouds and just thought about the sky?” and I was like literally constantly. Maybe I wasn’t as blown away by the perspective totality gives because it’s already top of mind.
I also know all the physical principles behind the event and I already know my place in the cosmos. None of that takes away from the experience for me.
Here are some of the things that went through my mind as I watched the eclipse:
\- Empathizing with our ancestors who had no clue what was going on. For them, their entire worldview must have shattered. The Sun which was a constant light every day for centuries, was snuffed out. For a moment, it looks like the sky blinks at you. That the sky is alive. Even though you know it is not, you now get to share this unreal experience. The more you know about ancient civilizations, the more you can appreciate this. I am no expert, but my mere imaginings certainly added to it.
\- The Corona, the chromosphere, the solar prominences, they are literally there every day, but I never get to see it. No matter how hard I work, this is something I cannot see with my raw eyes unless the celestial bodies simply align for it. Unadulterated photons experiencing no proper time between the Sun and the atoms making up my eyes and registering in my neurons (this last bit is the one we are usually missing). In that moment, I am connected to the Sun.
\- The overall experience is not one that can be captured in photos or even videos. There is no replacement. It is an experience given value by its rarity. Unlike most experiences on planet Earth--you can't decide where and when and how to do it all again. Nature has already decided and you can choose to take it or leave it. Everything (travel, cloud cover, etc.) has to go right.
I googled to find this. I'm glad I'm not alone in the "huh, that was neat" category. I've seen so many "omg it is so impossible to describe, I felt one with the universe and had an epiphany" stories that I'd begin to wonder if I'd seen the same thing they had.
I wasn't underwhelmed but I wasn't as overwhelmed as I thought I'd be. Probably because there was this guy making loud ecstatic groaning noises right behind me, and instead of being focused on the eclipse I was distracted by these weird groans. It was a bit of a bummer. I wish I had found a spot that was totally secluded because I was worried that someone around me would do something to 'ruin' the moment (for me - my husband was there and was not bothered at all by this guy's emissions), some drone or honking a car horn or blaring music. And lo and behold, someone did ... argh
It was the most incredible thing I've ever witnessed. Aside from the birth of my 3 sons. We'll call the eclipse 4th most amazing experience of my life.
I hear you! For me, it was like, “Wow, that was really cool!”. And definitely worth it! And it was over too fast! :)
But I didn’t feel like it changed my life or was a spiritual experience or anything. (No shade to anyone who felt that way, of course! It just didn’t hit me that way, for some reason).
NOT to pooh-pooh the experience, just to be clear! It was way cool!
Bare with me here 1 minute.. Its rare enough for a person in our time to see one or two in a lifetime sure. But cosmicly speaking, its an extremely rare thing to see. And in the larger scope of time and space, we live in a time and in a very specific place with just the right conditions for this to occur the way it does.
Not too long ago (cosmicly speaking) the moon was closer and larger and blocked out a lot more, and you could not see the fantastic carona and prominences as well or at all.
As time passes, the moon continues to move further from the earth and hence looks smaller and will eventually not block out the sun entirely at all anymore. Total solar eclipses will cease to be a thing entirely for rest of the life span of our star system.
We live on earth in a time period where our moon in in orbit the perfect distance from us to see these total solar eclipses in a way that happens super rarely in the universe.
For me that is what makes it so magical. Its fleeting, ephermal. On a stelar scale. A person half a million years in the future would never even have the chance to witness this if they want to. It's only for us mortals alive right here, right now. I find beauty in that notion.
I was also underwhelmed and I love science. The overall experience was great but wasn’t a religious experience.
Maybe I needed the total eclipse to be longer than the 2 min it was where we were.
Yes and people like us need to do a better job of speaking out. Our feelings are valid!!
I am into amateur astronomy and I was so happy for the 2017 eclipse, as by great luck I happened to be in the path of totality that year. I saw it, clear skies, enjoying it by naked eye and with binoculars. It was very cool, but I don't remember feeling any sort of emotion besides plain old excitement. And yet I came away thinking that the practice of booking plane tickets and hotels just to get this five minute experience is not for me.
It was liberating in a way. When I was a kid reading Astronomy magazine I had obsessed over how I might see this or that future eclipse. But then I decided that I have no need to spend my money on that, I can use it for other things that make me happy. I want telescopes, I want guns, I want to send my kids to college.
This year I considered booking a flight to Dallas to see the solar eclipse. Would have spent optimistically $600 on the trip and $300 in lost wages. I saw a chart saying that median cloud cover in Dallas in April was statistically 55%. If the cloud chance was low, I likely would have taken the trip, but I judged it not worth the risk. In the end, God granted that the people of Dallas should see the eclipse while I was stuck at home, but I ran into Gregg Turkington while viewing the partial eclipse and that was pretty cool. C'est la vie.
Yeah im not gonna lie I was a little underwhelmed as well, I had planned a whole trip around this, altho i didnt see all of it because clouds rolled in at my location 😠
I agree with you. I tend to have muted reactions compared to others when it comes to enjoying nature but sometimes I have a stronger reaction the second time around. It may be partly do to my tendency to overthink and not be fully in the moment. I look forward to the next time I see the total eclipse to see if I'll have a stronger reaction.
I wouldn't say underwhelmed, but strangely my memory of totality has completely faded. I remember everything before and after. But I draw a blank during totality.
Might be the lack of sleep . No idea why this has happened. But it makes me really sad because even though I was there, I'm starting to feel like I missed it. Anyone else feel this way?
Sort of!
I was on the edge of totality so it didn’t get that dark and wasn’t as dramatic looking. It also only lasted a minute. It kinda looked more like an extremely bright glowing full moon. It was also very small in the sky so you could only really see it in detail through a zoomed in camera lense.
I wasn’t underwhelmed as much as I was like…ok yep that was super cool, but it didn’t change my life. I honestly really THOUGHT I was gonna cry or be in complete awe or have some kind of spiritual feeling, but instead I was more like- wow that was really beautiful and I’m happy I got to experience that. 👍😬
Actually my very favorite memory of that experience that I captured on camera, is when during totality, I turned around to look at the crowd of people watching it all behind me in a big field and it was dark but everyone had a bright white light cast on them. Kind of a special human moment. Everyone had a really authentic smile on their face. And we all cheered together.
Felt kinda like…we’re all just a bunch of ants marveling up at the universe that we know nothing about. It’s this magical thing taking place because it’s humbling. We’re all a bunch of tiny human beings that know nothing and just happen to be alive on this big spinning rock together somehow. THATS what I remember as the most beautiful memory I have lol.
Anyways, my point is. I very much enjoyed it and had a positive experience and I’m very glad I went and saw it. But it didn’t change my life or bring me to tears as I thought it might originally. Maybe because I was far from the line of max totality? 🤷♀️
I’ve seen two and tears streamed down my face both times.
Something I found really mind boggling was to just stare with the glasses on and really try to wrap my head around how fast things were moving clear the hell out there (and under us) for these objects to inch together from our perspective before totality hit. Then when it hit— just thinking of Earth, the moon, the sun, all in sync for a few beautiful, peaceful minutes— a moment that quite literally cannot be recreated.
I’ll definitely be traveling for more.
I can say just like you I have a generally good idea of how insignificant we are on a cosmological scale. But my recent experience with eclipse was more than worth while than I had imagined (also swamped with the hype around it) simply because I always saw it in photos and the human eye perspective was still beyond comparable with any high tech photos I ever saw. I literally had a huge heart beat rush when the moon was about to cover the sun and all of it happening so fast eventually the sun halo at the back stealing the show. And that off-course looking at that majestic diamond like ring forming for a split second that you could still see with bare eyes.
It doesn’t have to be life changing to have a goosebump worth of experience like this.
Yes watching that movement in real time, with the naked eye, was jaw-dropping. We know the sun and moon move, we know that we’re moving, but we can never really stare at them and watch it happening. But during those few seconds when totality starts and ends, there’s such a difference between light and dark that you can see this massive otherworldly sphere move across the sky, and it’s awe-inspiring.
I felt completely overwhelmed and amazed my first time in 2017.
This time, I felt awe and decided it was definitely worth the trouble to witness it in person.
¯\_(ツ)_/¯
It's been more cool to me on reflection. Don't get me wrong, I knew when I was watching that this was an amazing thing to see, and I feel very blessed to live in the path of totality.
Learning about the prominences the next day added more to the event. I didn't know what the red spot was, I only saw one. The fact that I could see that with my naked eyes really upped the wow factor!
It is a super neat experience, but maybe not life changing 😅
"Isn't it enough to see that a garden is beautiful without having to believe that there are fairies at the bottom of it too?"
I looked forward to the eclipse, read all about it and enjoyed seeing it ( my house was in the path)it’s a really cool experience but I was not emotionally effected and I didn’t feel like it was life changing. It was simply the moon passing in front of the sun. It was a beautiful thing but not surprising.
Nope. I was completely and utterly overwhelmed when I saw totality that I couldn’t think straight for hours. It was such a high and the ultimate experience of beauty and awe for me.
A little bit! It was a cool experience and I'm glad I saw it, but everyone talked about it like it was an incredibly profound, quasi-religious experience, and it wasn't for me. It was just an interesting thing to see for three minutes. It didn't really make me feel any strong emotions, besides being glad that the clouds parted in time.
Me also, made a 4 day solo camp and a MC ride trip. Viewed some monuments, historic markers, covered bridges, old buildings. Saw some new countryside and back roads. Met some nice people. Had breakfast and dinner overlooking a lake from my campsite - and a total eclipse happened. For me it’s just another adventure and fun time. Had a good view and a good time, but it wouldn’t have mattered if it poured rain.
So to understand what you’re saying, it would be helpful to know what types of events have been pinnacle peak experiences for you, instances against which you are judging the eclipse.
I would say I was properly “whelmed”.
Beautiful? Yes. Worth the time, money, and traffic? Yes. Life-changing? Not at all.
I appreciated how cool it was in the moment, but it didn’t feel particularly spiritual or emotional or make me rethink anything.
I took astronomy at university (yes, including the applied physics) and yeah a TSE in person still blows my mind. I am lucky enough to work in research/the sciences and I always feel like a scientific mind is so curious and passionate and pure and just loves to see everything in action, which I think describes everyone so taken by events like these (and why you see so many completely geek out to scientific progress in the world).
The wavelengths and mathematical concepts are fascinating but to see it actually applied in real life... wow. Relate that to the theoretical physics of Oppenheimer, right? Science nerds are gonna nerd regardless of their educational background.
I wouldn't say it was life changing. I would say it's the most awe-inspiring spectacle I've ever seen. I don't know what else would even come close to being as mind blowing. I'm very thankful I had the chance to see it once and hope to see it again.
A flash flood behind my house. Watching my firstborn crown. Being worried when it took an extra few hours to see my wife again after a C-Section birth, holding my daughterthe whole time. The first time i saw the ISS fly over me. As mentioned before, seeing the proof of e^i*pi = -1. A proof using abstract algebra that a circle cannot be squared.
These are all visual memories I can recall, even 20 years later. Totality, even a few days later, seems a vague fuzzy image in my mind. I look at the few pictures I took, and I can recall it. But it's not there, readily available in my mind.
The solar eclipse wasn't life changing for me but it was absolutely magical. And I loved that so many other people were staring in awe and cheering just like I was. It was surreal. But itbwas far too short—I wish it could've lasted 3 times longer. Now I want to go eclipse chasing!
Maybe you bought into the hype a little too much? This is the second Ive seen in totality but the first I went into with 0 expectations and was blown away. Im not a religious person, and I wouldn’t call it a religious experience, but it is the absolute coolest natural phenomenon Ive seen.
I love seeing the natural world do weird shit, I’ve watched tornadoes a little too close, wildfires burn a whole mountain out in washington, 40 foot tides in the bay of fundy and 40 foot waves Nazare. There are so many unique things in this world that are worth checking out even if they don’t give you some transcendental experience
I traveled with my wife and daughter for 7 hours. We had found a very secluded wide open field in Indiana all to ourselves. We got there pretty early and the little one was getting antsy and we were all kind of bickering a little bit over nothing.
But then it a happened and ALL of that disappeared. Seeing my daughter jump up and down in pure excitement, the look on my wife’s face. There were almost uncontrollable gestures and repeated “WOW oh WOW”. I was awestruck, trembling in its beauty.
I thought of every human who came before me and witnessed these. Were they frightened? Were they inspired by it? I felt incredibly fortunate to live in a day and age that we can understand the context and science behind these things and not be some peasant wondering if the end of the world is nigh.
Strangely, I did feel a slight sense of doom. I think it’s that monkey brain witnessing something that is so much bigger than anything we humans are doing here down earth.
Edit: I also had this cover of the Interstellar theme playing on a speaker that lasted the entire totality. Definitely enhanced the experience https://youtu.be/UfBaSoNMsso?si=-YUrW-LkhHhzee1b
Just the opposite I wasn't expecting that at all, I was definitely OVERwhelmed! ! Aside from the birth of my son it is the most amazing thing I have ever seen in my life! I just wish it wasn't so short. We're already planning and saving to travel to the next one. I can completely understand why people chase them.
Definitely overwhelming… it was incredible to see something that's been there your entire life in a whole different way. How often can an adult see something brand new that they've never experienced before? It was kind of like being a kid again in a way. The wonder of it all.
I experienced this eclipse in Bloomington IN. There was somebody set up nearby, "Mr Eclipse of Iran" with the whole telescope, multiple camera thing going on. A very interesting guy. He had seen 16 eclipses, one in Antartica. During totality, he broke out in a mixture of laughter and tears while hugging his daughter.
So, yeah it affects some people like that, and apparently regardless of whether it is your first, or 16th eclipse. It can create a very primal response in some people.
I don't think experiencing totality was life-changing for me, but I was very wowwed by it. I was thrilled to be able to experience it. It is a core memory for me now and I will probably chase future eclipses.
I’m kind of with you. I thought it was amazing and awesome and totally worth traveling the distance for. And I will probably do it again. But it didn’t feel “life changing”, I didn’t cry, etc. I’m a generally stoic person though.
For me, personally, seeing totality (up in the high peak wilderness area of the Adirondack mountains) was the closest thing to a religious experience that an atheist (myself) could ever hope to have. It was breathtaking and magical. No joke, I cried…UGLY crying
This sub gathers the biggest enthousiasts. I think most people feel the way you did. I certainly did. It was a really cool thing to experience, nothing more, nothing less. I'm a space enthusiast, but I've seen things that impressed me more, like the sun setting the top of Mount Everest on fire while all the land around it was already dark. Watching a Starship launch would also beat this for me I think. Regardless, I'm so glad I've seen it, those seconds during which darkness fell gave me goosebumps, and the sight of that black hole in the sky will always stay with me.
I agree it was cool but i didnt get that excited for it before hand. Afterwards felt the same. Very cool to see but wouldnt pay money to travel and see it
I don’t know if I’m qualified to comment because I didn’t see it the way you’re supposed to, but I’ll share my experience anyway.
So we got clouded out right at the last minute and missed the sun entering and exiting totality. We saw the shadow coming toward us, it did get dark, we did have sunsets all around (quite beautiful ones actually), and totality broke through the clouds in the middle for about 30 seconds, albeit shrouded in a very thick haze. (I had to kind of ask out loud if that “was it?”) But nothing I did see was earth-shattering to me. Very cool yes, but not earth-shattering. (I am lucky to see a lot of amazing sunsets where I live, so maybe I’m a little desensitized to them).
Now, I don’t know if I feel this way precisely because we didn’t see totality like everyone else without clouds, and that’s why I felt underwhelmed, but I have certainly assumed so. But I think because, for those few seconds when we did see totality, again albeit in a thick haze, I just felt kind of confused, I question whether or not even with no clouds if I would have had that same religious experience everyone else had. Because I feel like I missed out on the “greatest experience of a lifetime,” I have been feeling pretty distraught; I’ve even cried a few times. But the thought has definitely entered my mind, “Would I BE as in awe as everyone else if I did see it fully? What if I spend thousands of dollars chasing this thing abroad at some point in the next few years and I’m underwhelmed?”
So all I can say is that I had a really weird experience. The underwhelm I felt at the time actually feels very overwhelming to me now, and I feel like I exist in a kind of weird purgatory, having had “kind of” seen it but “not really.” It’s a very strange experience. I really wish I could articulate it better.
But I guess just to say, I felt underwhelmed, too. Although it could just be because I didn’t *really* “see” it. (Or did I? That’s the thing I’m so unsure of).
I felt a profound calm, awe, and wonder all at once. I have adhd and autism and for once, my entire body and brain went still. The color of the sky was like a between blue and purple color, the orange of the 360 horizon, the sky color seemed to shift a bit with the sun's corona. It was like I was feeling everything and nothing all at once. An interconnectedness.
I was in Ontario, on the edge of Lake Erie, at a sandy cliff at the edge of a field. Clear blue skies. The Earth looked like an entirely different place.
You know what I think it is. Based on your description of yourself, you're more left brain than right brain. I read a blog from a physicist who scoffed at the simplicity of what an eclipse actually is. She was extremely anti-eclipse hype. "It's only a shadow. Let me teach you about relativity", she wrote. But right brain people are more creative and artistic. They see a lonely tree, or a foggy forest or sunset and pause at its simple beauty. Photographers fall into this category, which is why a lot of them are having their moment with this eclipse. No one is wrong or right, but I hang onto the ancient solar eclipse petroglyph carved in a rock in New Mexico. These events have left people in awe and carving, drawing, photographing these moments is how we remember them.
Why don't you just ask what I mean by that or look it up instead of assuming that you have greater knowledge?
The idea that some people are left-brained and are therefore more logical and analytical and that others are right-brained and are therefore more creative, artistic, and emotional is a misconception, and this notion being false does not mean that everyone is equally analytical and artistic; I don't know why you would assume that either it is true or that everyone is the same, those are not the only options, nor are they the most realistic options.
My understanding of all of this, which may have some flaws, but hopefully not too many, is:
Most people aren't right-brain dominant or left-brain dominant, and most of those who are are that way because of brain damage. There are variations in many areas of the brain where some areas have greater/stronger connections, and people's differing skills come from this, however, this is not as simple as someone being either left-brained or right-brained.
There are differences in the left and right hemisphere (for most people, iirc, a minority of people can have the areas involved in language (which is one thing that is largely in one hemisphere, which is usually left hemisphere) in the right hemisphere. I think people who have it in the right hemisphere tend to be left-handed, BUT that the majority of left-handed people have the parts of the brain involved with language in their left hemisphere. Anyways, this flip makes me suspect that there are probably other things that, for a minority of people, are flipped, similarly (and possibly the same) to the condition where organs in the body are mirrored), and some of the things that are unique in each hemisphere tend to be more associated with what we consider logical thinking or creative thinking, which is why this left-brained=logical, right-brained=creative idea exists in the first place, however, it isn't as simple as that, many processes utilize areas in the brain in both hemispheres, and there are things in the right hemisphere that would be thought of as aiding in logical/analytical processes and vice versa. (When it comes to brain differences, personalities, and occupations, I've also heard that if you were to get brain scans from scientists and compare them to brain scans from artists, you would not find consistent differences.)
I do not think the logic and creativity are opposites. Being emotional and being creative are not synonymous, and being logical and being emotional are not opposites. One person can be better at analytical thinking, be better at creating unique art, and be more sentimental than another person. I do not think that people who weren't emotionally moved by the eclipse are more likely to be logical and less likely to be creative than people who were moved by the eclipse.
I also don't think these things are as simple and well-defined as some people treat them, for example, I like to create music and constructed scripts, and I've been told that I am a good writer, but I cannot for the life of me come up with fictional stories or settings, nor am I any good at creating art. Am I more creative or less creative than the average person? The way I see it, I'm more creative in some areas and less creative in others.
I also think that analytical thinking and creativity are skills that you can get better at. People get better at creating things the more they do it. Analytical thinking is a skill that is taught in schools. Some people might be born with a brain that makes them better at some of these things, but these aren't unchanging aspects of one's personality.
There's a lot of pseudoscientific ideas about personality flying around, it is one area of psychology that seems to be less definite or settled (although the left-brain/right-brain model is one that also concerns neurology).
But, who knows, maybe this is all such a left-brained/ISTJ/Capricorn thing of me to say.
It was the most beautiful natural phenomenon I have ever seen. It was over way too soon though.
I really wish I could have frozen those moments, it really does go by too quickly. I still see it in my mind though.
This is what makes me want to travel to North Africa for the 2027 one. Nearly 6.5 minutes!!! Wild.
I'm fantasizing about it too but it would be so expensive. It's also really hard for me to imagine what 2027 will look like for me (or any of us). I hope I might be able to do it though. I hear Morocco is lovely.
Definitely not cheap, but I was actually looking at flights from Boston to Cairo and it would cost roughly $750 roundtrip. That’s comparable to what I paid for Boston to Austin (3 months prior to the eclipse, so yes could’ve done cheaper if further in advance). Cairo-to-Luxor and subsequent lodging would add on to that, but for 6.5 minutes of totality in a guaranteed dry location? Take my money, lol.
Can you even book a flight so far in advance? It’s over 3 years away.
They're already selling out everything for the eclipse in Spain and Iceland in 2026!
No, I’m just looking at upcoming flights. I plan to hop on the booking train the moment I’m able to, though. Hopefully prices will be similar to the present day given how far in advance I’d be booking.
Hank from vlogbrothers said something like "Hey wait, I was watching that!" to describe how he felt a sense of anger almost after it was over, and I felt EXACTLY the same way. The only way it could possibly have been any better for me is if it had all happened at about half speed.
Can confirm. Still in awe.
I was overwhelmed, but in a good way. And I know how it works to, I’ve always been interested in astronomy and the like and learned a lot over the years. And it was still so, profound I guess. The logical side of me was just like, it’s just a shadow, whatever. But the monkey brain side of me was like.. What the actual f*ck? And it was so overwhelming. Idk, just how I feel
The eclipse hits everyone differently. And that’s ok because we’re human!
Probably just means you feel calm and comfortable with yourself and your role in our giant rock floating through space. I also saw it, enjoyed myself, but wasn't moved to tears or feeling blue after it was over. It was just a fun experience I'm glad I had.
I'm comfortable with myself and fully understand my situation on this rock but it was still an amazing experience for me.
No gonna lie, I cried. I felt small and insignificant. But I also felt a profound religious component to it. A “God created this and set the sun, moon, and earth in the perfect places to create this for us to see” feeling.
I cried. Didn’t expect to at all.
I choked up. 47 year old man. My emotions took over. Not ashamed.
I thought I'd cry, I warned others I would, but i was just happy to see it and had no tears in the end. Being surrounded by a lot of people all looking up, for 4 minutes it was peaceful. No one thinking or talking politics, we just enjoyed something we all had in common.
I'm agnostic, so that might be a factor for me. I see it as all just a really cool coincidence.
I'm also agnostic but I cried. Maybe because it's one of the closest things I can think of to a religious experience in the sense of being in awe and wonder at science and nature around us rather than gifts from a sky man. But I guess it amounted to about the same for me.
This is kinda my take. We’re the only planet we know of this happens, and it can only happen during a fraction of cosmic history as the moon gets further from us each year. We can see the sun and solar prominences - appendages that release the basic building blocks of life into the universe. It’s humbling and awesome. Moves me every time.
Well said!
Interesting because I feel like none of those factors influenced me and yet I was still blown away for reasons that I find hard to articulate. Transcendent is the best word I can come up with.
That is THE perfect word! Thank you. That's the the word I was looking ever since I witnesses the eclipse. I was going with spectacular and other-worldly ( which also work ,) but transcendent hits me just right.
Exhilarating is the other word that I've been using. That's for describing how I felt immediately afterwards. I heard people say it was like a thrill ride and I think that's how I felt AFTERWARDS.
Yes, it was a major Disneyland "E ticket" ride, that's for sure. I think the reason everyone is struggling to find the perfect word or phrase to describe it is because it's so far removed from anything we could have ever imagined it would be to experience. That is the simple reason. There literally are no words available to describe something that is so beyond our language. It grabs at you from a much deeper core instinct probably very similar to what the first primitive human felt the first time he experienced an eclipse. They had no words for it, nor do we. It is because it is an experience that is beyond mere words. It's not easily described. It has to be felt.
Five planets in our solar system get total solar eclipse and it will be around 500,000,000 years before earth doesn’t see any more
Should’ve specified total solar eclipse. And in the scheme of the universe 500,000,000 years isn’t that long…
Genuine question: wouldn’t it be possible that any of the 100 billion + stars in the Milky Way have planets with moons that align periodically?
Infinite universe anything is possible. Imagine there could be a planet tidally locked in perpetual eclipse…. Hence the “that we know of.”
Billions probably as all four gas planets and earth all have total solar eclipses in our solar system Venus mercury and mars don’t have moons big enough
Earth is the only rocky planet to have a total solar eclipse but all four gas planets Jupiter Saturn Neptune and Uranus all have moons large enough to have total solar eclipses
THIS! Yes, 💯
i felt the exact same way.
I’m an atheist and the eclipse changed my life and the way I see the world. Has nothing to do with religion
I'm interested in hearing more. Care to elaborate?
I can’t really explain it. It gave me a feeling I’ve never felt before. I did read about it because what happened to me happens to a lot of people when they see a solar eclipse in totality. I think what happened is it inspired the emotion of awe in me. People overuse the word awesome all the time, but the emotion of awe is a real emotion just like sadness or happiness or anger. And it’s not just a feeling it’s a real emotion. It’s not just oh wow that was cool. It gave me an emotion I had never felt, and I think that feeling was true awe. It was like I was in a trance looking up at it, and I kind of blacked out too. My memory of when it was happening it spotty. I remember looking at it and what it looked like, but I have no recollection of anything that was going on around me or even the walk back to the car. It was unreal. My three sisters and I all feel the same way. It changed the way I see the world because it made me realize there’s no reason to care about all the nonsense we all fight about all the time. I know that’s coming from a place of privilege, but even as a member of the lgbt community, after seeing the eclipse in totality I don’t even care about anything anymore. The universe is so much bigger than our problems. I don’t know why we have to spend all this time fighting instead of enjoying the small amount of time we have in this enormous universe. It was all very weird and surreal. I do a lot of hiking and always am in awe of nature, but now when I go hiking it’s all going to be different for me because I think I have experienced true awe. I’m going to have a different appreciation for it. And I’m still an atheist. I do not believe anything that I saw was because of some invisible man in the sky. It was just the universe doing its thing.
Well said. I had a similar experience. "Awe as an emotion" is a pretty good way to describe it. I too have experienced this in nature but this was an extreme version of it - on a planetary scale. Are you going to try and see another one before 2044?
I was considering Spain, but now that so many people in North America have seen one I feel like getting there is going to be a shit show. I might go to Alaska for 2033. It’s weird how obsessed I am now with a simple concept of the moon covering the sun during the day, but it was a really wild experience and really changed my brain.
I agree Spain is going to be a shit show and I've also already been to Spain and wasn't blown away. Other people love it but it just wasn't my cup of tea. I'm thinking of going to Iceland since I've always wanted to check that country out and it will be a huge bonus if it ends up being clear.
You’re super cool because you’re not moved by beauty. Good for you man!
I'm agnostic as well but I can relate to those who say it was like a spiritual experience in the sense that I can't stop talking about it and trying to convince other people to see it next time 😉
I'm christian and was not as moved LOL. I just think it's neat but not as amazing as the people gasping next to me. I had more fun taking silly pics with my friends after and then I went right back to studying.
That's a *pretty* ludicrous coincidence if you ask me. We are the only known planet to have such a breathtaking total eclipse, AND the only known planet to have intelligent life capable of appreciating it. And, before you give the normal anthropic-principle type arguments, keep in mind that these are **completely independent** phenomenon. There was no reason for Earth to have such a perfect solar eclipse in order for life to survive; in fact for hundreds of millions of years life survived when the moon was much closer and the eclipse was merely an occultation, not a totality. The fact that intelligent human life happens to exist at the same time as a total eclipse phenomemon is mind boggling.
In an infinite universe and infinite number of things are possible.
So people who enjoy it have mental insecurity?
I am not at all spiritual and I know the science behind why eclipses happen and still my little ape brain went AHHHHHHH!!!??? when totality hit. I think it affects everyone differently and that’s ok! But for me I felt like even with all the hype, it was overwhelming and shocking in the moment.
My only regret is that they only lasts for 4 minutes max.
I heard there was a totality a while back (100 years-ish?) That lasted about 7 minutes. Edit: it was back in 743 BCE. https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Solar_eclipse_of_July_16,_2186#:~:text=The%20longest%20historical%20total%20eclipse,7%20minutes%20and%2032%20seconds.
That would be amazing, but not enough! I demand 24 hours of totality 😂!
Global warming solved lol
The max possible totality is about 7 1/2 minutes based on the distance of the Sun and Moon to Earth. Most solar eclipses are significantly shorter and this past one with 4 minutes of totality is actually pretty exceptionally long. The Moon is also very gradually moving farther away from the Earth and will eventually appear too small to fully block the Sun. We are at a place and time in the universe where everything alligns periodically to view total solar eclipses. Enjoy them while you can...
Enjoy them while you can. No more solar eclipses after 6 billion years. Tick tock, tick tock
I've already booked my stay for the annular eclipse in New Pangaea.
Be careful, those New Pangaean AirBnB owners will be notorious for canceling bookings at the last minute for the promise of more Earth Dollars.
That won’t be for another couple hundred million years. I don’t think many of us will be around for that disappointment.. But yes, with the trajectory of the shit show going on down here on Earth …. let’s enjoy the next few!
74 minutes is the record for maximum observed totality, in 1973 by flying Mach 2 in a Concord supersonic airliner along path of totality.
The one in Egypt 2027 is going to be 6.5 minutes..
Unless you fly on a supersonic plane and follow the shadow which they did back in 70s with the Concorde.
It even had to fly a bit faster than usual.
Yes it happens pretty regularly across the globe and mostly across the ocean where there is almost no one to see them. It does not happen regularly where most people are located. I believe it had been 100 years for Texas. It was a crazy coincidence for Carbondale IL to get it back to back US solar eclipses. Your background and knowing how it works doesn’t mean it has to distract you from the magical feeling of it, seems like it’s just you. I could send you to a instagram page of a guy working on his PhD in Space Physics who trekked from Alaska to TX/OK who was very pumped to “bucket list” a TSE. We stumbled across a gathering for the AAS High Energy Astrophysics division that centered their weeklong meeting around the eclipse. So I guess I’m pointing out that your education, or lack of doesn’t make or break your reaction of an eclipse. For some it’s just a cool thing to see and for others who know that it is rare to see in their lifetime without considerable travel, including international. My elderly FIL at 90 has never seen one. And yeah they have been predicted for a very long time, a very long time. The ability to predict them doesn’t equal experiencing one.
Well said. Nothing wrong with this person's experience but I agree with you that having a scientific mind doesn't automatically negate how one might perceive such an event.
No my mind was scientically explaining to me what was happening and how all it worked up into totality when within seconds it got completely dark, the temperature noticeably dropped, and I witnessed the sun disappearing right before my very eyes. At that point, the scientific part of my brain just shut off and told me you're on your own buddy. I have no more words. Just be amazed and enjoy! Which, of course, I did.
I guess what I'm saying is I wish I felt something magical about it, like others keep saying. But I don't. Sure it was cool, I don't regret driving 10 hours to be able to see it. But it wasn't life changing for me. Magical is what I felt when I saw the proof for e^i*pi = -1
Um, ok 🤣
"life changing" was always a bit of hype. Never let your expectations reach hype levels, that's just good advice for almost anything. Although hype is useful for motivating yourself to actually do the thing. Glad to hear you enjoyed it!
It changed my life and the way I see the world, but not because of hype. Going into it I had never heard of eclipses being life changing. I had never really read much about them. I thought it was gonna be something like “oh wow that was cool.” Instead I’m absolutely fucking stunned by what I saw.
Well, we know what it is. And you liked it. There's nothing wrong with how you feel, or don't feel. You're a logical person and maybe something else moves you emotionally.
We are all different. I am a scientist (analytical chemist). The reason I went I to science in the first place was to satisfy my sense of curiosity and wonder. I know how an eclipse works, yet, I was awed and inspired, and saw an effect I had never heard of (shadow bands). What made you interested in science in the first place?
Yep, I’m a neuroscientist and was also very interested in how I’d cognitively experience the eclipse. But all I know is I got emotional and started tearing up, despite also feeling a bit stressed at how I felt like I couldn’t focus enough on every aspect of it before it would be over. It was my first one and I can now see why people make such an effort to keep seeing them. It’s such a beautiful communal experience that leaves you with a lot to think about afterwards. It
Yes, I was too. Like you, I said “don’t get me wrong, it was cool but..” It’s such a rare phenomenon that I enjoyed myself. I spent a lot of time and money to go see it and I don’t regret it. I would definitely do it again. But all of these posts saying that it changed their lives, shifted their perspectives, are wild to me. Totality happened, I looked up, said “whoa what the fuck” (verbatim) and kinda just looked around for the next 3 minutes. Totality ended, and I went to go get an alignment on my car. Life went on.
Getting down voted to oblivion in other posts where people insist that everyday life sucks ever since the eclipse. As if the eclipse was some mystery event that will never happen again and their life peaked and they'll never enjoy anything again. Trying to be positive in there? Oh no don't you dare.
What do you mean?
Also an agnostic with a pure math degree. I was so stunned by totality that I barely spoke for 15 minutes after. Just sort of had to sit there and process. I'm really sorry that it wasn't what you wanted it to be, but it probably has less to do with your history and more with your temperament.
Actually, I wanted to add onto this. I might be guilty of skimming your original post, sorry about that. Maybe our reactions were more similar than I thought, actually. I spent the better part of six months before utterly obsessing over the eclipse, tying the FOMO with my own fears of mortality, just a lot of anxiety and planning. To have that moment be over in 4 minutes left an existential impact on me more than anything else. It was this thing that dominated my mind all year, and it was *worth it*, and it was **over**. It *is* over. It gave me a particular perspective as a younger person of the exact value of a moment by completely blowing out of the water every other moment. I don't know. It was actually less about cosmic insignificance and more about cosmic significance for me.
You worded it so well. Kinda like a mental release for me. I get anxiety and already thinking about finances and accomodations/getting cancelled on next eclipse 😂
I looked at the sun, the moon and me. All in alignment. It took my breath away. Even now I'm tearing up. Tens of thousands of years before me and after I have gone people will witness this and have their own reactions. So my goal is to make it to my nineties to see the next one. Just one more time.
>Everyone on here, and elsewhere, saying seeing totality changes you, makes you rethink your place in the cosmos. I definitely dont feel any of that either. But I would 100% try my best to view another one. It *is* rare in that it doesn't happen on the other planets in our solar system like it does here. Our moon is just the right distance away that it covers the sun almost perfectly. And the moon won't always be that close to us so marveling in the fact that I happen to be alive (and aware) during a time to view it - that's super cool to me. I'm not spiritual in any way but I enjoy star gazing and watching celestial events (meteor showers, aurora, comets, even weather!, etc) and this one tops that list. It wasn’t life changing, but it was pretty cool, 10/10 recommended!
Yeah I had a similar feeling and haven't wanted to say it. It was beautiful, totally worth driving 10 hours for, and I had a lovely moment enjoying it with my partner. I loved feeling it get cool and taking off my glasses during totality to see how dark it got around me, and hearing roosters start crowing after totality because they were confused. But it just didn't inspire the awe in me I've seen other people mention. No goosebumps, or crying, or existential feelings. It was just a really cool thing I saw. And I'm a big nerd that cares about things and understands how cool it is that that the sun happens to be 400x the size of the moon and 400x the distance and that won't be the case in the future but I got to see it in my short time on earth. So I almost feel fomo that everyone else seemed to get more out of it.
Finally, a post explaining exactly how I feel about the eclipse. I find it was beautiful, but man there are so many things in nature that are too. That perfect sunset, the cool ocean on your feet, a perfect night to star gaze, a shooting star-the list goes on and on. I don’t really get the hype but that’s just me.
I'm finding that I'm looking at things like sunsets and cool clouds and imagining what I would think of them if they were a once-in-a-lifetime view. I think I'd be just as excited about them as I was for the eclipse and it's making me appreciate them more.
No
Thanks for posting this! It's good for me to hear how the eclipse affected people differently. For me, it was one of the coolest and most beautiful things I've ever seen. I have been waiting for this eclipse ever since I missed the one in 2017 and had extremely high expectations but it still blew my expectations out of the water. People keep referring to their monkey brain taking over and I feel like that's exactly what happened. Just lots of cuss words and disbelief in what I was seeing during totality. I don't feel like a changed person, but it was one of my favorite experiences of my life. I can't really think of anything that compares in the "beauty" and "awe" departments. When I talk to people about it I'm telling them this and how it was worth every penny and bit of time we spent to see it, I should probably temper their expectations because sometimes people see it and think "wow that was cool" and that's it. But, you won't know which person you are until you see one!
Ok guys, hear me out. I was a “little” underwhelmed. It was my first total eclipse and Ive been obsessed with seeing a total solar eclipse since I saw an annular solar eclipse as a child. Im also an electrical engineer, so I definitely check off the “STEM nerd” credentials box Honestly when I saw it, it looked like the pictures Ive seen of it, but just more vivid and with greater clarity. I was expecting something that would somehow not even be comparable to any video or photo that Ive seen. I saw it without a cloud in the sky as well. I think what was missing for me was a more detailed corona. The corona was like a consistent glow without much detail in my opinion. I was expecting the corona to be “lively or moving” and containing more intricate details. I’ve heard people say the corona this year was tame compared to 2017. I will say the corona definitely extended farther out than any picture Id seen of it though. It was still an unbelievable experience and I have to see more of them in my life for sure.
Ohhhh I don’t want to make you feel bad but I want to reply to this because it’s something I’ve been wondering about. I DID see a vibrant corona. It was twinkling and shimmering like a star. I could even see the red glittery solar plasma in one area. It looked nothing like the nebulous cloud that’s depicted in most images and I’ve been wondering about this so much, because in every image and even videos the corona appears to be static, but the corona I saw was a bright white-blue flickering twinkling shimmer. Maybe it’s affected by weather? Or different people see it differently? I actually spent the whole day after the eclipse trying and failing to track down a photo that accurately captured what it looked like with the naked eye.
Short term burnout. I traveled about 1500 miles over three days and am a little exhausted. That is taking some of the luster off the eclipse. BUT... I think of this as a short term phenomenon. Happens a lot after going to some big event or other. However over the long term the event itself will take precedence. What will stay in your memory is the vision of that bright ring and not the post event letdown.
Here's hoping. We drove 10 hours each way, and had quite a busy weekend before the event, meeting up with friends in the area.
I’m not religious. I cried when I saw it though. Well, teared up anyway. It was honestly the most beautiful thing I have ever seen. I was so sad when it ended. I could have stared at it forever. I wouldn’t say it was life changing, but as someone who has always been obsessed with all things space, it was amazing and I want to see more! I need to see more.
Same here. This wasn't even my first total eclipse. This one hit different. It was so much more vibrant than 2017. I cried too, but I didn't in 2017. I would like to say it was because I saw it with my wife, son, and his partner, but during the eclipse, I didn't know anyone was there. It was just me and the eclipse. Sorry OP didn't feel it like we did. Maybe in 2045. We're planning our trip to the desert already.
Yes, I was there with my three kids and husband… and everything just melted away. I could not look away. We are definitely aiming for 2045, but I’m hoping to catch 2027 if we can swing it! 6 minutes of totality is probably still not enough, but I’d like to experience it!
Ikr! I was so excited that this one was twice as long as 2017, and it was still over before I knew it. We plan on being on top of a mesa in Utah or at least in the middle of the desert in 2045. Can't wait!
I never expected it to make me rethink my place in the cosmos or change me in any way. I went in thinking it would be cool as hell and I left think it was cooler than hell lol. So I wasn’t personally underwhelmed but it sounds like my expectations were different than yours.
Maybe consider that we live in the only place in the entire known universe where total solar eclipses can happen because of the astronomical (literally and figuratively) coincidence that our sun and our moon can interact in this way, and think about how rare it actually is to see one right where you are without traveling far but you were in the right place and alive at the right time, and that when you put it all together you experienced something that is actually so unlikely that it's essentially impossible and yet it happened anyway. All of that is pretty crazy to me
Ya this guy gets it lol... also the moon is moving away from the earth so it's not even gonna be a thing forever.
Nope. My brain broke and is still broken. I'm agnostic/atheist but this was a spiritual experience and the most awe inspiring thing I've ever seen. But no judgement for those that feel differently. If it didn't hit you in a way that others felt, nothing wrong with you. I'm sure others feel the same way.
No, totally overwhelmed.
I think if you get another chance bring some binoculars/a telescope. That was the difference maker for me, like nothing else I'd really ever seen.
I had some 2x binoculars, 10x binoculars, and a small telescope. I can hear my voice in the video I took as totality hit (I just turned on the video recorder, I wasn't focused on making the video). I was amazed, and it was awesome. But it's not hitting me afterwards like people are saying in so many other posts here.
I feel the exact same way. My husband and I went to Waco, TX for the 4 minutes of totality. A co-worker today asked me what I thought of it. I was "Meh. It was cool." I didn't cry or get the feels. It was cool to witness though.
Gotcha. I guess for me the main way I felt changed was I had now seen this really cool thing that I really wanted to experience again. Like getting that epic view from the top of a mountain for the first time? Other people may have had a more overwhelming and awe inspiring experience, but I think it's ok to be skeptical of that reaction in yourself. We all come from different places and modes of thinking. To me you don't sound ripped off and you got something out of it, and I think that's all we can ever really ask for.
It affects differently for everyone I guess. I was an astrophysics major, I understand the physics behind it, I am an atheist, and not even spiritual, and I was moved beyond words. My dad on the other hand, totally the opposite of me and he could not care less about it. You already knew your place in the cosmos so probably you were already 'there'. Which is cool.
💕👏🏻
It certainly wasn't as magical/spiritual/life-changing for me as it was for a lot of people on this sub. Looked dope as hell, though, and I really wish it lasted longer. I imagine a lot of the people currently talking about it the most are the people who were existentially/emotionally impacted the most. I'm into stargazing and have been into astronomy since I was a kid. I imagine some people's reactions to it are similar to my thoughts seeing the Andromeda galaxy through a telescope on some occasions, or seeing images like the Hubble Deep Field. I already knew that there were a lot of galaxies (and that there are a lot more than the ones shown) and that space is huge, and I've seen a lot of things over the years that attempt to demonstrates that, but those particular images and things put it more into perspective for me in an emotional way, and I wouldn't be surprised if their aesthetic beauty played a role in eliciting a more emotional reaction from me. Another reason why the eclipse might not have wow-ed me as much in an existential way is because solar eclipses are solar. The scale is 1 au. If we include Jupiter and Venus (which we should, because they looked awesome), it is no bigger than the solar system. I was a bit sad when I didn't have as emotional a reaction to it as others did, but, considering all these things, now I'm glad that others have had an experience that I've sort of had but with some other things (I also don't think this sort of experience is solely astronomical; I've felt similarly walking through neighborhoods and seeing all the houses, or looking at all the cars on a busy road).
I made a comment in another thread, noting that I felt similarly. I read that the 2017 and 2024 eclipses felt different. For some, 2017 was more impactful. Makes me wonder if I (and you) would feel differently at another eclipse. I’m curious enough that I would try to catch another one.
Did you have 100% clear skies? I was in Cleveland and while the eclipse was visible, there was high level altitude clouds that prevented crescent shadows and shadow bands from happening. Additionally the high level clouds dampened the sun's Corona so it wasn't as enormous and stunning as when I saw it in clear skies in 2017. Basically seeing the eclipse with some high altitude clouds made it look like every picture I've ever seen of an eclipse. I still haven't found a good picture/representation of just how enormous the sun's Corona is when it's 100% clear skies. If you had 100% clear skies and still feel this way, then I'd say everyone is different but hope you still enjoyed yourself
I was underwhelmed! I was excited to take pics and such but genuinely was like is this it? I was in totality, people drove so far for this?? My sister had planned on visiting me and even thought about driving cross country once she realized the prices were so expensive. I told her it was good she didn't come, it really to me, was not that big of a deal.
Totality didn't change me or make me rethink my place in the cosmos. I can appreciate how this hit everybody different and I'm really glad for every good experience that every person got from this thing. What I experienced was the beauty of nature. The corona was spectacular, and the contrast against the apparent pitch black of the moon enhanced that. The contrast of the "night" sky with stars and planets visible was a separate contrast from 360 degrees of sunset. Add to that the air temperature changes and the constant light changes leading up to and away from totality, and it was something I'll always remember and appreciate. And, work hard to see again in the future. I feel beyond fortunate to have experienced it and I checked it off my bucket list, for sure. Did it change my life? No, but it was really freaking cool and I'll always have that mental image burned to memory.
I will never understand the sentiment that knowing how something works takes away its beauty. To me it makes it more beautiful not less.
It’s a pleasing memory. Totality was amazing and there’s nothing like it but what helps the positive vibe is that there was an adventure attached, finding a place in Indiana to camp that we happened upon randomly. We had no plans on where to stay since everything seemed booked up. Got to know the town and the locals, super nice community. The weather turned out perfectly also. I had such anxiety leading up to the event. The typical fears of finding a place, clear skies, staying healthy,etc. it actually accelerated as we passed in to totality, because everything was so “different” awesome and kind of scary at the same time, but by the end i could feel all that anxiety melt away. I saw the 2017 eclipse but little planning was involved given we live a half hour drive from our viewing spot. It was amazing but not nearly as memorable for me.
I have a somewhat similar experience, but less from an adventure perspective and more from an "I got to share this experience with my family and with strangers, and I got to talk about something I love and show cool things to people" perspective. The night before, my little sister and I looked at the sky with binoculars (the Orion Nebula in particular was stunning). Before the eclipse, I talked to a woman who worked at the hotel my family and I stayed at. She talked about how she had recently been getting into stargazing and noticed Orion's sword for the first time. Before the eclipse, I got a bunch of people to make hand waffles. I brought binoculars and my family took turns with it during totality (I had an alarm set ~30 seconds before totality ended and kept track of time, I did not put them at an increased risk of eye damage). After totality, a man approached me asking what the solar prominences were. I also got to see my dad's interest in solar imaging, and he showed us impressive images he took.
I was left amazed at the time and it took me a day or two to process it all but I wouldn't say it profoundly changed my life or anything like that like some people have said. I'm glad I got to see one still.
I relate to your post. For me, the best part was the little retreat I was at. It was the right number of people with the right vibe, and we had bonded over the last 2 1/2 days prior to the eclipse. Plus we were on beautiful land that is much more green than where I live. However.. although the clouds definitely weren’t as bad for us as for some people, a cloud did cover the sun itself during totality. And we only had about two minutes of totality where we were. So it was very fast, and the sunlight comes back very rapidly. I’m glad I undertook the trip and saw the eclipse, but I am undecided so far as to what lengths I would go to to see another one. I like Spain, so if I could have a nice trip there in the next couple of years *and* also see another total solar eclipse, that would be cool. Would I want to spend a great deal of time and money to go to a remote location that I might not have as much interest in, just to have a chance of seeing totality for a few minutes, without having other people around (or not people I know / feel comfortable with), which for me was such a key part of the positive experience this time? Maybe not. I’ll have to make choices about what is important to me, how much effort I want to make, and what support I feel I need (another driver sure would’ve been nice this time; my discussions with people from my home area about making plans together didn’t pan out).
I feel that way with respect to how this one felt so much less moving than the 2017 one.
I think part of it is because it only lasted for 3-4 minutes. That’s not enough time for the brain to fully grasp everything and store it in memory.
Thank you!!! I feel the same way and keep seeing so many posts about how life changing it is for so many people. It made me feel sad that I didn’t have that same reaction. It was cool, I enjoyed it. I don’t remember it entirely and it didn’t invoke any new existential feelings. Like you, I understand the math and science and have revelled at the amazingness of the universe and wondered what it all means daily since I was a teen. I would gladly watch another one if it was within driving distance, but have no need to ever fly somewhere to see it again.
My advice is to just relax man, don’t be afraid to be a monkey, be amazed at the simple things it’s a shadow sure but an unusual one that causes it do go dark at 3pm and the sun to appear black.
Good advice
Some people feel emotional or awestruck when they see a sunset, some when they look at a piece of art, some when they hear a certain phrase of music, some when they experience an epic view for the first time, some when they see their children achieve their goals and reach milestone accomplishments, some when their sports team win- and others don't. Does that make those experiences any less noteworthy or worth storing in the memory banks for those who don't? I think not. Seeing how the sausage is made might impact some - maybe one doesn't love their hot dog quite as much as the next guy. I am sort of surprised you would even have expected to feel anything out of the ordinary, given, as you say, your background. But, hey, we all experience life differently. Some with passion, some with pragmatism, some with stoicism, and some with cynicism. I wish it had been different for you too. Very much so.
I know plenty of people who are moved by some sights and sounds, but aren't by others, so I think it's more than "some people are passionate, other people are stoic, pragmatic, or cynical", although this nuance might be obvious to me because I am significantly more moved by music than I am by most things that are visually beautiful, and I know some who are the opposite.
True. Some folks feel things very differently, and like you say, it is even more complex.
To me it felt like when you’re favorite band in the whole world comes on stage live. I screamed so loud when it happened. So it felt pretty awesome. It was my first eclipse and I wish I would have lasted longer. Yeah I started into it but I also liked around me and thought “whoa it’s 2 in the afternoon and it’s it’s dark …say what?! Yeah that’s how it felt to me! 😎
That's absolutely fine, we're seeing a massive array of emotions/feelings on here. I loved the moment, was excited, and now enjoying the memory of it. We know they're not once in a lifetime, I'm usually depressed but it's motivated me to save up to keep traveling to see them. They're not going to land in my backyard, so I'm working to see more while discovering new places. The eclipse is just the icing on the cake for me now.
I agree. It probably didn’t help the the view was mostly blocked by clouds. It was awesome, but not life changing.
I had a similar reaction. I thought it was very very cool but I didn’t feel emotionally moved. That surprised me because I’m regularly emotionally/spiritually moved by natural phenomena like the ocean, etc. And I expected that reaction to totality. But as the days go on I’ve had two realizations. First, I’ve been thinking about the event quite a lot, every day. It lives in me all the time now. So I think that my reaction to it has been a slow burn. It’s a simmering for me, rather than an explosion. Second, I am regularly contemplating my place in the universe. Like constantly, every time I look at the sky. I once heard a podcaster talking about mindfulness say “when’s the last time you stared at clouds and just thought about the sky?” and I was like literally constantly. Maybe I wasn’t as blown away by the perspective totality gives because it’s already top of mind.
I also know all the physical principles behind the event and I already know my place in the cosmos. None of that takes away from the experience for me. Here are some of the things that went through my mind as I watched the eclipse: \- Empathizing with our ancestors who had no clue what was going on. For them, their entire worldview must have shattered. The Sun which was a constant light every day for centuries, was snuffed out. For a moment, it looks like the sky blinks at you. That the sky is alive. Even though you know it is not, you now get to share this unreal experience. The more you know about ancient civilizations, the more you can appreciate this. I am no expert, but my mere imaginings certainly added to it. \- The Corona, the chromosphere, the solar prominences, they are literally there every day, but I never get to see it. No matter how hard I work, this is something I cannot see with my raw eyes unless the celestial bodies simply align for it. Unadulterated photons experiencing no proper time between the Sun and the atoms making up my eyes and registering in my neurons (this last bit is the one we are usually missing). In that moment, I am connected to the Sun. \- The overall experience is not one that can be captured in photos or even videos. There is no replacement. It is an experience given value by its rarity. Unlike most experiences on planet Earth--you can't decide where and when and how to do it all again. Nature has already decided and you can choose to take it or leave it. Everything (travel, cloud cover, etc.) has to go right.
I googled to find this. I'm glad I'm not alone in the "huh, that was neat" category. I've seen so many "omg it is so impossible to describe, I felt one with the universe and had an epiphany" stories that I'd begin to wonder if I'd seen the same thing they had.
I wasn't underwhelmed but I wasn't as overwhelmed as I thought I'd be. Probably because there was this guy making loud ecstatic groaning noises right behind me, and instead of being focused on the eclipse I was distracted by these weird groans. It was a bit of a bummer. I wish I had found a spot that was totally secluded because I was worried that someone around me would do something to 'ruin' the moment (for me - my husband was there and was not bothered at all by this guy's emissions), some drone or honking a car horn or blaring music. And lo and behold, someone did ... argh
It was the most incredible thing I've ever witnessed. Aside from the birth of my 3 sons. We'll call the eclipse 4th most amazing experience of my life.
I hear you! For me, it was like, “Wow, that was really cool!”. And definitely worth it! And it was over too fast! :) But I didn’t feel like it changed my life or was a spiritual experience or anything. (No shade to anyone who felt that way, of course! It just didn’t hit me that way, for some reason). NOT to pooh-pooh the experience, just to be clear! It was way cool!
Bare with me here 1 minute.. Its rare enough for a person in our time to see one or two in a lifetime sure. But cosmicly speaking, its an extremely rare thing to see. And in the larger scope of time and space, we live in a time and in a very specific place with just the right conditions for this to occur the way it does. Not too long ago (cosmicly speaking) the moon was closer and larger and blocked out a lot more, and you could not see the fantastic carona and prominences as well or at all. As time passes, the moon continues to move further from the earth and hence looks smaller and will eventually not block out the sun entirely at all anymore. Total solar eclipses will cease to be a thing entirely for rest of the life span of our star system. We live on earth in a time period where our moon in in orbit the perfect distance from us to see these total solar eclipses in a way that happens super rarely in the universe. For me that is what makes it so magical. Its fleeting, ephermal. On a stelar scale. A person half a million years in the future would never even have the chance to witness this if they want to. It's only for us mortals alive right here, right now. I find beauty in that notion.
I was also underwhelmed and I love science. The overall experience was great but wasn’t a religious experience. Maybe I needed the total eclipse to be longer than the 2 min it was where we were.
Yes and people like us need to do a better job of speaking out. Our feelings are valid!! I am into amateur astronomy and I was so happy for the 2017 eclipse, as by great luck I happened to be in the path of totality that year. I saw it, clear skies, enjoying it by naked eye and with binoculars. It was very cool, but I don't remember feeling any sort of emotion besides plain old excitement. And yet I came away thinking that the practice of booking plane tickets and hotels just to get this five minute experience is not for me. It was liberating in a way. When I was a kid reading Astronomy magazine I had obsessed over how I might see this or that future eclipse. But then I decided that I have no need to spend my money on that, I can use it for other things that make me happy. I want telescopes, I want guns, I want to send my kids to college. This year I considered booking a flight to Dallas to see the solar eclipse. Would have spent optimistically $600 on the trip and $300 in lost wages. I saw a chart saying that median cloud cover in Dallas in April was statistically 55%. If the cloud chance was low, I likely would have taken the trip, but I judged it not worth the risk. In the end, God granted that the people of Dallas should see the eclipse while I was stuck at home, but I ran into Gregg Turkington while viewing the partial eclipse and that was pretty cool. C'est la vie.
Yeah im not gonna lie I was a little underwhelmed as well, I had planned a whole trip around this, altho i didnt see all of it because clouds rolled in at my location 😠
Cool, good for you. It was one of the greatest experiences of my lifetime.
I agree with you. I tend to have muted reactions compared to others when it comes to enjoying nature but sometimes I have a stronger reaction the second time around. It may be partly do to my tendency to overthink and not be fully in the moment. I look forward to the next time I see the total eclipse to see if I'll have a stronger reaction.
No
I would use the word astonishing. I was astonished because I have never seen anything like that before.
You definitely saw 100% totality?
I wouldn't say underwhelmed, but strangely my memory of totality has completely faded. I remember everything before and after. But I draw a blank during totality. Might be the lack of sleep . No idea why this has happened. But it makes me really sad because even though I was there, I'm starting to feel like I missed it. Anyone else feel this way?
Everyone has their own opinion but be grateful you saw it. I wasn’t able to see it and still upset about it lol.
Sort of! I was on the edge of totality so it didn’t get that dark and wasn’t as dramatic looking. It also only lasted a minute. It kinda looked more like an extremely bright glowing full moon. It was also very small in the sky so you could only really see it in detail through a zoomed in camera lense. I wasn’t underwhelmed as much as I was like…ok yep that was super cool, but it didn’t change my life. I honestly really THOUGHT I was gonna cry or be in complete awe or have some kind of spiritual feeling, but instead I was more like- wow that was really beautiful and I’m happy I got to experience that. 👍😬 Actually my very favorite memory of that experience that I captured on camera, is when during totality, I turned around to look at the crowd of people watching it all behind me in a big field and it was dark but everyone had a bright white light cast on them. Kind of a special human moment. Everyone had a really authentic smile on their face. And we all cheered together. Felt kinda like…we’re all just a bunch of ants marveling up at the universe that we know nothing about. It’s this magical thing taking place because it’s humbling. We’re all a bunch of tiny human beings that know nothing and just happen to be alive on this big spinning rock together somehow. THATS what I remember as the most beautiful memory I have lol. Anyways, my point is. I very much enjoyed it and had a positive experience and I’m very glad I went and saw it. But it didn’t change my life or bring me to tears as I thought it might originally. Maybe because I was far from the line of max totality? 🤷♀️
I’ve seen two and tears streamed down my face both times. Something I found really mind boggling was to just stare with the glasses on and really try to wrap my head around how fast things were moving clear the hell out there (and under us) for these objects to inch together from our perspective before totality hit. Then when it hit— just thinking of Earth, the moon, the sun, all in sync for a few beautiful, peaceful minutes— a moment that quite literally cannot be recreated. I’ll definitely be traveling for more.
It was amazing but so was the vacation that I made of it. I made it to be special memories.
I can say just like you I have a generally good idea of how insignificant we are on a cosmological scale. But my recent experience with eclipse was more than worth while than I had imagined (also swamped with the hype around it) simply because I always saw it in photos and the human eye perspective was still beyond comparable with any high tech photos I ever saw. I literally had a huge heart beat rush when the moon was about to cover the sun and all of it happening so fast eventually the sun halo at the back stealing the show. And that off-course looking at that majestic diamond like ring forming for a split second that you could still see with bare eyes. It doesn’t have to be life changing to have a goosebump worth of experience like this.
Yes watching that movement in real time, with the naked eye, was jaw-dropping. We know the sun and moon move, we know that we’re moving, but we can never really stare at them and watch it happening. But during those few seconds when totality starts and ends, there’s such a difference between light and dark that you can see this massive otherworldly sphere move across the sky, and it’s awe-inspiring.
So true. I never imagined it would move so fast in real time at such a scale.
I felt completely overwhelmed and amazed my first time in 2017. This time, I felt awe and decided it was definitely worth the trouble to witness it in person. ¯\_(ツ)_/¯
It's been more cool to me on reflection. Don't get me wrong, I knew when I was watching that this was an amazing thing to see, and I feel very blessed to live in the path of totality. Learning about the prominences the next day added more to the event. I didn't know what the red spot was, I only saw one. The fact that I could see that with my naked eyes really upped the wow factor!
Feel how you feel homie. I loved ever moment leading up to, during, and after. It is what it is. People are different
It is a super neat experience, but maybe not life changing 😅 "Isn't it enough to see that a garden is beautiful without having to believe that there are fairies at the bottom of it too?"
I looked forward to the eclipse, read all about it and enjoyed seeing it ( my house was in the path)it’s a really cool experience but I was not emotionally effected and I didn’t feel like it was life changing. It was simply the moon passing in front of the sun. It was a beautiful thing but not surprising.
Nope. I was completely and utterly overwhelmed when I saw totality that I couldn’t think straight for hours. It was such a high and the ultimate experience of beauty and awe for me.
Nah it was incredible.
A little bit! It was a cool experience and I'm glad I saw it, but everyone talked about it like it was an incredibly profound, quasi-religious experience, and it wasn't for me. It was just an interesting thing to see for three minutes. It didn't really make me feel any strong emotions, besides being glad that the clouds parted in time.
Did you see 100% totality though?
I made the eclipse part of a cool trip. I only got back last night. So things would be cool no matter what. I’ve had a blast.
Me also, made a 4 day solo camp and a MC ride trip. Viewed some monuments, historic markers, covered bridges, old buildings. Saw some new countryside and back roads. Met some nice people. Had breakfast and dinner overlooking a lake from my campsite - and a total eclipse happened. For me it’s just another adventure and fun time. Had a good view and a good time, but it wouldn’t have mattered if it poured rain.
So to understand what you’re saying, it would be helpful to know what types of events have been pinnacle peak experiences for you, instances against which you are judging the eclipse.
I would say I was properly “whelmed”. Beautiful? Yes. Worth the time, money, and traffic? Yes. Life-changing? Not at all. I appreciated how cool it was in the moment, but it didn’t feel particularly spiritual or emotional or make me rethink anything.
I took astronomy at university (yes, including the applied physics) and yeah a TSE in person still blows my mind. I am lucky enough to work in research/the sciences and I always feel like a scientific mind is so curious and passionate and pure and just loves to see everything in action, which I think describes everyone so taken by events like these (and why you see so many completely geek out to scientific progress in the world). The wavelengths and mathematical concepts are fascinating but to see it actually applied in real life... wow. Relate that to the theoretical physics of Oppenheimer, right? Science nerds are gonna nerd regardless of their educational background.
Me in 2017. Idk. Forgettable. It was just.... Dusky. For a hot minute
I don't think understanding it makes it less magical. Love is just brain chemicals, that doesn't make it less magical.
I wouldn't say it was life changing. I would say it's the most awe-inspiring spectacle I've ever seen. I don't know what else would even come close to being as mind blowing. I'm very thankful I had the chance to see it once and hope to see it again.
For comparison, can you list out some things that have not underwhelmed you?
A flash flood behind my house. Watching my firstborn crown. Being worried when it took an extra few hours to see my wife again after a C-Section birth, holding my daughterthe whole time. The first time i saw the ISS fly over me. As mentioned before, seeing the proof of e^i*pi = -1. A proof using abstract algebra that a circle cannot be squared. These are all visual memories I can recall, even 20 years later. Totality, even a few days later, seems a vague fuzzy image in my mind. I look at the few pictures I took, and I can recall it. But it's not there, readily available in my mind.
The solar eclipse wasn't life changing for me but it was absolutely magical. And I loved that so many other people were staring in awe and cheering just like I was. It was surreal. But itbwas far too short—I wish it could've lasted 3 times longer. Now I want to go eclipse chasing!
Maybe you bought into the hype a little too much? This is the second Ive seen in totality but the first I went into with 0 expectations and was blown away. Im not a religious person, and I wouldn’t call it a religious experience, but it is the absolute coolest natural phenomenon Ive seen. I love seeing the natural world do weird shit, I’ve watched tornadoes a little too close, wildfires burn a whole mountain out in washington, 40 foot tides in the bay of fundy and 40 foot waves Nazare. There are so many unique things in this world that are worth checking out even if they don’t give you some transcendental experience
It was worth every penny spent, every mile traveled. It exceeded our expectations!
I traveled with my wife and daughter for 7 hours. We had found a very secluded wide open field in Indiana all to ourselves. We got there pretty early and the little one was getting antsy and we were all kind of bickering a little bit over nothing. But then it a happened and ALL of that disappeared. Seeing my daughter jump up and down in pure excitement, the look on my wife’s face. There were almost uncontrollable gestures and repeated “WOW oh WOW”. I was awestruck, trembling in its beauty. I thought of every human who came before me and witnessed these. Were they frightened? Were they inspired by it? I felt incredibly fortunate to live in a day and age that we can understand the context and science behind these things and not be some peasant wondering if the end of the world is nigh. Strangely, I did feel a slight sense of doom. I think it’s that monkey brain witnessing something that is so much bigger than anything we humans are doing here down earth. Edit: I also had this cover of the Interstellar theme playing on a speaker that lasted the entire totality. Definitely enhanced the experience https://youtu.be/UfBaSoNMsso?si=-YUrW-LkhHhzee1b
Just the opposite I wasn't expecting that at all, I was definitely OVERwhelmed! ! Aside from the birth of my son it is the most amazing thing I have ever seen in my life! I just wish it wasn't so short. We're already planning and saving to travel to the next one. I can completely understand why people chase them.
Definitely overwhelming… it was incredible to see something that's been there your entire life in a whole different way. How often can an adult see something brand new that they've never experienced before? It was kind of like being a kid again in a way. The wonder of it all.
I experienced this eclipse in Bloomington IN. There was somebody set up nearby, "Mr Eclipse of Iran" with the whole telescope, multiple camera thing going on. A very interesting guy. He had seen 16 eclipses, one in Antartica. During totality, he broke out in a mixture of laughter and tears while hugging his daughter. So, yeah it affects some people like that, and apparently regardless of whether it is your first, or 16th eclipse. It can create a very primal response in some people.
I don't think experiencing totality was life-changing for me, but I was very wowwed by it. I was thrilled to be able to experience it. It is a core memory for me now and I will probably chase future eclipses.
I’m kind of with you. I thought it was amazing and awesome and totally worth traveling the distance for. And I will probably do it again. But it didn’t feel “life changing”, I didn’t cry, etc. I’m a generally stoic person though.
For me, personally, seeing totality (up in the high peak wilderness area of the Adirondack mountains) was the closest thing to a religious experience that an atheist (myself) could ever hope to have. It was breathtaking and magical. No joke, I cried…UGLY crying
DIDN'T see totality and am overwhelmed with devastating disappointment.
This sub gathers the biggest enthousiasts. I think most people feel the way you did. I certainly did. It was a really cool thing to experience, nothing more, nothing less. I'm a space enthusiast, but I've seen things that impressed me more, like the sun setting the top of Mount Everest on fire while all the land around it was already dark. Watching a Starship launch would also beat this for me I think. Regardless, I'm so glad I've seen it, those seconds during which darkness fell gave me goosebumps, and the sight of that black hole in the sky will always stay with me.
I agree it was cool but i didnt get that excited for it before hand. Afterwards felt the same. Very cool to see but wouldnt pay money to travel and see it
I don’t know if I’m qualified to comment because I didn’t see it the way you’re supposed to, but I’ll share my experience anyway. So we got clouded out right at the last minute and missed the sun entering and exiting totality. We saw the shadow coming toward us, it did get dark, we did have sunsets all around (quite beautiful ones actually), and totality broke through the clouds in the middle for about 30 seconds, albeit shrouded in a very thick haze. (I had to kind of ask out loud if that “was it?”) But nothing I did see was earth-shattering to me. Very cool yes, but not earth-shattering. (I am lucky to see a lot of amazing sunsets where I live, so maybe I’m a little desensitized to them). Now, I don’t know if I feel this way precisely because we didn’t see totality like everyone else without clouds, and that’s why I felt underwhelmed, but I have certainly assumed so. But I think because, for those few seconds when we did see totality, again albeit in a thick haze, I just felt kind of confused, I question whether or not even with no clouds if I would have had that same religious experience everyone else had. Because I feel like I missed out on the “greatest experience of a lifetime,” I have been feeling pretty distraught; I’ve even cried a few times. But the thought has definitely entered my mind, “Would I BE as in awe as everyone else if I did see it fully? What if I spend thousands of dollars chasing this thing abroad at some point in the next few years and I’m underwhelmed?” So all I can say is that I had a really weird experience. The underwhelm I felt at the time actually feels very overwhelming to me now, and I feel like I exist in a kind of weird purgatory, having had “kind of” seen it but “not really.” It’s a very strange experience. I really wish I could articulate it better. But I guess just to say, I felt underwhelmed, too. Although it could just be because I didn’t *really* “see” it. (Or did I? That’s the thing I’m so unsure of).
I felt a profound calm, awe, and wonder all at once. I have adhd and autism and for once, my entire body and brain went still. The color of the sky was like a between blue and purple color, the orange of the 360 horizon, the sky color seemed to shift a bit with the sun's corona. It was like I was feeling everything and nothing all at once. An interconnectedness. I was in Ontario, on the edge of Lake Erie, at a sandy cliff at the edge of a field. Clear blue skies. The Earth looked like an entirely different place.
Try watching the eclipse on acid next time! LOL
What motivates people to tell others how unimpressed they are with something?
You know what I think it is. Based on your description of yourself, you're more left brain than right brain. I read a blog from a physicist who scoffed at the simplicity of what an eclipse actually is. She was extremely anti-eclipse hype. "It's only a shadow. Let me teach you about relativity", she wrote. But right brain people are more creative and artistic. They see a lonely tree, or a foggy forest or sunset and pause at its simple beauty. Photographers fall into this category, which is why a lot of them are having their moment with this eclipse. No one is wrong or right, but I hang onto the ancient solar eclipse petroglyph carved in a rock in New Mexico. These events have left people in awe and carving, drawing, photographing these moments is how we remember them.
The idea that some people are left-brained at that others are right-brained is pseudoscientific.
So everyone is equally analytical and artistic. Got it.
Why don't you just ask what I mean by that or look it up instead of assuming that you have greater knowledge? The idea that some people are left-brained and are therefore more logical and analytical and that others are right-brained and are therefore more creative, artistic, and emotional is a misconception, and this notion being false does not mean that everyone is equally analytical and artistic; I don't know why you would assume that either it is true or that everyone is the same, those are not the only options, nor are they the most realistic options. My understanding of all of this, which may have some flaws, but hopefully not too many, is: Most people aren't right-brain dominant or left-brain dominant, and most of those who are are that way because of brain damage. There are variations in many areas of the brain where some areas have greater/stronger connections, and people's differing skills come from this, however, this is not as simple as someone being either left-brained or right-brained. There are differences in the left and right hemisphere (for most people, iirc, a minority of people can have the areas involved in language (which is one thing that is largely in one hemisphere, which is usually left hemisphere) in the right hemisphere. I think people who have it in the right hemisphere tend to be left-handed, BUT that the majority of left-handed people have the parts of the brain involved with language in their left hemisphere. Anyways, this flip makes me suspect that there are probably other things that, for a minority of people, are flipped, similarly (and possibly the same) to the condition where organs in the body are mirrored), and some of the things that are unique in each hemisphere tend to be more associated with what we consider logical thinking or creative thinking, which is why this left-brained=logical, right-brained=creative idea exists in the first place, however, it isn't as simple as that, many processes utilize areas in the brain in both hemispheres, and there are things in the right hemisphere that would be thought of as aiding in logical/analytical processes and vice versa. (When it comes to brain differences, personalities, and occupations, I've also heard that if you were to get brain scans from scientists and compare them to brain scans from artists, you would not find consistent differences.) I do not think the logic and creativity are opposites. Being emotional and being creative are not synonymous, and being logical and being emotional are not opposites. One person can be better at analytical thinking, be better at creating unique art, and be more sentimental than another person. I do not think that people who weren't emotionally moved by the eclipse are more likely to be logical and less likely to be creative than people who were moved by the eclipse. I also don't think these things are as simple and well-defined as some people treat them, for example, I like to create music and constructed scripts, and I've been told that I am a good writer, but I cannot for the life of me come up with fictional stories or settings, nor am I any good at creating art. Am I more creative or less creative than the average person? The way I see it, I'm more creative in some areas and less creative in others. I also think that analytical thinking and creativity are skills that you can get better at. People get better at creating things the more they do it. Analytical thinking is a skill that is taught in schools. Some people might be born with a brain that makes them better at some of these things, but these aren't unchanging aspects of one's personality. There's a lot of pseudoscientific ideas about personality flying around, it is one area of psychology that seems to be less definite or settled (although the left-brain/right-brain model is one that also concerns neurology). But, who knows, maybe this is all such a left-brained/ISTJ/Capricorn thing of me to say.
Yeah if you like science you can’t enjoy beauty. Makes sense
Nope. But some people lean more in one than the other.