As I watched the tiny Moon devour the blazing Sun

The Great American Solar Eclipse of 2024 that swept across a vast swath of North America on April 8 has come and gone. Along the path of totality, this astronomical phenomenon mesmerised about 3.2 crore people. The first city to experience totality was Mazatlán, on Mexico's Pacific Coast, and the last to see were sky-gazers living along the Atlantic Coast of Newfoundland, Canada. In the United States, the path of totality traversed diagonally from Texas in the south to Maine in the north.

Across civilisations, solar eclipses have been a powerful source of myths, legends, and superstitions. This celestial event, where the Moon obscures the Sun, plunging day into darkness, fascinated humanity and inspired awe, fear, and wonder. They interpreted solar eclipses through the lens of their worldview, creating a rich tapestry of stories and beliefs.

In Hindu mythology, eclipses are caused by the demon Rahu swallowing the Sun, while in ancient China, a celestial dragon was thought to lunch on the Sun during an eclipse. According to Korean folklore, solar eclipses occur when mythical dogs try to steal the Sun. To the ancient Greeks, a solar eclipse signalled the beginning of disasters and destruction.

Fear of solar eclipses still exists today. Many people around the world see eclipses as evil omens that bring death, catastrophes and devastation. In many cultures, including Bangladesh, it is believed that solar eclipses can be a danger to pregnant women and their unborn children. Hence, they are advised to stay indoors.

There is no scientific evidence supporting the myths and superstitions associated with solar eclipses. In fact, there are ample demonstrable theories to debunk such claims. Nevertheless, anyone watching a solar eclipse must protect his/her eyes with special goggles.

Because I live in a town far away from the path of the eclipse, I was lackadaisical about the Great American Solar Eclipse until my son convinced me that I should not miss out on viewing this once-in-a-lifetime astronomical spectacle, an infrequent cosmic confluence caused by a delicate dance between the Moon, the Sun, and the Earth. To see the full glory of the total solar eclipse, we chose to go to Houlton in Maine, a small logging town of roughly 6,000 pressed between rolling potato fields and the border with Canada. It is the last town in the US to experience totality.

Accordingly, two days before the eclipse, we drove to New Hampshire, where my son lives. Hotel rooms in Houlton were sold out or listed at astronomical prices. Having no alternative, we decided to be day trippers. On a normal day, the driving time from his apartment to Houlton, which is over 587 kilometres away, is 4.5 hours. However, anticipating heavy traffic on the day of the eclipse, we started very early in the morning so as to reach Houlton ahead of the onset of the eclipse. Indeed, because of gridlock along the long, lonely stretch of the highway, the driving time was eight hours.

About 30,000 visitors came to Houlton to watch the eclipse. On the day of the eclipse, the car park at the town's central square was full to the brim, mostly with out-of-state licence plates. Not sure whether the glaring neon signs of the stores in the square would be turned off during totality, we parked our car in a nearby children's playground, eight kilometres northwest in the village of Littleton.

Bolstered by a fortuitous day of cloudless sky, the Moon slid into perfect alignment with the Sun at the predicted time of 14:37. When the Moon began to pass the Sun, people put on their eclipse glasses with heads tilted upward, watching as more and more of the Sun disappeared behind the Moon. As the Sun became crescent-shaped, light gradually faded, became dimmer and morphed into an eerie, dusky, muted twilight.

Totality may have been fleeting, but the sense of amazement and the euphoria of sharing the experience with my son will be long-lasting. It was indeed a sight to behold, a surreal moment, a moment for reverence that left me dumbfounded with my breath held in awe. I am so happy I listened to my son and accompanied him to Houlton. The magical experience was worth the 16-hour round trip.

With the Moon progressing across the Sun, the crowning glory of the eclipse, the corona―wispy strings of light from the Sun's extremely hot outer atmosphere―suddenly appeared. Our excitement climaxed at 15:25, when the Sun was totally blocked by the Moon and the world around us plunged into complete darkness in the middle of afternoon. The crowd that had gathered in the park grew quiet, except for a few eclipse-watchers who shrieked, "Oh my god, it's so dark now... oh my god!" During the ephemeral darkness, the air became chilly, a few stars appeared, Jupiter and Venus stood out as bright points on the opposite sides of the eclipsed Sun, small flocks of birds darted across the sky and orange light glowed on the distant horizon. Time seemed to have stopped during the four minutes of totality.

Just before totality, sunlight streaming over the craters and valleys of the lunar surface broke up into dazzling jewel-like points known as Baily's beads. After about 30 seconds, some of the beads merged together, creating a glistening effect resembling a diamond ring. The spectacular display of totality was adorned with solar prominences that are flickering reddish dots in locations around the Moon's outline. After a minute, totality ended and the Sun was gradually becoming luminous. Later around 16:15, the Moon and the Sun parted ways, each again tracing their own separate path in the sky.

Clearly, this cosmic event delivered on the hype leading up to it with clockwork precision. More importantly, we could see all phases of the eclipse with naked eyes. The longest phase was the partial eclipse that lasted for about 90 minutes.

Finally, totality may have been fleeting, but the sense of amazement and the euphoria of sharing the experience with my son will be long-lasting. It was indeed a sight to behold, a surreal moment, a moment for reverence that left me dumbfounded with my breath held in awe. I am so happy I listened to my son and accompanied him to Houlton. The magical experience was worth the 16-hour round trip.

Dr Quamrul Haider is professor emeritus at Fordham University in New York, US.

Views expressed in this article are the author's own. 

Follow The Daily Star Opinion on Facebook for the latest opinions, commentaries and analyses by experts and professionals. To contribute your article or letter to The Daily Star Opinion, see our guidelines for submission.