A YANKEE’S PERFECT TIMINGThe time-traveling main character in Mark Twain’s 1889 novel, “A Connecticut Yankee in King Arthur’s Court,” saves himself from being burned at the stake by predicting a solar

eclipse he knows will occur. As the sky turns dark, he offers to bring back the sun in return for his freedom and a position as “perpetual minister and executive” to the

king. (On the date Twain quoted — June 21, 528 — no such eclipse took place.)

DARKER THAN WE ALL THOUGHTIt turns out that Bonnie Tyler’s “Total Eclipse of the Heart,” which topped the charts in 1983, had, uh, an unusual meaning. The songwriter, Jim Steinman, confessed that he wrote the power ballad to be a vampire love song. “If anyone listens to the lyrics, they’re really like vampire lines. It’s all about the darkness, the power of darkness and love’s place in dark ... .”

THE BARD’S DOOM AND GLOOM In olden times, an eclipse, even

a partial one, was often considered a bad omen. William Shakespeare may have been inspired by the partial solar eclipse of Oct. 12, 1605, to write in “King Lear”: “These late eclipses in the sun and moon portend no good to us … Love cools, friendship falls off, brothers divide. In cities, mutinies; in

countries, discord; in palaces, treason; and the bond cracked ’twixt son and father.”

SIMON SAYS HE’S SO VAIN

Much speculation has surrounded the identity of the subject of Carly Simon’s 1972 song “You’re So Vain.” You know, the self-absorbed man who “flew your Learjet up to Nova Scotia; To see the total eclipse of the sun.” Umbraphiles have identified two eclipses visible in Nova Scotia — one on March 7, 1970, the other July 10, 1972 — as possible inspiration for the lyric. (By

the way, Simon has confirmed that the song refers to three different men, one of whom is actor Warren Beatty.)

AN ECLIPSE WITH STAYING-POWER“Eclipse” is the iconic final song of Pink Floyd’s “The Dark Side of the Moon.” The 1973 album, a perennial fan favorite, eclipses all others in one category: most time on the music charts. It spent 931 consecutive weeks — nearly 18 years — in the Billboard Hot 200.

Low: 126,078High: 504,328

Low: 4,097High: 16,384

Low: 14,400High: 57,600

Low: 3,290High: 13,162

Low: 618High: 2,472

Low: 1,189High: 4,757

Enters state: 9:04 a.m.Totality begins: 10:15 a.m.Totality ends: 10:27 a.m.Exits state: 11:48 a.m.

Nmiles0 30

OREGON

5

5

84

84

99

99

18

126

126

22

19

22

9726

20

26

26

395

101

97

Maupin

Spray

Salem

McMinnville

Dallas

Portland

Depoe Bay

Lincoln City

Jefferson

Newport

EugeneVeneta

Junction City

HarrisburgYachats

FlorenceSpringfield

Vida

CorvallisAlbany

Sisters

Madras

Redmond

Sweet Home

Warm Springs

Fossil

Dayville

Bend

Baker City

Unity

John Day

Shadow at10:18 a.m.

Shadow at10:21 a.m.

Low: 4,902High: 19,610 Low: 11,354

High: 45,419

Low: 7,208High: 28,832

Shadow at10:24 a.m.

Mt. Jefferson

GREAT AMERICAN ECLIPSE

10:10 PDT

10:20 PDT

11:30 MDT

11:40 MDT 11:50

MDT 1:00 CDT

1:10 CDT 1:20

CDT 1:30 CDT 2:40

EDT 2:50 EDT

25%50%

50%

75%

75%

90%

90%

100%

The path of totality — where the moon completely blocks the sun — will begin near Lincoln City as the lunar shadow makes its way into America. This path will be 60-70 miles wide; the closer to the center point of the path, the longer the duration. Totality will cross from Oregon into Idaho, Wyoming, Nebraska, Kansas, Missouri, Illinois, Kentucky, Tennessee, Georgia, North Carolina and South Carolina, as well as tiny pieces of Montana and Iowa. The whole show takes less than two hours to cross the country.

PLAY BALL!The minor league Salem-Keizer Volcanoes will celebrate the eclipse with the first ever “eclipse delay” in baseball history. The game will pause as totality approaches to allow fans and players to witness the eclipse.

A PRIME SPOTSalem gets 1 minute and 54 seconds of totality

Sources: NASA, Rick Fienberg/TravelQuest International, Wilderness Travel (eclipse sequence), Karl Tate, SPACE.com, American Astronomical Society, Randall Milstein, eclipse2017.org, Vox, The Washington Post, Total Solar Eclipse 2012 Education Resource, GreatAmericanEclipse.com, National Centers for Environmental Information

Make sure your eclipse glasses are certified to meet the ISO 12312-2 international standard for safe direct viewing of the sun.

Once the diamond ring disappears and the moon covers the entire disc of the sun, you may safely look at the sun without a solar filter (only if you’re in the path of totality). Depending

on your location, totality ranges from

mere seconds to about two minutes.

Glasses offGlasses onThe eclipse begins when the sun’s

disc is partially blocked by the moon. This partial eclipse phase can last more than an hour. As

totality approaches, only the low-lying valleys on the moon’s edge allow sunlight through, forming

bright spots of light called Baily’s beads. The last of the sunlight streaming through the moon’s

valley creates a single bright flash of light on the side of the moon,

known as the diamond-ring effect.

Glasses back onA crescent will begin to grow

on the opposite side of the sun where the Baily’s beads shone at

the beginning. This crescent is your signal to stop looking directly at the eclipse and put your safety

glasses back on.

Don’t be blinded by the lightNever look at the sun without appropriate protection.

Eclipse sequence

Baily’s beads/diamond ring just before totality

HOW BRIGHT?A solar eclipse during totality is about as bright as the full moon.

DO NOT USE THESE TO VIEW THE ECLIPSE u Dark sunglasses u Smoked glass u Potato-chip bags u DVDs

u Helium balloons u Reflections in water u Exposed film u Polarizing filters

Area of eclipse totality

ACROSS AMERICA u Nashville is the

largest city to have 100 percent totality.

u Totality will last longest just south of Carbondale, Ill.: approximately 2 minutes, 40 seconds. Carbondale is also in the path of the 2024 eclipse.

u In Los Angeles, the sun will be obscured only 61% at maximum eclipse. Boston, 63%.

u Bill Nye the Science Guy will be watching from the Homestead National Monument of America in Nebraska, which will experience totality for 2 minutes, 34 seconds.

The solar corona

Totality will touch 14 states in all

CONSIDER PUTTING THE CAMERA AWAYIf you want to take photos or video, be prepared. But also consider not even trying. This once-in-a-lifetime experience is over quickly. You don’t want to miss it fiddling with your camera.

LANDFALLTotality first hits land at Yaquina Head, just north of Newport. “HIGH/LOW” ESTIMATES

The figures listed along the centerline are estimates of how many people could visit key points in the area of totality, based on an analysis by Michael Zeiller of www.GreatAmericanEclipse.com

“VIEWABLE” ESTIMATESThe percentage figure listed for select cities is the chance that clouds will not block the view of the eclipse, based on weather data for Aug. 21 from 2001-2010. “Viewable” means clear skies or “few or scattered” clouds.

CLEAR SKIES?The Cascade Range creates a significant rain shadow across Central and Eastern Oregon, so chances are good that the view will be unobstructed — at least from clouds.

44.0% viewable

21 miles from totality

99.33% obscuration

6 miles from totality

99.87% obscuration

67.4% viewable

60.8% viewable

88.4% viewable

15 miles from totality

99.59% obscuration

12 miles from totality

99.75% obscuration

46.2% viewable

22 miles from totality

99.37% obscuration

u Aug. 19, 11:30 a.m.: Out-of-This-World Concert

u Aug. 20, 11:30 a.m.: Jim Todd of OMSI lecture

u Aug. 21, 9:05 a.m.: Astronomer narration of eclipse from capitol front steps

u For more information, visit events at www.oregoncapitol.com

STATE CAPITOL EVENTSThe capitol will be open from 9 a.m. to 2 p.m. on Saturday and Sunday, Aug. 19 and 20, and 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. on Monday, Aug. 21.

RETURN TRIPBaker City was in totality in 1918.

Eclipses in culture

Text by Rob Romig, graphics by Tom Penix/The Register-Guard

Our moment in the shadowThe first total solar eclipse to traverse the United States in 99 years will make its debut right here in Oregon on Aug. 21

“A total eclipse of the sun is considered a mystical, spiritual experience by many, the greatest spectacle that can be seen on the Earth.”— AMERICAN ECLIPSE USA

A THEORY TRIUMPHSAlbert Einstein’s assertion that the gravity of the sun could bend light — one of the predic-tions of his general theory of relativity — was proved via photographing the position of stars during the May 29, 1919, total eclipse. Newspaper head-lines made him a worldwide celebrity.

UMBRA

PENUMBRA

A solar eclipse occurs when the moon, as it orbits Earth, passes directly in front of the sun, obscuring its rays and casting a shadow on Earth’s surface.

How does it work?

This shadow is composed of two parts: the outer or penumbral shadow and the inner, or umbral, shadow. From within the penumbra, only part of the sun is obscured. In contrast, the dark, central umbra is the shadow of complete or total eclipse.

Diagram not to scale

Be prepared u Fill up vehicle with gasoline

u Have sufficient supply of bottled water, sunscreen, snacks, chargers and toilet paper (and maybe a sleeping bag)

u Have cash available

u Have a backup plan if it’s cloudy

u Locals: Plan on traffic delays to work

The eerie twilightLight is an important cue for animals for their daily activities. Many animals tend to behave as though night were approaching. But some creatures that are normally active at night may show the reverse pattern, emerging into the open as the moon crosses in front of the sun.

u Birds and squirrels nest

u Bats fly about

u Crickets chirp

(Download the iNaturalist app to help donate animal eclipse behavior data.)

POST-ECLIPTICThe U.S. Postal Service issued a total solar eclipse stamp on June 20, 2017. It’s a first-of-its-kind stamp that changes when you touch it. The Total Eclipse of the Sun Forever stamp, which commemorates the Aug. 21 eclipse, transforms into an image of the moon from the heat of a finger.

PEAK PREVIEWViewers in Madras will be able to watch the moon’s shadow race across Mount Jefferson to the west as it’s enveloped in totality 17 seconds before it reaches Madras.

SHADOW DANCIN’The total eclipse shadow will move across the country in 1 hour and 33 minutes. Due to the geometry of the Earth and moon, the shadow won’t be traveling at a constant rate. When totality hits Oregon, it will be moving at 2,955 mph. It will slow down to 1,462 mph as it passes over Kentucky, then will speed up to 1,502 mph by Charleston, S.C.

NEXT UPThere’s a total solar eclipse roughly once every 18 months. The next one will be on July 2, 2019, stretching over a wide swath of the southern Pacific Ocean before passing over Chile and Argentina.

89.1% viewable

Why a partial eclipse — as it will be in Eugene-Springfield — just doesn’t cut it.

It’s totally worth it

CHILL OUTThe air temperature during totality drops by an average of about 12 degrees.

What’s it all meanTotal solar eclipse: A solar eclipse seen from within the moon’s umbra. The moon appears to completely block the sun’s photosphere.Diamond ring: Right before totality, the last glimpse of light from the sun will form a dazzling diamond-ring effect.

Baily’s beads: Bits of light poking through canyons and craters on the rough surface of the moon. Named after astronomer Francis Baily.Corona: The upper atmosphere of the sun. It appears as a halo around the sun during a total solar eclipse.

Obscuration (of a solar eclipse): The fraction of the sun’s area covered by the moon.Partial solar eclipse: In the totality zone, it’s the eclipse period that comes before and after totality. Elsewhere, such as in Eugene, the entire event is a partial eclipse.

Jay Pasachoff, astronomer, in “Totality: Eclipses of the Sun”: “Seeing a partial eclipse and saying that you have seen an eclipse is like standing outside an opera house and saying that you have seen the opera.” Fred Espenak (Mr. Eclipse), as quoted by Vox: “The difference between a 99 percent eclipse and a 100 percent total eclipse is enormous. I like to use the analogy (that) it’s like getting five out of six numbers right on the jackpot. If you got five out of six, you were close, but you lost. ... Only 100 percent counts.”Michael Zeiler, Eclipse-chaser: “If you’re at the 90 percent line of the eclipse, you’re seeing 1,000th of the spectacle.”

GreatAmericanEclipse.com: “You cannot completely prepare yourself for the sight of a total solar eclipse.

When totality arrives, you will experience primal emotions

and wonderment at the unspeakable beauty of the corona and the panoply of colors and light as you’ve never seen before. You will involuntarily scream, gasp, or perhaps cry at this astounding vision.”

Rhonda Coleman, as quoted by Vox: “It’s very ... it almost

is like a bit of a dreadful feeling. It’s like, ‘Whoa, wait a minute. What’s happening to my planet?’ ... It’s a topsy-turvy world. It’s not like night. It’s not like day. It’s not like twilight. It’s like nothing you’ve ever felt before.”

SUN EARTH

MOON

99.5%

32 miles from totality

98.1% obscuration

SAY, CAN YOU SEE ...During the total solar eclipse you should be able to view the planets Jupiter, Mercury, Mars and Venus.

Baily’s beads/diamond ring just after totality