It's being called the "astronomical event of the decade." If you live in the middle third or the northeastern quarter of the United States—on a line from Texas to Maine—there's a good chance that a total solar eclipse of the sun will be visible on the afternoon of April 8th, 2024. Depending on the exact location, the darkening and cooling within the moon's shadow or "umbra" only lasts from two to seven and a half minutes, because the umbra moves across the earth's surface at over 1100 miles per hour. Surprisingly, solar eclipses are not that rare. There are at least two, and up to five, somewhere on earth each year. For millennia, solar eclipses were attributed to supernatural causes or regarded as evil omens. Modern astronomers have taken most of the mystery and superstition—but not the strangeness and thrill—out of eclipses. They can now be accurately predicted hundreds of years into the future, but they still have a cosmic appeal that attracts millions of viewers and a worldwide community of "umbraphiles." On this transmission of Hearts of Space, music for a total eclipse of the sun, on a program called TOTALITY. Music is by CHRONOTOPE PROJECT, SUBDREAM, STELLARIUM, LONEWARD, ZENON MARKO, ROBERT RICH, and STEVE ROACH. [ view playlist ] [ view Flickr image gallery ] [ play 30 second MP3 promo ]

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