Mark Bennett: Veteran of 15 solar eclipses worldwide advises folks to 'make a day of it'

Mar. 7—It's not an overstatement to say Dan McGlaun will go to the ends of the Earth to experience a total eclipse of the sun.

Few Hoosiers have witnessed more solar eclipses than McGlaun, a 60-year old, Purdue University-educated technical project manager from Belleville. He's witnessed 15 eclipses since his first in 1991, when he traveled to an old airstrip "in the middle of nowhere" — north of Puerto Vallarta, Mexico, to be precise.

But that's hardly McGlaun's most isolated eclipse-watching destination.

Astronomical passion took him to Tatakoto, a tiny French Polynesian atoll in the South Pacific in July 2010. Fewer than 300 people live on the island. Even the French Polynesia tourism director hadn't visited the place, McGlaun said. He stayed three days to see the sun's total eclipse. The locals invited McGlaun into their homes.

Then the "amazing" event unfolded. McGlaun ventured to the far east tip of Tatakoto alone. He checked to see if cruise ships on the water were as extremely positioned, and they weren't. No other South Pacific islands were as ideally placed. So when the shadow passed overhead from the moon moving between Earth and the sun, it was all McGlaun's.

"For two seconds, I was the only person on Earth in the shadow of the moon," McGlaun recalled Tuesday. His voice bubbled with the sense of wonder, even 14 years later.

Once it ended, McGlaun and the Tatakoto residents watched the end of the 2010 World Cup Final on a little black-and-white TV.

Stories flow also from his eclipse ventures through nearly 50 countries to reach his ultimate destinations from China to Kenya, Namibia, Cambodia, Carbondale, Ill., and more.

On April 8, a total eclipse will be visible above 13 states and southern Canada. Not surprisingly, McGlaun's plans are set to experience his 16th eclipse.

"I am traveling all the way to my front yard," he said, laughing. "I've been planning to watch this eclipse at my house for 30 years."

Indeed, this hasn't happened in west-central Indiana for a long time. Terre Haute and nearby communities last fell into a solar eclipse's path of totality on Aug. 7, 1869. This time, Terre Haute will experience totality for 2 minutes and 55.7 seconds, starting 23 seconds after 3:04 p.m. Monday, April 8. It won't happen again here for another 129 years, in 2153.

Thus, McGlaun's advice to fellow Hoosiers is to fully savor this chance.

"Eclipses are so special, you will remember it the rest of your life," he said. "So make it special. Just enjoy it. Make it a day."

He knows 70-year-olds who saw a total eclipse as youngsters and they're still retelling the story. "It's a very rare thing," McGlaun said.

Total solar eclipses happen somewhere on Earth once every year or two, according to NASA. Any single location experiences a total solar eclipse about once a century or so, NASA reports, but that varies. (Readers who've got Carly Simon's "Your So Vain" stuck in their heads now, the Canadian province of Nova Scotia will on April 8 see its first total eclipse of the sun since July 10, 1972. A mere 52 years ago, Baby Boomers.)

Folks around Terre Haute got a slight foretaste of the upcoming total eclipse on Aug. 21, 2017, when a partial eclipse covered 94% of the sun over the city. That big moment got doused a bit, though, when clouds rolled in, obscuring the view from the ground.

Such a twist isn't unlikely with the April 8 total eclipse, McGlaun cautioned.

Based on weather conditions on every April 8 in the 21st century — which McGlaun has dutifully monitored — the chances for overcast skies that day are strong. "I'm hopeful, but I've lived in Indiana for 50 years, and I know what April 8s are like," he said.

Rain and clouds block the view, but don't spoil the entire moment for McGlaun. He journeyed to China for a total eclipse in 2009, and torrential rains prevailed. "That was a drag. It wasn't what I wanted," McGlaun said. But, "we had a party."

Sure, the spectacular corona — the fiery glow of the outermost part of the sun's atmosphere, visible only during a total eclipse — was missing, but other natural phenomena occurred. The temperature drops. As the sky darkens, animals go into nighttime mode and birds roost. The rainy skies over China that day dimmed a lot.

"It got lock-yourself-in-the-closet black," McGlaun recalled.

Thus, he's ready for anything on April 8 in his front yard.

Indiana may seem like one of the riskier states for eclipse watchers to pick as a destination for this coming event. But McGlaun said those astronomy buffs like the Hoosier State's mobility, especially a place like Terre Haute. "It's on the interstate and it's in the path," he said.

Eclipse watchers who base in Terre Haute and nearby Hoosier towns can study the weather forecast up to 10 hours in advance and hit the highway easily to "get out of Dodge," as he put it, and head for sunnier skies.

Anyone wondering what the eclipse will look like in their hometown, even from their front yard, can get a digital preview of that experience on McGlaun's website Eclipse2024.org. That site includes an Eclipse Simulator, which allows visitors to find their exact longitude and latitude and click onto a customized eclipse simulation. Its database contains than 140,000 places on Earth.

The site also allows visitors to order internationally certified protective eclipse glasses, which McGlaun emphasizes brings in only enough to help cover his cost of operating the site, which has a bevy of eclipse-related information. Wherever eclipse watchers get their proper eye protection, they should be motivated to wear those glasses and go both feet in on the moment.

Total solar eclipses are worth the effort, he said.

"They are an experience, an emotional and adrenaline rush that can only be matched by another total eclipse," McGlaun said.

"It's a giddiness, an excitement, an amazing thing to witness," he added.

As the moon begins covering an increasingly larger slice of the sun, the drama heightens. The earth and the animals react. Then the peak unfolds with the corona, the one part of an eclipse viewable with the naked eye. "The last 30 seconds just inundates your senses," McGlaun said.

Once it ends, everybody asks the same question.

"'When's the next one?' is the patented phrase after every eclipse," McGlaun said.

For him, that'll be 2026 over the north coast of Spain. He plans to be there.

Mark Bennett can be reached at 812-231-4377 or mark.bennett@tribstar.com.