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|< < Prev Comic #2921 (April 18, 2024)

Eclipse Path Maps

Title text: Okay, this eclipse will only be visible from the Arctic in February 2063, when the sun is below the horizon, BUT if we get lucky and a gigantic chasm opens in the Earth in just the right spot...

Explanation

This explanation may be incomplete or incorrect: Created by a TORNADO CAPITAL OF THE WORLD - Please change this comment when editing this page. Do NOT delete this tag too soon.

A total solar eclipse occurred on April 8, 2024 in North America, ten days before this comic. This comic comments on the fact that most solar eclipses happen on territories not easily reachable by humans, places with weather conditions that make viewing the eclipse less appealing, like cloudy skies (mentioned previously in 2915: Eclipse Clouds and 2917: Types of Eclipse Photo), fog, or tornadoes (also a recurring subject on xkcd), or areas that experience only a short period of totality.

This map shows only one small location within this particular path of totality which is ideal for seeing an eclipse. However, because this is the only attractive location, almost everyone wanting to view the eclipse (apparently 40,000,000 visitors) is aiming to travel to this area. Packed in to 6 square miles, this would equal 2.57 people per square meter (plus any resident population), which isn't very much space available per person. It would also create huge congestion on routes people would use to travel to and from the area.

The title text mentions the solar eclipse of February 2063, and claims it will only be visible from the Arctic, though in fact this annular eclipse will traverse through the Indian Ocean. The eclipse in the comic would supposedly happen when the Sun would be below the horizon, which is a contradiction in terms, since an eclipse is only an eclipse from the frame of reference of the viewer — it is equivalent to saying that the eclipse is not visible from that location (but is visible from a location over the horizon). It then jokingly suggests that a giant chasm could open up between the location being considered and the location from where it would be visible, allowing people to view it. If this did happen, the chasm itself would likely eclipse the eclipse as a spectacle. In most cases, it would also likely cause severely detrimental effects (for example, magma eruptions, tsunamis, etc.), and would therefore not be considered 'lucky' by most people, despite the small and short-term benefit of being able to view an eclipse from a previously unsuitable location.

Transcript

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Every eclipse path map

[A grey band representing the totality path of an eclipse travels along the map across several labels. Labels along the path from top to bottom:]

Zone where totality lasts 1-2 seconds

[On water] Bay of shifting ice

[On water] Shipwreck cove

[On land] Desert so harsh they train Mars astronauts there

[On water] Sea of rocky crags and maelstorms

[In square brackets] State department travel advisory

[On an island] Isle of perpetual fog

[On small part of a peninsula] Nice, scenic, accessible area (6 square miles, 40,000,000 visitors expected)

[On land] Tornado capital of the world

[On land] Area where the eclipse will be low in the sky, behind the tornadoes

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