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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, or do happen near easy to reach places, but 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, a short period of totality or tornadoes. Tornadoes are a recurring subject on xkcd.

This map shows only one ideal location for seeing an eclipse within a path of totality. However, having 40,000,000 visitors per 6 square miles would equal 2.57 people per square meter, which isn't very much space available per person.

The title text mentions the solar eclipse of February 2063, but this annular eclipse will traverse through the Indian Ocean rather than close to the Arctic. This eclipse would supposedly happen when the Sun would be below the horizon, making it impossible to observe from the surface of Earth. It then jokingly suggests that a giant chasm could open up, making viewing easier.

Transcript

This transcript is incomplete. Please help editing it! Thanks.

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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