For milliennia, humankind has looked to the sky with wonder.
The gospels of Luke, Mathew and Mark all reference solar eclipses. Greek, Mesopotamian, Mayan and Chinese civilizations recorded seeing solar eclipses thousands of years ago and tried to decipher their own meanings from these majestic events.
Millions of people nationwide will turn their heads to the sky Aug. 21 for a rare solar eclipse; its path will traverse much of Missouri for the first time in more than 100 years. Thousands of visitors are expected in Jefferson City to see the rare event, so the city has planned a three-day festival to welcome the visitors.
Michael Zeiler, a scientist in Santa Fe, New Mexico, who studies solar eclipses and who created the website greatamericaneclipse.com, has seen eight solar eclipses. He saw his first in Baja California, Mexico, in 1991. Since then, he's traveled to Africa during the rainy season and the Arctic Circle to see solar eclipses.
Zeiler said each eclipse looks unique.
"(People) are going to remember it for a lifetime," Zeiler said. "I guarantee it."
At 11:46:04 a.m. in Jefferson City, a partial eclipse will begin. A total eclipse begins at 1:13:05 p.m. and ends at 1:15:44 p.m. After the total eclipse ends, a partial eclipse will hang on the horizon until it ends at 2:41:05 p.m., according to greatamericaneclipse.com.
The sky will start to darken once the partial eclipse begins and will appear similar to a sunset as less and less of the sun appears visible. The event will culminate when the eclipse reaches totality, where the moon will block out all of the sun, except for a bright ring around the moon called a corona. In the last few seconds before totality, the sun will appear dim, creating eerie shadows as if the sky went from twilight to complete darkness in just a few minutes.
Unlike a sunset, though, a total solar eclipse envelopes an area, Zeiler said.
"You cannot completely prepare yourself for the sight because it's unlike anything you've ever seen, and it's very dramatic," Zeiler said. "When it becomes total, it's very sudden."
Essentially, the corona is the sun's atmosphere. It can appear like a white halo around the moon, or it can have streaks of white shooting from it as the sun's magnetic field plays with the moon's atmosphere.
Zeiler described the moon as a black hole in the sky during totality.
"It's much darker than the surrounding sky," Zeiler said. "That's very striking as well."
An ageless tradition
The gospel Luke references a total solar eclipse that occurred in 33 C.E. around the time of Jesus' death. Luke 23:44-45 notes, "It was now about noon, and darkness came over the whole land until three in the afternoon, for the sun stopped shining."
Archaeological evidence, like rock art and hieroglyphs, shows groups recording and interpreting solar eclipses as early as 2000 B.C. Greeks and Mesopotamians used science to better predict when eclipses would occur. Even Chinese historians in 1302 B.C. documented a six-minute, 25-second eclipse.
The last total solar eclipse visible in Missouri happened in 1861, Angela Speck, an astrophysics professor and the director of astronomy at the University of Missouri, said in May. A total solar eclipse could also be seen over Missouri in 1442, Speck said at the time.
The last time a total solar eclipse visible in this part of Missouri occurred was in 1257. During that eclipse, the Mississippian culture saw a total solar eclipse over what is today Cole County, Missouri State Parks interpretive specialist Eugene Vale previously told the California Democrat.
Preparing for this eclipse
On Aug. 21, Missourians and eclipse-chasing tourists will partake in the ancient ritual and look skyward once again. To make visitors feel as welcome as possible, the Jefferson City Convention and Visitors Bureau turned this two-minute event into a three-day festival. The CVB estimates as many as 50,000 people could descend upon Jefferson City during days surrounding the event.
Visitors from at least 14 states and England will camp at the main campground during the festival at the North Jefferson City Recreation Area. CVB Executive Director Diane Gillespie and CVB Communications Manager Katherine Reed saw their first pair of eclipse glasses two years ago. Serious preparations began just over a year ago, Reed said.
After talking with other people who told her about the eclipse, Gillespie said, it became obvious people would want to come to Jefferson City because it lies in of the path of totality, where areas will see a total solar eclipse.
"We want our city to look the best that it can in welcoming these folks to our community, and to come back," Gillespie said.
The CVB ordered 30,000 pairs of protective glasses that allow users to look at the sun during the event without harming their eyes. As of Aug. 8, just 3,000 pairs remained. The CVB gave hundreds of pairs to local schools. It's been selling other pairs for $2 each at practically every event it's had a representative at throughout the spring and summer.
All money raised through sales of the glasses has gone back into the cost of holding events over the weekend, Reed said. Those expenses include paying for 100-125 portable toilets for revelers.
Hotel rooms in Jefferson City have been sold out on Aug. 20 for months. Because of the eclipse's Monday timing, Gillespie said, the city wanted to give visitors things to do Sunday when they get to town. That also rolled some events into the preceding Saturday.
Events kick off at 9 a.m. Saturday with the sixth annual Jefferson City Fire Department Hotter N Hell 5K Fun Run. The run was already scheduled for that Saturday, so the CVB worked with JCFD to promote the event with eclipse festivities, Gillespie said.
Fischer Farms created a solar eclipse corn maze, which people can wander through Saturday evening, Sunday and Monday. The city will hold a Capital Eclipse Party from 6-9 p.m. Saturday with free music on a stage at the intersection of Madison and High streets.
Jill Snodgrass, president of Daily Plan-It, which leads the organization of the Capital Eclipse Celebration with the CVB, said in May that the concert will be similar to the city's Thursday Night Live events.
Most festivities will happen Sunday. That morning, NASA will open its Journey to Tomorrow trailer in front of the steps at the Missouri State Capitol. The exhibit will be open from 10 a.m.-4 p.m. Sunday and Monday. Pink Floyd tribute band Dark Side of the Moon will play a free concert from 8-10 p.m. Sunday on the South Lawn of the Capitol.
Several events will happen Monday morning. The city will run a shuttle service from the North Jefferson Recreation Area to downtown from 10 a.m.-3 p.m. Parking at the recreation area costs $10 per car.
Educational events will also take place on the Capitol grounds from 10 a.m.-4 p.m.
The CVB also is advising residents and tourists to ride their bikes Monday to get around. Gillespie said this is partly because six bike rides will take place over the weekend, and partly to alleviate some congestion on roads.
Reed said the CVB worked hard to create events for families, adults and space enthusiasts that cater to all types of people.
"With this event, we have no clue what to expect," Reed said. "So we wanted to have a very wide offering of activities because we're going to have all sorts of ages, demographics. We wanted to appeal to everyone."
Returning home
Richland native and NASA astronaut Mike Hopkins will fly home from Houston to participate in several events during the festival.
Hopkins spent almost six months in orbit between Sept. 25, 2013, and March 10, 2014, on Expeditions 37 and 38 to the International Space Station.
He acknowledged there seems to be something spiritual about the cosmos for many astronauts.
"When you look down on the world from that vantage point, from a spiritual standpoint, it's hard for me to imagine that there's not God," Hopkins said. "When you get to see it in its entirety like that, it really hits home."
People around Jefferson City seem to be almost as excited about NASA's presence in Jefferson City as they are about the actual eclipse. Hopkins will speak Sunday morning at a ticketed breakfast at the Capitol Plaza Hotel. Carthage native and former astronaut Janet Kavandi, who flew on space shuttle missions in 1998, 1999 and 2000, also will make several appearances around Jefferson City over the weekend.
The agency's TV service NASA TV will film footage of the solar eclipse from the steps of the Missouri Supreme Court and from six other cities around the country.
Like many manned space missions, Hopkins thinks people are interested in this cosmic event because of its rarity.
"This isn't something that happens every day and in a lifetime," Hopkins said. "There are points where shuttle launches became common place, and they didn't draw the same type of attention as they did when they were new."
Hopkins grew up on a farm outside Richland. His father and uncle were military pilots. Occasionally, he wore his dad's old flight suit or helmet around the house, but he didn't fly in a plane until third or fourth grade.
He graduated from Osage High School in 1987 and grew up watching early space shuttle missions. Often, he said, classes would watch shuttle launches or spacewalks in class or at an assembly.
"That's what really made me think, 'I want to be an astronaut,'" Hopkins said.
Making that dream a reality came in large part from experiences and challenges he faced as a high school student and young adult. Hopkins starred as an athlete at Osage High School. He later walked on to the football team at Illinois, where he became the team's captain during his senior season in 1991.
But before becoming an astronaut in 2009, the NASA Astronaut Corps rejected him three times.
Growing up in a small town in Mid-Missouri gave him a fierce work ethic. Football reinforced that and taught him never to give up.
He used both lessons to get him through college, the U.S. Air Force and eventually to NASA.
"I'm not the most talented. I'm not the smartest. I'm not the top of anything, but from the way I was raised and the way I grew up," Hopkins said, "I was taught to work hard, to never quit, to do what you need to do to succeed."
Football also taught Hopkins how to work with a team.
"NASA is a team," Hopkins said. "We hear about the astronauts. We see the astronauts on TV, but the reality is that there are thousands of people that make it happen and it wouldn't happen without them."
Hopkins lived his dream. He soared out of the classrooms at Osage High to heights as high as the astronauts he watched on TV.
On Sunday afternoon, Hopkins will meet people at a free event at the Missouri State Capitol held by the Scholastic Education Series.
With the eclipse looming the next day, Hopkins will stand at the Capitol, inspiring other Mid-Missouri children to dream for the stars.