Do you dream of leaving the planet?

NASA is looking for the next group of astronauts, and you’ve found them until April 2 to make your own pitch.

“Typically it’s a very popular application,” said April Jordan, NASA’s astronaut selection manager.

The chance that you will be selected is small. The last time NASA issued a call for applications, in 2020, more than 12,000 people applied.

It took the agency a year and a half to process the applications. NASA selected only 10 of the hopefuls, or 0.083 percent. That makes Harvard’s 3.5 percent acceptance rate among high school students plentiful.

“So when I say ‘popular,’” Ms. Jordan said, “that’s probably an understatement.”

Ms. Jordan is on a media tour to spread the word that “the right things” to be an astronaut in 2024 are not the same as what they were in the 1960s, when astronauts were all white men, almost all from the military.

Victor Glover, a nine-year veteran of the astronaut corps, joined her on that tour, which included a stop with The New York Times, which provided an inside look at how he navigated the rigorous selection process.

To become a NASA astronaut today, you must be a U.S. citizen and pass the astronaut physical exam.

NASA sets the bar quite high in education: a master’s degree in science, technology, engineering or mathematics, followed by at least three years of related professional experience.

In addition, the agency tries to maintain an open mind. (For example, there is no age limit or requirement for 20/20 vision.)

“We want the group of astronaut candidates we select to be reflective of the nation they represent,” Ms. Jordan said.

Take Mr. Glover, for example.

In some ways he fits the historical archetype. Before NASA, he was a Navy aviator and trained as a test pilot.

He also breaks historical barriers.

In 2020, he became the first Black astronaut to serve as a crew member on the International Space Station, after two decades of astronauts living there. In 2025, he will become the first black astronaut to fly around the moon for the Artemis II mission.

To stand out in NASA’s competitive interview process, Mr. Glover knew he needed more than a strong resume. Above all, he was determined to get a good joke.

The night before one of Mr. Glover’s interviews at NASA for the class of 2013, he was asked to write an essay. The title: “Girls love astronauts.”

“They sit in this room all day listening to all these dry answers,” he remembered thinking. “I’m going to try to make them laugh.”

The essay turned from a punchline to a poignancy and reflected on the ways in which he tried to inspire his four daughters. He also decided to be vulnerable during the interview, sharing a “gutsy” moment when he risked almost hitting the water during an airshow demonstration.

“You need to be able to share that information with the interview panel when you come in because inevitably you’re going to fail at something,” Ms. Jordan said. “And so there’s a humility that you have to bring even when you’ve accomplished great things.”

As part of the application process, Mr. Glover wrote an Limerick who concluded: “This all makes me dizzy because I gave so much blood and urine.”

Mr. Glover had set his sights on going to space as a child when he saw his classmates moved to tears by the Challenger disaster.

His space ambitions increased years later when he heard a speech by Pam Melroy, a former Space Shuttle commander. Ms. Melroy, now NASA’s deputy administrator, recounted how her crew scrambled to repair a damaged solar panel on the International Space Station.

“I thought, ‘Wow, she just talked about something very technical, very logistically challenging,’” Mr. Glover said. “But the emotion in it was about the people.”

He then realized that just as astronauts need technical skills, they also need something that is harder to learn: social skills.

“You’re going to live in this tin can with someone for six months,” he said of staying on the space station. “We’re almost choosing family members.”

Mr. Glover proudly points out the diversity of backgrounds of today’s astronauts. “If you compare our office to the demographics of the country, we fit the country very well,” he said.

In some ways, the diversity within NASA even exceeds that of the private sector. The percentage of black astronauts is higher than the percentage of black people in the broader science and technology workforce, Mr. Glover said.

That’s the direct result of NASA’s sustained efforts over a few decades to recruit astronauts beyond the traditional archetype, he said.

“Our office looks the way it does because of this design and thinking about our biases and how it might impact who we hire,” he said. “I think this is a huge victory.”

But Mr Glover acknowledged that diversity as a recruitment goal was becoming increasingly difficult.

Critics include Elon Musk, the billionaire who runs SpaceX, the rocket company NASA relies on to ferry cargo and astronauts — like Mr. Glover — to the International Space Station. NASA has also hired SpaceX to land astronauts on the moon.

“His view on some things is a little troubling,” Glover said of Musk.

SpaceX did not respond to a request for comment from Mr Musk.

Mr. Musk has repeatedly called for the end of programs that focus on diversity, equity and inclusion, or DEI. “DEI is just another word for racism,” he Posted in January on X, the social media network he owns.

Mr. Glover said he had just listened to a controversial interview that Don Lemon, a former CNN anchor, recently conducted with Mr. Musk. “My mom sent it to me and she said, ‘Does he remember you riding in his spaceship?’” he said. “I think, ‘Ma, he probably remembers it very vividly.’ He’s a great intellect, but he probably doesn’t care.”

People ask him how he feels about becoming the first Black person to go on a moon mission next year, when Artemis II will swing around the moon without landing.

“Actually, I’m sad,” Mr. Glover said. “It’s 2025 and I’ll be the first? Come on.”

He told the story of Ed Dwight, the only Black Air Force pilot in the 1960s who met NASA’s restrictive requirements for astronauts at the time. But Mr. Dwight was never selected.

“Ed Dwight could have done this in the 1960s,” Mr. Glover said. “How much better would our country be if he actually got the chance? Society was not ready for it. It’s not him. He was ready.”

While Mr. Glover has heard some of the criticism of DEI initiatives, he is confident that seeking diversity is not about lowering standards and accepting less qualified candidates. “I think it just has to be excellence,” he said. “As long as you don’t equate whiteness or masculinity with excellence, we’re doing fine. We speak the same language.”

Many applicants are drawn by the potential glory of being the first astronauts to walk on Mars, a feat NASA is aiming for in the 2030s.

But Mr Glover said they also had to consider the sacrifices they and their families would have to make along the way.

“The journey to Mars will take six to nine months,” he said. “You won’t be trusted again for more than a year, one to three years. Are you really ready for that?”

I had barely unbuckled my seat belt and was already wondering if I had driven six hours through Texas for nothing. A once in a lifetime river adventure had seemingly evaporated with disappointing news.

It was the promise of a four-day, 33-mile canoe trip in Big Bend National Park, winding through awe-inspiring canyons on a mighty river, that had lured me across the state. My partner’s brother, Michael Stangl, who is an occasional guide Hidden Dagger Adventures, had offered to take me down the Rio Grande, one of the nation’s longest rivers, stretching from central Colorado to the Gulf of Mexico. I had previously only visited Big Bend on foot and I was excited to see it from the water.

The moment I pulled into Michael’s driveway in Alpine, Texas, after driving there from Austin last April, he told me, we weren’t going through the park again.

“Unless you want to take a canoe hike, we’ll have to navigate a different part of the river,” he said. When he first returned from that stretch of river—between Rio Grande Village, a small campground in Big Bend, and Heath Canyon Ranch, just outside the park—he said it had been “more work than fun,” and that he dragged the canoe a quarter mile at a time over nearly dry riverbeds.

Instead, we would do the Temple Canyon Route: an 11-mile, two-night, three-day stretch of the Rio Grande along the U.S.-Mexico border, more than 30 miles from where our original trip would begin. This other river segment, entirely outside and downstream of Big Bend, was instead located in a desert bighorn sheep recovery area known as Black Gap.

Although I was disappointed, I learned that last-minute changes were common in adventures around the Rio Grande.

“If the river were a heart, it would be flatlining”

The Rio Grande is in danger: its water is being depleted by farmers and cities, while a causes climate change megadrought that has parched the American Southwest for more than two decades threatens hopes of recovery. In 2022, the river ran dry in Albuquerque for the first time in four decades. The same year also saw the appearance of the picturesque Santa Elena Canyon, one of the most popular sights in Big Bend ran dry for the first time in at least 15 years, according to the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration.

“If the river were a heart, it would flatten out,” says Samuel Sandoval-Solis, an associate professor at the University of California, Davis, who studies water management.

For West Texas river guides, it’s just another precarious reality of life in the Chihuahuan Desert. “I expect that river trips will no longer be feasible in my lifetime,” says Charlie Angell Angell Expeditionsa guide service based in Redford, Texas.

For now, those booking paddle trips on the Rio Grande can expect a last-minute transfer if they want their boats to actually float.

“When guests book by phone, we tell them, ‘You go where we go,’” says Mike Naccarato, founder of Outfitters of Far West Texas, an adventure company based in Presidio, Texas. “And if they still insist on wanting to go to Big Bend National Park when the water levels are low, we tell them it’s their choice: we can do it by towing the boat up and down the river, or we can very much do this. , very nice trip outside the park, but still on the Rio Grande.”

While the peak season for river trips typically runs from March to May, and after the monsoon season from September to November, local tour operators have difficulty predicting when water levels will be high enough.

“These days it is very difficult to say that everything is normal. We are now calling it a ‘not soon’ season,” said Mr. Naccarato.

Drag, zigzag and headbutt

After an hour-long ride with canoes tied to Michael’s truck, we stood at the edge of the river outside Heath Canyon Ranch and stared at a decommissioned bridge that spanned the border with Mexico. While the sun was hidden behind the clouds, I was already soaking wet with sweat from lugging the gear-filled canoes to the shore.

It soon became clear that our ‘easier’ 11 mile journey would still be tough work due to the river’s lower than normal water levels.

Within about 30 seconds of pushing off, Michael and I reached our first fast section and I, a newbie to the river, was ill-prepared. The lower water levels had left protruding rocks that we had to pass through. Michael jumped out of his canoe and grabbed my bow. “You need to turn the nose directly toward the Y, where the river splits and turns white, and then tilt the nose quickly to the right, then quickly to the left,” he instructed.

My canoe got stuck on a gravel bottom and I was forced to bump it over rocks until the river deepened. It happened again and again: on almost every fast section – and it felt like every time I started to gain confidence, one came along – my boat ended up on the beach. I must have spent more time pushing than paddling.

Even in parts where the river deepened, it was not easy. Instead of the current pulling us quickly into the center, the lower water levels forced our boats to drift back and forth across the banks of the river in a tortuous formation. The banks posed another problem: For most of our trip, the right bank of the river – the Mexican side – was dominated by carrizorite. Also known as border bamboo or giant reed, the reed, an invasive species, stretched along the bank to a height I estimated as high as 15 feet.

The turbulent and narrow river dragged my boat straight into the reeds, cutting open my arms and legs and leaving me clotheslined in the water. Michael instructed me to – counterintuitively – lean forward into the stick, not away from it. When I followed his advice, my (without helmet) head became a blunt object and the cane broke itself in half. It was considerably better than capsizing.

That night, blistered, bruised and damp, I asked Michael as we sat on our sleeping mats if sailing the Rio was always so strenuous and full of obstacles. “Not when there’s real water,” he said. As I later discovered, most of the difficulties I encountered (apart from stepping in cow dung near the campsite) could be attributed to the river’s lower water levels and signs of the landscape changing as a result, said Jeff Bennett, a hydrologist. for the Rio Grande joint venturea conservation group that aims to protect river habitat.

“Stones, gravel, sand and these invasive reeds are no longer washed downstream,” Mr. Bennett said in a telephone interview. “A flood would fix all that.”

A journey worth the bruises

On the last morning of the trip, we pulled a few soggy sandwiches from the bottom of our coolers and shifted away. The river was calm for the few miles we had left, and we saw turtles called Big Bend sliders sunbathing on the rocks.

The final challenge the river presented us was leaving it. We floated right past the take-out, which was shrouded in reeds, and had to paddle back upstream a quarter mile.

Unlike the previous spots on the river where we had pulled our canoes ashore, this one was surprisingly deep, with the river up to my chest. Instead of a gentle slope like the places we camped during our trip, the takeout location was more or less a 60-degree sand dune stretching for twenty yards.

After dragging my boat through the sand, I collapsed, wet, bruised and exhausted, with just enough energy left to dissociate in the cloudless sky.

“We think the river has changed, but actually we have changed the river,” said Dr. Sandoval-Solis, an associate professor at UC Davis, months later, back home in the comfort of my home, adding that he believed it. It was still possible to return the river to its once mighty state through good water management practices. “The river has a much better memory than we do.”

He is right about his memory: when the rain comes, the river remembers his identity as an ancient gorge sculptor, even though we know him only as a panting, shrinking giant.

He is also right about our poor memory. Because when I think about my journey, the stick hitting me, the stepping in cow manure or the change of plans isn’t the first thing I remember first. Instead, I think of lying under a blanket of stars, passing a bottle of mezcal back and forth between hands of cards, listening to the braying of donkeys echoing from cliff to cliff, gorge to gorge, shore to shore . And I want to do it – everything – again. I just hope there’s enough river for next time.

IN MOTION: The overheated earth and the uprooting of Americaby Abraham Lustgarten

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Of course, it’s already happening. You can see it in the fires in California, which are burning down homes and forcing residents to escape the terror of wildfires. You can glimpse it in Arizona, where drought has prompted farmers to give up growing crops and sell their fields to developers.

Tides are rising on the coasts, flooding vulnerable coastal cities, while pervasive heat is expanding ocean volumes and melting the great ice caps of Antarctica and Greenland into the water.

And finally, there are the heat waves: weeks of hellish temperatures that literally mean death for residents of Western states who spend too much time outside. “The places in the world where we think we can live now,” explains Abraham Lustgarten in “On the Move,” his fascinating new look at the population changes caused by the climate crisis, “will not be the same as the places where we will live. can live in the future.”

In a broader context, he warns, we may now be on the cusp of “the greatest demographic shift the world has ever seen.”

Where shall we go? When? And are we welcomed? To answer these questions, Lustgarten collects academic studies and examines models that simulate future migration scenarios; He then combines his insights with reporting.

He also has personal experiences to draw from. He’s a wildfire-weary Californian living in fear that insurers could make his house worthless, or that the next fire could destroy his town. Should he move his family? With each passing year, the question becomes harder to ignore. He keeps a bag packed, water and flashlights ready, knowing that the burning season means he could have to flee at any moment.

Climate-driven migrations will almost certainly become a widespread trend in the coming decades – computer models indicate extraordinary temperature extremes for many parts of the Middle East and North Africa. In the meantime, sea levels are rising and flooding will certainly become a global phenomenon.

Lustgarten’s focus is on the United States, allowing readers to understand the complexities of migration scenarios by examining catastrophes that are now becoming familiar to many of us. And yet: migration is an enormously complex dynamic that goes beyond a period of warm weather or floods. “Of course, not everyone will pack up and move in the face of these changes,” Lustgarten admits.

Some Americans will be too poor to move. Others will be reluctant to give up the familiar way of life. What seems likely based on past migrations is that younger people will be the first to uproot themselves.

The movements may not be extreme at first. Rural residents often migrate to nearby cities; those in the cities are shifting to the cities. And more dramatic movements – similar to the African American “Great Migration” of the first half of the 20th century, or those fleeing the Dust Bowl during the Depression – may not come until later.

Lustgarten’s story sometimes gets bogged down with data and research arcana: Readers are often informed about the potential vulnerabilities of different states under different climate scenarios, as well as what a particular scholar might believe could happen to the U.S. population or to agricultural yields .

What continually enlivens the book are the author’s eloquent personal insights. His visits to Guatemala in particular are both astonishing and poignant, providing great insight into why poor farm workers, ravaged by droughts and disastrous economic conditions, risk everything to come to northern neighbors who greet them with hostility. For Lustgarten, this provides a test case for how the planet’s most vulnerable populations might respond in a climate crisis.

For those of us who already live here, Lustgarten suggests that the decision to stay or go may depend on geography. He points out that for years, state and federal incentives have allowed Americans to settle in dangerous places — for example, offering them cheap flood insurance if they live in a flood zone, or offering subsidized or regulated home insurance policies even if they live in a flood area. area with wildfires or near an eroding beach. Ending such practices could allow homeowners to assess climate risks more clearly, potentially hastening moves to safer places.

But floods, heat waves and fires can have dramatic consequences for the lives of all Americans. “It will affect everyone,” one scientist tells the author. “No one escapes.”

While reading, I sometimes wondered whether Lustgarten should have further tempered the speculative nature of the migration models on which his book is based. In tone, he moves between a confident prediction of the future and caveats that the shifts he writes about are merely predictions, the “threshold of discomfort” that will force one to make difficult-to-determine moves.

After all, personal unwillingness to move is unpredictably associated with external factors. We cannot be certain that interstate politics will allow waves of relocations in, say, 2050. And if we manage to reduce CO2 emissions and avoid the worst-case scenarios for a warming climate, we may discover that human ingenuity could lead to better adaptation to water shortages and rising sea levels (or excessive heat). .

Even a massive volcanic eruption could cool things down, albeit temporarily; it is difficult to predict the future. Be that as it may, climate maps and projected patterns “above all capture the imagination,” as Lustgarten puts it, for what might unfold decades later.

In that regard, this book should fill readers’ minds with possibilities. We know that many Americans are facing a future that is either too hot, too dry, too wet or too chaotic for comfort. And – if our current immigration disputes are any indication – too mean.

When Lustgarten travels to Michigan, he wants to explore whether some Rust Belt cities, now dwindling in number, have the historic infrastructure and ability to grow again. It’s an exciting idea; Whether the region would welcome millions of newcomers is a bigger question. When he asks the city of Ann Arbor’s sustainability director if she thinks residents are more concerned about climate change or newcomers, her answer is telling: “The people coming in, hands down.”

With so much to fear, and so much work to do to make our environment livable, the thing we seem to fear most is… each other. As “On the Move” convincingly demonstrates, with all the heat and disruption coming our way, we’re going to have to do much better than that.

EN ROUTE: The overheated earth and the uprooting of America | By Abraham Lustgarten | Farrar, Straus & Giroux | 324 pages | $30

Last fall, a NASA spacecraft called OSIRIS-REx dropped a capsule containing more than 120 grams of space dust into the Utah desert. That material came from Bennu, an asteroid that broke away a billion years ago from a larger world that may have contained liquid water. Studying this material will clarify the role asteroids may have played in bringing the ingredients for life to Earth.

For Dante Lauretta, a planetary scientist at the University of Arizona and the mission leader, retrieving the sample marked the end of an era. Since the mission began in 2016, Dr. Lauretta immersed in everything related to OSIRIS-REx. Frames on the wall of his office show covers of the journals Nature and Science describing the journey to Bennu and back. Next to it is an oversized cover of his new book, “The Asteroid Hunter: A Scientist’s Journey to the Dawn of Our Solar System.” Part mission report, part memoir, the book tells the story of how two ancient carbon atoms – one on Bennu, one entangled in Dr. Lauretta – finding each other again.

After delivering the sample, the OSIRIS-REx spacecraft continued its journey through the solar systemand Dr. Lauretta handed over the keys. He recently spoke with The New York Times about life after OSIRIS-REx and how the mission’s impact continues. The following conversation has been edited for brevity and clarity.

What have you been up to since the final act of OSIRIS-REx?

The weeks after returning from Earth were all Houston, all day. The disassembly of the asteroid sample collector was slower than we expected, but it was fun and historic. I was allowed to go to the cleanroom and be there when we first saw the sample. In early November I had part of the sample in my laboratory in Arizona.

Students in my astrobiology class received live lectures from the Johnson Space Center in Houston. I took them with my phone, and the sample processors came over and danced around in their bunny suits. It was amazing.

Why did the disassembly take so long?

There were a few screws stuck and we had no tools to keep the sample pristine. Hard tools contain carbon steel, and we didn’t want those tools in the cleanroom because of the contamination. Carbon is important to astrobiology, the origin of life, and all the fun science we do. So the tools we use are soft. And you could see the head of the screwdriver starting to deform as it tried to remove the fasteners.

In the end we decided to just go through a flap on the head of the sample collector and get about 70 grams of stuff out. That was already more than we promised NASA would bring back. Then we spent some time building a screwdriver that we could use, and finally cracked the thing open in January.

Are there any surprises with the monster so far?

In 2020 we wrote one paper across large white veins – about a meter long and 10 centimeters thick – on the rocks and boulders of Bennu. We thought these were carbonates that formed in water, which is exciting. Carbonaceous minerals are found in biological systems.

When we got the stones back, some of the stones had white, crusty material all over them. I was so excited because I thought we had gotten the carbonates. But when I got some grains into the lab, they were phosphate, a compound containing the element phosphorus. And it was high in sodium.

We had a student look at one grain under an electron microscope, and it was cracked and dried out. After the water evaporates, it looks like a mudflat, when it completely cracks and shrinks.

Did we get the asteroid wrong? Don’t know. Were those veins actually phosphates? We are still working on that.

What would it mean if those veins were made of phosphorus instead of carbon?

Phosphorus has a special place in my heart because of the astrobiology work I did as a graduate student. It is one of the “big six” elements of life, along with hydrogen, carbon, nitrogen, oxygen and sulfur. Because phosphorus is the least abundant, it provides important clues about how the element became involved in biology.

I read one paper about sodium-rich phosphates coming from the plumes of Enceladus, one of Saturn’s moons. And then one study came out about soda lakes in Canada, the most phosphate-rich lakes known on earth. And it had exactly the same chemistry.

I don’t know if Bennu is an exact analog, but this kind of fluid chemistry is important. This could be evidence that liquid water evaporates with high concentrations of phosphorus, a key ingredient for the origin of life. And other groups are finding similar chemistry in biologically important environments, one around Saturn and one on Earth. This is a dream come true.

How did your book come about?

In 2018 I came up with the idea to write a more personalized version of OSIRIS-REx, even before the mission had reached Bennu. We collected the sample in 2020 and had two and a half years before it landed on Earth, so I spent those years writing.

The book ends with the return of the example in Utah, so the two epilogues were not written until the following week. On the flight from Utah to Houston, I put in a pair of earbuds and recounted everything that had happened in the past 24 hours. And then I wrote the finale of The Two Carbons, the universal thread underlying the story, later in my hotel room.

Your book is about OSIRIS-REx, but also about you. How did your childhood prepare you for exploring the solar system?

I grew up in Arizona, and by the time I was twelve, it was just my mother raising the three of us. I was much older than my two brothers. We had no television. There was nothing but the desert for entertainment. So I spent a lot of time exploring it, discovering all kinds of amazing little secrets.

I had come across Native American structures and petroglyph walls and truly felt a connection in time with those who had come before me. And I started thinking about: who was there before them? And how far back can you take that question? I remember the first time I found a trilobite – it was amazing. I wondered why it wasn’t there anymore. What happened to it? Could that happen to us?

Then I started to appreciate geology. There are stories in the rocks. Since then I have always been an explorer. As I got older I went backpacking, camping, hiking and so on. I just loved going somewhere, and I wanted to go where no one had gone before.

When I did an expedition in Antarctica I felt like that was it, I would never get further remote than that. Then came OSIRIS-REx, and that was just another level: the final frontier.

What’s next for you?

I am the first director of the new one Arizona Astrobiology Center. And it’s a blast! It really is a community center because people come to us. The bachelor students are arriving. Primary school teachers and administrators want to know how they can get involved.

I love interacting with students, which I did a lot of during OSIRIS-REx. It is very accessible for them to participate. We can train students within a few days and have them look at material from Bennu on an electron microscope. It’s great to be in this new environment that puts the student and community first.

I think this is the culmination of what people can do when we unite with a common vision. OSIRIS-REx is so much bigger than me. People tell me how inspiring what we did was, and how proud they are of me, this team and this nation. I feel like I’m part of something incredible, amazing and powerful.

For generations, visitors to Maine have headed east, to the rocky coastline, with its lobster boats and crashing waves, or west, to ski resorts, peaceful lakes and mountains. Few have ever set foot in Aroostook County, a remote northern expanse where residents — not without reason — tend to suspect that no one south of Bangor even knows they exist.

So the news that “the County,” as it’s known in Maine, would be right in the path of totality for next month’s solar eclipse — making it a destination for potentially thousands of visitors — has stirred mixed emotions at this proudly humble place. Some in the county are used to ceding the spotlight to flashy places like Bar Harbor, and aren’t sure how they feel about its fleeting status as a place to be.

“It’s a little new for us here, so it’s stressful,” said Lindsay Anderson, manager of Brookside Bakery in Houlton, a city of 6,000 bordering Canada, where the eclipse weekend plan includes baking. 500 whoopie pies, Maine’s official “state treat.”

Next door at Market Square Antiques and Pawn, a compact store guarded by several mounted deer heads, Tom Willard, co-owner, had his own concerns.

“Where are 20,000 people going to pee?” he asked.

No one knows how many people will travel to Aroostook County for the April 8 solar eclipse, making planning a bit of a roulette spin. Estimates range from 10,000 to 40,000, although attendance may be limited by distance. Extending north beyond the end of Interstate 95 to the Canadian border – where it is little-known combat-free Aroostook War raged from 1838 to 1839 – the county is about the size of Rhode Island and Connecticut combined. Caribou, near the northern peak, is 400 miles north of Boston, a more than six-hour drive.

For eclipse fanatics, it might not matter. Dan McGlaun, 60, who has seen 15 eclipses and runs away a website dedicated to next month’ssaid he once traveled to French Polynesia and walked “eight miles through banana plants into the middle of nowhere” only to be — by his own estimation — the only person on Earth in the path of the eclipse for a second and a half.

“Eclipse geeks, we’re an odd bunch,” he admitted.

Northern Maine isn’t the only corner of the country expecting an influx. The path of totality also crosses places like the Ozarks, the Choctaw Nation in Oklahoma, And sections of South Texas, all hoping to capitalize on the fleeting attention.

In Aroostook County, where potato farms are plentiful and practicality is paramount, stories like Mr. McGlaun’s only add to the general wariness. It doesn’t help that the eclipse will occur during northern New England’s infamous mud season, when thawing earth turns to tire-sucking mud, raising concerns that unsuspecting motorists “from afar” will get stuck on rural roads and need to be pulled out drawn. .

Also not helpful: memories of the last major influx, in August 1997, during an open-air concert festival of the band Phish drew 65,000 fans to a former air base in Limestone, a city of 1,500. Locals who had scoffed at the visitor numbers were caught off guard when the crowds arrived, causing a traffic jam and emptying supermarket shelves. (“Like locusts,” one county resident recalled.)

Conditioned by decades of population attrition, some once again doubted the crowd’s predictions when talk of the solar eclipse began two years ago. That’s when Houlton’s eclipse committee sprang into action, convincing the city to start planning — and taking advantage of the fact that it will be the last American city in the path.

“The biggest challenge was that people didn’t take it seriously and said, ‘What’s the problem, it’s dark for three minutes, who comes here for that?’” said Johanna Johnston, lead organizer of the city’s eclipse events. “We had to explain that it’s nothing you’ve ever experienced, and that it’s an opportunity to show what we can do and what we have to offer.”

Many companies have seized this opportunity. Ivey’s Motor Lodge in Houlton received its first eclipse booking in 2022, the manager said; When the hotel realized what was happening, it tripled its rates for the nights around the eclipse and tightened its cancellation policy. Most area hotels are booked for the event, but Ivey’s still had vacancies earlier this month, possibly because it was charging $650 per night.

Bearing in mind that their 15 minutes of fame will last just three minutes and 18 seconds (the phase of totality, when the moon will completely block out the sun, begins at 3:32 p.m. in Houlton), the eclipse committee has scheduled four days full of festivities meant to seduce travelers should arrive well before the main event – ​​and perhaps even return for another visit.

The city will have six designated “star parks” for eclipse viewing and a team of welcoming “eclipse ambassadors” to provide guidance. To help feed the crowds when restaurants are overwhelmed, several churches plan to offer traditional Maine meals of baked beans and chowder.

Jane Torres, executive director of the Houlton Chamber of Commerce, hired a Rhode Island performing arts company for the occasion, assisted couples who wanted to get married in the city during the solar eclipse, helped arrange a NASA broadcast in a historic downtown movie theater that shows the solar eclipse as it moves across the country, and enlisted her yoga teacher to fill a “metaphysical tent” with tarot card readers and healing demonstrations.

She has also rented 100 portable toilets, a number she acknowledged was a hopeful shot in the dark.

“The challenge is the unknown,” Ms. Torres said.

The unknown that looms largest is the weather in northern Maine in early April. Of the fifteen states on the path of totality, Maine has one of the lowest chances of clear skies – and the best chance of snow – a factor that will likely drive hardcore eclipse enthusiasts, known as umbraphiles, to locations where cloud cover is less likely. (Ironically, Aroostook’s name may come from a native Mi’kmaq word meaning “bright.”)

According to Priscilla Buster, a meteorologist with the National Weather Service in Caribou, the chance of cloudy conditions at the time of the eclipse is between 60 and 70 percent.

“It doesn’t look good for us here,” she said.

The threat of clouds prompted Lynda Mitchell to cancel her hotel reservation in western Maine — Franklin County, part of which will see totality — and instead book plane tickets to Texas.

“It could be great in Maine, but I just don’t trust the weather,” she said. “I’m not really a bucket list person, but this won’t happen again in my lifetime.”

Still, Houlton’s eclipse committee keeps its chin up. His hopes were recently supported an article describing a ‘cooling effect during eclipse’, observed by scientists, this causes clouds to disappear as the sun dims and temperatures drop.

Kevin McCartney, a retired geology professor at the University of Maine at Presque Isle, will focus on a different sun on the day of the eclipse. That morning, he plans to unveil a new 3D model of the sun at the entrance to the campus, which stands 40 feet tall. It will serve as the new northern terminus of the Maine solar system modela sprawling roadside attraction Installed 20 years ago along 100 miles of rural U.S. Route 1 in Aroostook County, with “planets” spaced at intervals proportional to their actual distance from each other in space.

“Ready to travel the solar system from the comfort of your car?” asks its website.

It is the largest model of this type in the Western Hemisphere and one of the most important tourist attractions in the region. It attracts families and, believe it or not, solar system model enthusiasts, Mr. McCartney said. The new sun, visible from Route 1will be easier to find than the old, two-dimensional one painted on the walls in the university’s science museum — and it will shine even when the county’s sky is cloudy.

“People are always wandering around campus asking, ‘Where’s the sun?’” he said. “Now they can’t miss it anymore.”

After a utility pole fell and sparked a wildfire, Frank King and his family rushed to escape when electrical transformers exploded around their homes near the Oregon coast. In the rearview mirror, a bright red glow was visible for miles.

The fire destroyed 300 homes in Otis, Oregon, three and a half years ago, including the house where Mr. King, a 101-year-old World War II veteran, had lived for nearly three decades.

“A lot of the things that reminded me of the good things in my life are gone,” said Mr. King, who believes things could have turned out differently if his utility, PacifiCorp, had knocked out power lines before a major storm. “It’s taking a terrible toll on me.”

Not long ago, large wildfires caused by power lines and other utilities were considered to occur primarily in California. But these disasters are increasingly happening in many more places as forces spurred by climate change, such as extreme heat and drought, wreak havoc on power grids not built or upgraded to withstand them.

Xcel Energy, a utility company based in Minneapolis, recently acknowledged that its equipment most likely caused the Smokehouse Creek Fire in the Texas Panhandle last month. In August, Hawaiian Electric said one of its power lines ignited the devastating Lahaina fire on the island of Maui. And this month, a jury ordered PacifiCorp to pay $42 million to 10 families who lost their homes in the fire that forced Mr. King to flee his home over the 2020 Labor Day weekend.

In all these cases, the utilities argued that they were not negligent and should not be punished for the fires their equipment caused.

Most climate experts expect that global warming will make wildfires much more likely, even in places not previously considered high-risk, such as rainforests and wetlands. Although wildfires can start in many ways, utilities with their networks of wires and transformers are a major source of concern.

The industry says it is working to reduce the risk of fire in several ways, including burying power lines, a very expensive option, and using cheaper tools such as sensors and software to turn off power when a fire threatens.

But industry critics, including homeowners and some lawmakers, say the industry isn’t doing enough to prevent such fires.

“There is an unwillingness in this industry to adapt,” said Cody Berne, a lawyer in Portland, Oregon, who represents Mr. King and other wildfire survivors. “It’s criminal incompetence.”

Utility executives say the rapid escalation of climate-induced disasters has made it difficult to manage millions of miles of towers, poles and wires in a more than 100-year-old system.

“Past risks are not really a good indicator of future risks anymore,” said Scott Aaronson, senior vice president of safety and preparedness at the Edison Electric Institute, a utility industry trade group. “We are seeing a rapid change in the extremely severe weather. It’s disheartening.”

Electricity costs have risen sharply in recent years as utilities respond to extreme weather events and rising energy demand. The industry spends billions of dollars burying power lines, covering wires, pruning and removing trees and shrubs, and purchasing weather stations, cameras and other equipment to better monitor and control energy equipment.

But not every response to climate change has to be expensive. Researchers at the University of California, Berkeley, have found that the risk of utility-caused wildfires is increasing can be reduced by as much as 75 percent by using sensors already present in many utilities and by upgrading the companies’ software systems.

These changes would automatically shut down parts of the utility’s network within milliseconds when tree branches, animals or other objects caused problems on the power lines. Using this technology, known as fast trip, is much cheaper and easier than laying power lines underground, an approach that several major Western utilities are also pursuing.

It can cost $3 million to $4 million per mile to bury power lines. Such projects can take years to be approved, developed and completed. By comparison, fast trip technology costs about $5,000 to $10,000 per mile, including installing equipment and sending utility personnel to inspect circuits before power is restored, the Berkeley researchers said.

“There are opportunities for innovation that can further reduce risk,” said Duncan Callaway, a professor of energy and resources at the university.

Mr. Callaway analyzed the wildfire prevention efforts and costs of Pacific Gas & Electric, which has 5.5 million electric customers, more than any other utility in one state. While PG&E and other utilities in the West use fast trip, which he calls “a no-brainer,” Mr. Callaway said he didn’t know how many others were doing so.

Arshad Mansoor, president and CEO of the Electric Power Research Institute, agreed that fast trip is an important solution, but he added that other tools, such as low-orbit satellites, can help utilities quickly identify problems and assess conditions without turning off the power.

“The first thing we need to do is implement this early warning system globally,” Mr Mansoor said.

In Oregon, neither automated technology nor utility workers preemptively shut off power over the September weekend of 2020, even though forecasters had warned of high winds and 90-degree heat for days. A falling utility pole sparked a fire on Echo Mountain, near the coast in central Oregon. It was one of them 30 fires that burned 1.2 million acres across the state that weekend, killing nine people and destroying 5,000 homes and businesses.

Jim Holland, a 40-year-old chef, lost the house he and his wife Briana had bought just nine months earlier – their first. The Hollands and Mr. King, a neighbor, have rebuilt the land with insurance money and other assistance, but they have also filed lawsuits seeking damages from PacifiCorp. Many in the community are still so traumatized that every puff of smoke that blows by makes them nervous, even if it’s just from a barbecue. The area is still scarred by mudslides, charred power poles and burned trees with peeling bark.

“It feels like we are living in ruins,” Mr. Holland said. ‘It’s not what it was. There are people with glassy eyes, wondering what has happened to their lives.”

For many Oregonians, it’s hard to fathom how a state known for its rainforests became a tinderbox.

Last year, a wildfire ripped through a critical rainforest with a watershed that supplies water to a million people in the Portland metropolitan area and a hydroelectric dam.

“If you’ve been here a long time, like me, you see that climate change is real,” said Mingus Mapps, a Portland city commissioner who oversees water, transportation and environmental services. “It was a once-in-a-thousand-year fire. It was terrifying.”

A lightning strike ignited that fire. But Mr. Mapps, a Democratic candidate for mayor, said the city was also concerned about the fire risk from electrical equipment.

For utilities, the fires also pose potentially crippling financial risks from lawsuits filed by homeowners and their insurance companies. PG&E filed for bankruptcy protection in 2019 after racking up billions of dollars in liability from several wildfires, including the 2018 Camp Fire, which killed 85 people and destroyed the town of Paradise, California.

Mr Aaronson, director of the Industry Trade Group, said utilities had learned from the traumatic wildfires in California. But he noted that utilities caused less than 10 percent of wildfires nationwide.

“We are working to reduce this further,” Mr Aaronson said. “There are tens of thousands of kilometers of transmission infrastructure. There are millions of miles of distribution.”

Extreme weather has made it difficult to ensure that every part of the energy system is ready for climate change. One upgrade some companies are making is greater use of fast trip technology.

PacifiCorp, a subsidiary of Berkshire Hathaway, said it began using the wildfire prevention technology in 2021, the year after the Echo Mountain wildfire, even though the technology had been around for many years.

But the use of tools such as rapid shutoff or public safety power shutoffs, which California utilities have used when fire risk in an area is expected to be high, could be unpopular because they leave residents and businesses without electricity. Utilities say they prefer approaches that keep the lights on.

Allen Berreth, vice president of wildfire mitigation operations at PacifiCorp, said that while the company was using fast trip and other tools, it also planned to bury many more power lines.

“Undergrounding means no power outages for public safety,” said Mr. Berreth.

Berkshire Chairman and CEO Warren E. Buffett told investors in February that he expected wildfire losses at his company’s subsidiaries to rise in the coming years. He also warned that utilities would have to spend much more money on fire prevention; spending that energy experts say will drive up electricity rates.

“The ultimate outcome for the utility sector could be ominous,” Buffett said. “When the dust settles, America’s energy needs and resulting capital expenditures will be staggering.”

Op 8 april zal Noord-Amerika zijn tweede totale zonsverduistering in zeven jaar meemaken. De maan zal over het oppervlak van onze zon glijden en een schaduw werpen over een strook aarde eronder. Langs dit pad zal de wereld donker worden als de nacht.

Skywatchers in Mexico zullen de eersten zijn die de zonsverduistering op het vasteland zullen zien. Van daaruit glijdt de show naar het noorden, komt via Texas de Verenigde Staten binnen en gaat vervolgens naar het noordoosten voordat de show voor de meeste mensen voor de kust van Canada eindigt.

Waarom verduisteringen plaatsvinden is eenvoudig: de maan komt tussen ons en de zon in. Maar ze zijn ook ingewikkeld. Dus als u al uw eclipsfeiten, tips en how-to’s sinds 2017 bent vergeten, zijn wij hier om het voor u uit te leggen.

Maar voordat we erin duiken, is er één ding dat we moeten weten dat belangrijker is dan wat dan ook: het is nooit veilig om tijdens een zonsverduistering rechtstreeks in de zon te kijken (behalve de paar momenten waarop de maan zijn oppervlak volledig heeft verduisterd). Bekijk op alle andere momenten de gebeurtenis door oogbescherming. Lees verder om te leren hoe u veilig naar een zonsverduistering kunt kijken.

Wat is een totale zonsverduistering?

Een zonsverduistering vindt plaats wanneer de maan zich tussen de aarde en de zon oriënteert en het zonneoppervlak voor ons zicht afschermt.

In kosmische termen is het ongebruikelijk dat dit gebeurt: de maan is zo’n 400 keer kleiner dan de zon, maar staat zo’n 400 keer dichter bij ons. Dat betekent dat wanneer deze twee hemellichamen op één lijn staan, ze aan de hemel even groot lijken te zijn.

Welke andere soorten eclipsen zijn er?

Ringvormige zonsverduisteringen doen zich voor wanneer de maan verder van de aarde verwijderd is en te klein lijkt om het oppervlak van de zon volledig af te schermen. In plaats daarvan blijft het buitenste deel van de zonneschijf onbedekt: een ‘ring van vuur’ in de lucht.

Gedeeltelijke zonsverduisteringen vinden plaats wanneer de aarde, de maan en de zon niet perfect op één lijn staan. De maan verduistert slechts een deel van de zon. In 2025 zullen dat er twee zijn.

De aarde kan ook tussen de maan en de zon komen, waardoor een maansverduistering ontstaat. Dit kan worden waargenomen een of twee keer per jaar.

Hoe donker zal het zijn tijdens de zonsverduistering?

Op elke willekeurige plaats langs het eclipspad zal de gebeurtenis ongeveer twee uur of langer duren.

De gebeurtenis begint met een gedeeltelijke zonsverduistering, waarbij de maan een klein hapje uit de rand van de zon neemt en vervolgens steeds meer van het oppervlak in beslag neemt. Volgens NASAdit kan 70 tot 80 minuten duren.

De fase van de zonsverduistering waarbij de maan het oppervlak van de zon volledig heeft geblokkeerd, wordt totaliteit genoemd. Dit is de enige keer dat het evenement met het blote oog kan worden bekeken.

De lengte van de totaliteit varieert per locatie. In april zullen sommige plaatsen deze fase langer dan vier minuten doormaken; anderen slechts één tot twee minuten.

Tijdens de totaliteit wordt de lucht donker als de nacht en daalt de temperatuur. Piekerige witte lichtslierten uit de buitenste atmosfeer van de zon, of corona, zullen plotseling zichtbaar zijn. Gelukkige kijkers kunnen zelfs een dunne, roodachtig roze cirkel rond de rand van de maan ontdekken. Dat is de chromosfeer, een atmosferische laag onder de corona van de zon. De kleur komt van de aanwezigheid van waterstof door de hele laag.

Na de totaliteit zal de zon langzaam weer achter de maan vandaan gluren – opnieuw een gedeeltelijke zonsverduistering die even lang zal duren als de eerste. De maan zal zich terugtrekken totdat de zon weer de normale helderheid aan onze hemel heeft.

Hoe kan ik veilig naar de zonsverduistering kijken?

Over het algemeen moet u voorkomen dat u rechtstreeks in de zon kijkt zonder speciale apparatuur om uw ogen te beschermen. Goedkope opties voor het bekijken van de zonsverduistering zijn onder meer papieren zonnekijkers en brillen. Als u apparatuur gebruikt die u voor een eerdere zonsverduistering hebt gekocht, zorg er dan voor dat u deze inspecteert. Gooi alles weg met krassen of andere tekenen van schade.

Volgens NASAis het niet veilig om via een optisch apparaat naar de zon te kijken terwijl u een papieren bril of kijker gebruikt. Om de zonsverduistering via camera’s, verrekijkers of telescopen te bekijken, koop je een speciaal zonnefilter.

De enige keer dat je een zonsverduistering met het blote oog kunt zien, is tijdens de momenten van totaliteit. Zodra de maan het oppervlak van de zon weer begint te onthullen, ga dan terug naar het kijken naar de gebeurtenis door middel van beschermende uitrusting om letsel te voorkomen.

Wat gebeurt er als ik zonder bescherming naar de zonsverduistering kijk?

Over het algemeen kan direct naar de zon staren, zelfs voor een paar seconden, permanente schade aan uw ogen veroorzaken. Dit kan variëren van wazig of vervormd zicht tot iets ernstigers, zoals blinde vlekken. Omdat er geen pijnreceptoren in het netvlies zitten, voel je het niet terwijl het gebeurt.

Hetzelfde geldt tijdens een zonsverduistering – behalve tijdens de korte momenten van totaliteit, wanneer de maan het gezicht van de zon heeft verborgen. Gebruik op alle andere momenten oogbescherming om de gebeurtenis te bekijken.

Wat moet ik doen als ik de eclipsbril niet kan vinden?

Als het te laat is om een ​​bril of kijkers te halen, is er altijd nog een doe-het-zelf-optie: een pinhole-camera om de zonsverduistering indirect te ervaren. Je kunt er een maken met karton, een kartonnen doos, een keukenzeef of zelfs uw vingers. Deze ontwerpen projecteren een beeld van de zonsverduistering op de grond of een ander oppervlak waar je veilig naar kunt kijken.

Wat zijn de beste plaatsen om de zonsverduistering te bekijken?

De totale zonsverduistering zal grote delen van Mexico, de Verenigde Staten en Oost-Canada bestrijken. Voor de meest dramatische show kun je de zonsverduistering het beste ervaren langs het pad van de totaliteit, waar de maan de zon volledig zal verduisteren.

Kijkers in de buurt van Mazatlán, een badplaats aan de Pacifische kust van Mexico, zullen de eerste plek zijn om de totaliteit op het vasteland van Noord-Amerika te ervaren. Verschillende locaties in Mexico langs het pad van de zonsverduistering zullen de langste duur van de totaliteit meemaken: wel vier minuten en 29 seconden.

Steden in de Verenigde Staten, waaronder Dallas, Indianapolis en Cleveland, zullen hoogstwaarschijnlijk hotspots zijn voor de komende zonsverduistering. Andere opmerkelijke locaties zijn Carbondale, Illinois, waar ook de totaliteit plaatsvond tijdens de zonsverduistering in 2017; kleine stadjes ten westen van Austin, Texas, die naar verwachting langs het eclipspad een van de beste weersomstandigheden van het land zullen hebben; en Niagara Falls, als de lucht helder is. Zes provincies van Canada bevinden zich op het pad van de totaliteit, maar veel daarvan hebben zeer sombere vooruitzichten.

Wanneer begint en eindigt de eclips?

De show begint bij zonsopgang, duizenden kilometers ten zuidwesten van de Pacifische kust van Mexico. De maan begint de zon te verbergen nabij Mazatlán om 9.51 uur lokale tijd. Kijkers in de buurt van Mazatlán ervaren de totaliteit om 11:07 uur gedurende vier minuten en 20 seconden.

Dan zal de schaduw van de maan door Mexico vliegen en om 13.10 uur Eastern Time de grens met Texas oversteken. De totaliteit in de Verenigde Staten begint om 14.27 uur en eindigt om 15.33 uur Eastern Time.

Canadezen zullen de zonsverduistering in de middag bijna drie uur lang meemaken. De zonsverduistering eindigt buiten de grenzen van Canada wanneer de zon ondergaat boven de Atlantische Oceaan.

Hoe lang zal de zonsverduistering duren?

De duur van de totaliteit hangt af van hoe ver een bepaalde locatie op aarde van de maan verwijderd is. Plaatsen met de langste totaliteit liggen het dichtst bij de maan en verder van de zon. De snelheid van de maanschaduw is het langzaamst op plekken met de langste totaliteit.

In april zal de langste periode van totaliteit plaatsvinden boven Durango, een staat in Mexico, met een totaal van vier minuten en 29 seconden. Langs de middellijn bevindt de locatie van de kortste totaliteit op land zich aan de oostkust van Newfoundland en Labrador in Canada, gedurende ongeveer twee minuten en 54 seconden. Maar de totaliteit is zelfs nog korter langs de randen van het totale eclipspad; op sommige plaatsen duurt het minder dan een minuut.

Hoe snel beweegt de zonsverduistering?

Zonsverduisteringen lijken misschien langzaam te gebeuren, maar de schaduw van de maan raast over het aardoppervlak. Exacte snelheden variëren per locatie. Eclipse rekenmachines schat dat de schaduw tussen de 2.560 en 2.600 km/uur door Mexico zal bewegen, en meer dan 5.000 km/uur tegen de tijd dat hij de Verenigde Staten verlaat. De eclips zal boven de Atlantische Oceaan snelheden bereiken van meer dan 10.000 kilometer per uur.

Wanneer was de laatste totale zonsverduistering in de Verenigde Staten?

Volgens de American Astronomical Society, komen totale zonsverduisteringen ongeveer een keer per jaar voor, maar ze kunnen alleen langs een smal pad op het aardoppervlak worden bekeken. Velen komen voor boven water of op andere plaatsen die moeilijk te bereiken kunnen zijn. Een bepaalde locatie zal eens in de ongeveer 400 jaar een totaliteit ervaren.

Maar sommige plaatsen hebben geluk: Carbondale, een universiteitsstad in het zuiden van Illinois, zag de totale zonsverduistering in de Verenigde Staten op 21 augustus 2017 en zal in april nog een keer meemaken. San Antonio heeft afgelopen oktober een ringvormige zonsverduistering meegemaakt en bevindt zich ook op het pad van de totaliteit voor de zonsverduistering van dit jaar.

Maken andere planeten zonsverduisteringen mee?

Ja, elke planeet in ons zonnestelsel met een maan kan een zonsverduistering ervaren. In februari een Mars-rover Phobos gevangengenomeneen van de manen van de rode planeet, die langs de zon beweegt.

Op andere planeten zijn alle zonsverduisteringen echter gedeeltelijk. Alleen de aarde heeft een maan die precies de juiste grootte heeft en zich op precies de juiste afstand bevindt om totaliteit te produceren.

Hoe zullen de dingen op aarde veranderen tijdens de eclips?

Naarmate de zonsverduistering zijn maximale fase nadert, wordt de lucht koeler, wordt de lucht donkerder, worden de schaduwen scherper en merkt u dit misschien afbeeldingen van halve manen – kleine projecties van de zonsverduistering – daarbinnen. Langs het pad van de totaliteit zal de wereld donker worden terwijl de maan langzaam dichter bij een perfecte uitlijning met de aarde en de zon komt.

Dieren zullen ook reageren op de zonsverduistering. Bijen stoppen met zoemen, vogels stoppen met fluiten en krekels beginnen te fluiten. Sommige huisdieren kunnen verwarring uiten. Zelfs planten worden getroffen, ontdekten wetenschappers na de zonsverduistering in 2017. Ze hebben de snelheid van fotosynthese en waterverlies verminderd, vergelijkbaar met, maar niet zo extreem als, wat er ‘s nachts gebeurt.

Wat als ik het pad van de totaliteit niet kan bereiken?

Kijkers op locaties ver van het eclipspad zullen zien dat de maan de zon gedeeltelijk verduistert, hoewel hoe waarneembaar de effecten zijn, afhangt van de afstand van de locatie tot de middellijn. (Hoe dichterbij je bent, hoe opmerkelijker het zal zijn.) Toch zal het niet helemaal hetzelfde zijn als het ervaren van de zonsverduistering tijdens de totaliteit.

Vergeet niet dat u altijd oogbescherming moet dragen als u naar een gedeeltelijke zonsverduistering kijkt.

Als je het pad van de totaliteit niet kunt bereiken, maar het toch wilt ervaren, bieden veel organisaties live videostreams van de eclips aan, inclusief NASA En Tijd en datum. Het Exploratorium, een museum in San Francisco, zal dat ook doen aanbod een sonificatie van de zonsverduistering en een uitzending in het Spaans.

In de 19e eeuw ontdekte een Franse astronoom het element helium door het spectrum van zonlicht te bestuderen dat tijdens een zonsverduistering werd uitgezonden. Deze gebeurtenissen lieten ook de eerste wetenschappelijke observaties van coronale massa-ejecties – gewelddadige uitdrijving van plasma uit de corona van de zon – die stroomuitval en communicatiestoringen op aarde kan veroorzaken. Wetenschappers bevestigden ook Einsteins algemene relativiteitstheorie, die zegt dat massieve objecten het weefsel van ruimte-tijd buigen tijdens een zonsverduistering in 1919.

En er valt nog meer te ontdekken. In april, NASA-plannen om instrumenten in vliegtuigen te laten vliegen om beelden van de zonnecorona vast te leggen, en raketten te lanceren om te bestuderen hoe de daling van het zonlicht tijdens een zonsverduistering de atmosfeer van de aarde beïnvloedt. Een radiotelescoop in Californië gaat proberen de maan als schild te gebruiken meet de uitstoot van individuele zonnevlekken.

Ook het publiek doet mee. Tijdens de eclips, een team van hamradio-operators zal signalen door het hele land uitzenden om te bestuderen hoe zonnestoringen de communicatie kunnen beïnvloeden. Sommige mensen op het pad van de totaliteit zullen dat wel doen geluiden van dieren in het wild opnemen. Anderen zullen hun telefoons gebruiken om foto’s te maken van de eclips om de vorm van de zonneschijf te helpen schetsen.

Louisiana and 15 other Republican-led states sued the Biden administration on Thursday over its decision to temporarily stop approving new permits for facilities that export liquefied natural gas.

The The lawsuit alleges that the Biden administration acted illegally when it decided in January to suspend approvals so it could study how gas exports affect climate change, the economy and national security.

The lawsuit, filed in the United States District Court for the Western District of Louisiana, asks a judge to end the pause, arguing that the White House had ignored the rulemaking process and instead taken action ‘by fiat’ .

“There is no legal basis for the pause,” Louisiana Attorney General Elizabeth B. Murrill, who led the legal challenge, said in an interview.

Ms. Murrill, who called the pause a ban, said suspending permits for a period of time would hurt states’ economies and have significant long-term consequences abroad by restricting the supply of gas from the United States to Europe.

The United States is the largest exporter of natural gas in the world. Liquefied natural gas is a gas that has been cooled to a liquid state to enable transportation and storage. Even with the pause, the country is still on track to nearly double its export capacity by 2027 thanks to projects already permitted and under construction. But any expansion beyond that is now in doubt.

“I’m not sure the American people are feeling the pain of this particular decision yet, but it is part of a larger plan by this administration to destroy the fossil fuel industry,” Ms. Murrill said.

The White House and Department of Energy did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

The pause on new export permits came after months of protests from environmentalists, who argued that adding new gas export facilities and expanding existing ones would mean decades of additional greenhouse gas emissions, the leading cause of climate change.

“People in every corner of the country and the world are suffering the devastating toll of climate change,” Biden said in January. “This pause on new LNG approvals sees the climate crisis for what it is: the existential threat of our time.”

The decision has angered the oil industry, Republicans and some Democrats. Pennsylvania senators, Democrats John Fetterman and Bob Casey, issued a rare statement opposing Mr. Biden during the recess. Sen. Joe Manchin III, a Democrat who represents the coal- and gas-rich state of West Virginia, said at an energy conference in Houston this week that “there needs to be a pause.”

John Podesta, Mr. Biden’s senior adviser on climate change, said this week that the White House was not surprised by the response.

“We definitely went in with our eyes open,” he said. Mr Podesta argued that it would be “wise” for the government to take the time to study the effect of gas on the climate.

Gas, which consists mainly of methane, is cleaner than coal when burned. But methane is a much more powerful greenhouse gas than carbon dioxide in the short term. It can also leak anywhere in the supply chain, such as in the production pit, processing plants and the hob. The process of liquefying gas for transportation is also energy intensive, creating even more emissions.

In addition to Louisiana, the states contesting the pause are Alabama, Alaska, Arkansas, Florida, Georgia, Kansas, Mississippi, Montana, Nebraska, Oklahoma, South Carolina, Texas, Utah, West Virginia and Wyoming.

The states argued that a decision of such magnitude should have gone through a rulemaking process, during which states, industry and others could have publicly commented and had a chance to shape a decision.

The states argued that the “whims of activists cannot override the law.” The Natural Gas Act of 1938 calls for the Secretary of the Energy Department to issue an export permit unless it is determined after a hearing that the project is not in the public interest.

Brad Plumer contributed reporting from Houston.

One crawled across the rain-soaked soil of what is now Texas more than 270 million years ago, possibly feasting on fast-moving insects. The other endeared himself to millions as the banjo-playing wandering newscaster and Miss Piggy’s reluctant love interest known as Kermit the Frog.

Now they share a name.

On Thursday, scientists announced that they had named a newly identified ancient ancestor of today’s amphibians Kermitops gratus, in honor of Kermit the Frog.

Although it wasn’t able to sing “Rainbow Connection” or deliver the news, the salamander-like species appeared to bear a striking resemblance to the beloved Muppet, said Calvin So, a Ph.D. student at George Washington University’s department of biological sciences, who helped name it.

The combination of bones in the eye socket gave him the appearance of “bug eyes,” much like Kermit’s, and his slightly crushed, three-inch-long fossilized skull appeared to have “a crooked smile,” reminiscent of Kermit’s shy grin, Mx . So said.

“It really seemed to us like Kermit was smiling at us,” said Mx. So the lead author of a paper describing the new species, published Thursday in the Zoological Journal of the Linnean Society. The name combines ‘Kermit’ with the Greek suffix ‘-ops’, meaning face.

The fossilized skull was unearthed in 1984 near Lake Kemp in Texas, MX. So said. It was in the collections of the Smithsonian National Museum of Natural History in Washington until 2021, when one of Mx. Co-authors Arjan Mann and a few other paleontologists noticed it and recognized that it might be a new species, Mx. So said.

MX. Put it this way, its snout was longer than the back of its skull, which was very different from other fossil amphibians of its kind. The shape may have made the species particularly adept at catching fast-moving insects for food, Mx. So said.

“It increases our knowledge of the diversity of amphibians at that time,” they said. And the name, Mx. That said, people might become interested in prehistoric creatures other than dinosaurs.

“I wanted to draw attention and change the way people interact with science and fossils,” says Mx. So said. “It would be really great if many more people actually joined the research into the origins of amphibians, because this is an area of ​​the tree of life that has not been very well studied.”

The species was just the latest scientific discovery to emerge from obscurity and bear a famous name.

Last year, scientists at a German research institute who discovered that certain bacterial compounds kill fungi named them keanumycins, in honor of actor Keanu Reeves in his starring role in the thriller franchise “John Wick.”

Scientists have named insects after Arnold Schwarzenegger and RuPaul, while one species of dinosaur was named Dracorex hogwartsia, or the dragon king of Hogwarts, in honor of the Hogwarts school from JK Rowling’s Harry Potter series. according to the Natural History Museum in London.

Muppets have also served as inspiration. A trilobite is named after the grumpy duo of Statler and Waldorfand a tube-dwelling spider was named in honor of Gonzo, the museum said.

Despite MX. That includes enthusiasm for the new species, saying they weren’t always big fans of the Muppets. “Personally,” Mx So said, “I found some of the Muppets a little creepy.”

Het elektrische voertuig, een baanbrekende prestatie op het gebied van de autotechnologie, heeft de presidentsverkiezingen van dit jaar beïnvloed en heeft partijdige gevechten aangewakkerd die een groot deel van de Amerikaanse cultuur zijn gaan bepalen.

Eén reden is dat president Biden elektrische voertuigen centraal heeft gesteld in zijn strategie om de klimaatverandering te bestrijden. Deze week kondigde zijn regering de meest ambitieuze klimaatregulering in de geschiedenis van het land aan: een maatregel die bedoeld is om de transitie naar elektrische voertuigen te versnellen en weg te komen van de benzineauto’s die een belangrijke oorzaak zijn van de opwarming van de aarde.

De politieke oorlog over elektrische voertuigen wordt aangewakkerd door een opruiende mix van problemen: technologische veranderingen, de toekomst van de olie- en gasindustrie, zorgen over de concurrentie uit China en de Amerikaanse liefde voor gemotoriseerde spieren. En in de landelijke gebieden van Amerika, waar weinig openbare laadstations bestaan, voelt het idee van een volledig elektrische toekomst fantasierijk aan – nog een element van de kloof tussen stad en platteland die ten grondslag ligt aan de polarisatie van het land.

De tegenstander van Biden, voormalig president Donald J. Trump, heeft maandenlang de aanvallen op elektrische voertuigen in het algemeen en de nieuwe regelgeving in het bijzonder geëscaleerd, waarbij hij de regel ten onrechte een verbod op benzineauto’s noemde en beweerde dat elektrische auto’s de Amerikaanse auto-industrie zullen ‘doden’. . Hij heeft ze een “moord” op banen genoemd. Hij heeft verklaard dat de regering-Biden “een grote opdracht heeft gegeven voor de productie in Michigan” door de verkoop van elektrische auto’s aan te moedigen.

Binnen enkele minuten na de aankondiging van de nieuwe regel deze week overspoelden soortgelijke gespreksonderwerpen – zij het niet zo gewelddadig – het Republikeinse ecosysteem.

“De regering-Biden beslist voor Amerikanen welk soort auto’s ze mogen kopen, huren en rijden”, zei senator Shelley Moore Capito uit West Virginia, de belangrijkste Republikein in de Senaatscommissie voor Milieu, in opmerkingen die weerklonken in het Capitool en op Foxnieuws. Een kop van Fox News beweerde ten onrechte dat “Biden de productie van elektrische voertuigen verplicht stelt.”

In veel opzichten combineren de nieuwe regels van de heer Biden over autovervuiling elementen die conservatieven graag haten: overheidsregels en het idee dat de Democraten Amerikanen willen dwingen comfort op te geven in naam van het milieu.

In de loop der jaren heeft Trump de Republikeinse oppositie tegen milieuregels aangescherpt door alles aan te vallen, van haarspray zonder spuitbussen tot toiletten met een laag debiet. Hij heeft gebashed energiezuinige vaatwassersLED-lampen en ten onrechte beweerd dat windturbines kanker veroorzaken.

Door zijn EV-beleid aan de Amerikanen te presenteren, heeft de heer Biden geprobeerd zichzelf te presenteren als een ‘automan’, door te praten over zijn opvoeding als zoon van een autodealer en een proefrit te maken met een Ford 150 elektrische pick-up om uit te spreken: ‘Deze sukkel is snel! ” Hij was de eerste president die zich bij de autowerkers aan de piketlijn voegde.

Toch zeggen beleidsanalisten dat de aanvallen van Trump op de inspanningen van de regering om auto’s schoon te maken waarschijnlijk weerklank zullen vinden bij de kiezers.

“Als je in een personenauto stapt, raak je een groot deel van de Verenigde Staten aan”, zegt Barry Rabe, hoogleraar openbaar beleid aan de Universiteit van Michigan. “De meerderheid van de Amerikanen is weinig of niet bekend met elektrische auto’s. Als je je bezighoudt met de vraag wat je rijdt, hoe je rijdt, hoe betrouwbaar het is en wat het betekent over je identiteit – dat is waar de cultuuroorlogen om de hoek komen kijken.”

Vooral krachtig is de valse bewering dat de nieuwe regel een “verbod” op conventionele auto’s inhoudt, aldus analisten.

De EPA-verordening is geen verbod. Het vereist veeleer dat autofabrikanten aan strenge nieuwe gemiddelde emissielimieten voldoen voor hun hele productlijn, beginnend in modeljaar 2027 en oplopend tot 2032. Autofabrikanten zouden aan de emissieplafonds kunnen voldoen door een mix van benzineauto’s, hybrides, elektrische auto’s of auto’s te verkopen. andere soorten voertuigen, zoals auto’s op waterstof.

De EPA schat dat naleving van de regel zou betekenen dat in 2032 ongeveer 56 procent van de nieuwe verkochte personenauto’s elektrisch zou zijn en nog eens 16 procent hybrides. Autobedrijven die de nieuwe beperkingen overschrijden, kunnen te maken krijgen met aanzienlijke boetes. De nieuwe normen zouden niet van toepassing zijn op de markt voor gebruikte auto’s.

Auto’s en andere vormen van transport zijn samen de grootste bron van CO2-uitstoot die door de Verenigde Staten wordt gegenereerd, een vervuiling die de klimaatverandering aanjaagt en die ertoe heeft bijgedragen dat 2023 het warmste jaar in de geschiedenis is geworden.

De nieuwe beperkingen op de uitlaatemissies zouden volgens de EPA de komende dertig jaar meer dan zeven miljard ton kooldioxide-uitstoot vermijden. Dat komt overeen met het verwijderen van een jaar lang alle broeikasgassen die worden gegenereerd door de Verenigde Staten, het land dat historisch gezien de meeste koolstofdioxide in de atmosfeer gepompt.

Volgens het agentschap zou het ook jaarlijks bijna 100 miljard dollar aan netto voordelen voor de samenleving opleveren, waaronder 13 miljard dollar per jaar aan voordelen voor de volksgezondheid, zoals vermeden ziekenhuisopnames en minder voortijdige sterfgevallen dankzij de verbeterde luchtkwaliteit.

De grote autobedrijven van het land hebben met tegenzin de nieuwe regelgeving aanvaard, nadat ze enkele concessies van de overheid hadden gekregen, in de vorm van een geleidelijker nalevingsschema dat de strengste eisen uitstelt tot na 2030.

“De toekomst is elektrisch”, zei John Bozzella, voorzitter van de Alliance for Automotive Innovation, die 42 autobedrijven vertegenwoordigt die bijna alle nieuwe voertuigen produceren die in de Verenigde Staten worden verkocht, deze week in een verklaring. Hij zei dat de regels “zich bewust zijn van het belang van keuzevrijheid voor bestuurders en hun vermogen behouden om het voertuig te kiezen dat bij hen past.”

Maar andere industrieën die door de regel getroffen zullen worden, hebben aanvallen gelanceerd – vooral olie- en gasbedrijven die de opkomst van elektrische voertuigen als een existentiële bedreiging zien.

De American Fuel & Petrochemical Manufacturers, een lobbyorganisatie, is begonnen met wat zij zegt een “zeven figuur‘-campagne van advertenties, telefoontjes en sms-berichten tegen wat zij ‘Biden’s EPA-autoverbod’ noemt in de swing states Pennsylvania, Michigan, Wisconsin, Nevada en Arizona, evenals in Ohio, Montana en de markt in Washington, DC.

Ook ruim 4.000 van de 18.000 autodealers van het land vechten tegen de regel. aan de heer Biden hem aansporen om “op de pauzes te tikken” op de regel. Autodealers – bedrijfseigenaren die geworteld zijn in gemeenschappen die rechtstreeks communiceren met automobilisten bij het kiezen van hun auto – zouden kiezers bijzonder overtuigend kunnen overtuigen, aldus analisten.

“Het is echt verrassend dat dit ons zojuist door de strot is geramd”, zegt Duane Wilkes, financieel directeur van de Berge Auto Group in Arizona, die eigenaar is van zes dealers die auto’s verkopen van Toyota, Lexus, Ford, Volkswagen en Mazda in Phoenix en Tucson. .

“Wat we verkopen wordt niet door ons bepaald, het wordt bepaald door de klant, wat hij werkelijk wil kopen”, aldus de heer Wilkes. “En de elektrische auto’s staan ​​gewoon op de kavels.”

In het metrogebied van Phoenix vertegenwoordigden elektrische voertuigen vorig jaar 11,6 procent van de registraties van nieuwe auto’s. “Het probeert stemmen te krijgen,” zei de heer Wilkes, die zichzelf omschreef als een onafhankelijke kiezer. ‘Het zal de mijne niet worden. Ze willen een verandering afdwingen waarvan ik denk dat een typische Amerikaan er niet klaar voor is.”

Hij voegde eraan toe: “Wij hebben een aandeel in het spel en dit is een directe aanzet tot onze winstgevendheid en in sommige gevallen misschien zelfs ons voortbestaan.”

En toch zijn elektrische voertuigen het snelst groeiende segment van de auto-industrie. De verkoop van elektrische voertuigen, vrachtwagens en SUV’s bereikte vorig jaar een record en bereikte voor het eerst 1,2 miljoen, waarmee het aandeel van elektrische voertuigen op de Amerikaanse automarkt op 8,5 procent van de registraties van nieuwe auto’s komt. Hoewel de groei vertraagt, wordt verwacht dat dit jaar opnieuw een record zal worden gevestigd, aldus analisten.

Maar de hausse vindt niet overal plaats. In Californië, dat de natie leidt wat betreft het aantal laadstations, was vorig jaar 40 procent van de nieuwe auto’s die in San Jose werden geregistreerd elektrisch. Maar in Detroit, de autohoofdstad van het land, waren ze goed voor slechts 3 procent en in Buffalo en Bismark, ND, zelfs nog minder.

Michael McKenna, een Republikeinse strateeg en energielobbyist die in het Witte Huis van Trump werkte, zei dat uit Republikeinse peilingen is gebleken dat het aanvallen van mandaten voor elektrische voertuigen een “verbazingwekkende” kwestie is voor de partij. Hij noemde de regeling van de heer Biden een ‘schaduwverbod’ op voertuigen op gas. “Als je iets onbeschikbaar maakt, is dat hetzelfde als het verbieden”, zei hij.

“Het is een solide tweederangsprobleem, met om voor de hand liggende redenen een bijzondere opvallendheid in Michigan, Pennsylvania en Ohio”, zei de heer McKenna, verwijzend naar de swing states die de heer Biden hoopt te winnen. “Gaan mensen erover stemmen? Waarschijnlijk zal het niet hun belangrijkste drijfveer zijn. Maar zal het een secundaire bevestiging zijn? Ja.”

Stefan Hankin, een democratische strateeg en oprichter van Lincoln Park Strategies, die de partij hiervoor heeft gewaarschuwd “kiezers te hard pushen” op het gebied van elektrische voertuigenzei dat hij gelooft dat de autoregel de heer Biden zal helpen.

“Het is geen verbod, en dat is bemoedigend”, zei de heer Hankin, eraan toevoegend dat de regel “een signaal afgeeft aan milieubewuste kiezers en jongere kiezers, waarin de Biden-campagne zeker geïnteresseerd is.”

Uit een onderzoek uit 2023, uitgevoerd door het Pew Research Center, bleek dat de helft van de Amerikaanse volwassenen, en 70 procent van de Republikeinen en degenen die Republikein neigen, zeiden dat ze waarschijnlijk niet overwegen om een ​​elektrische auto aan te schaffen als hun volgende auto. In dezelfde peiling zei 56 procent van de Democraten en degenen die Democratisch neigen dat ze zouden overwegen een elektrische auto te kopen

Mike Murphy, een ervaren Republikeinse agent, zag dezelfde partijdige verdeeldheid in een opiniepeiling van november onder leiding van het EV Politics Project, een belangenorganisatie die hij heeft opgericht.

“Het is een tribale kwestie”, zei de heer Murphy, die heeft gewerkt voor senator Mitt Romney van Utah, de voormalige gouverneur van Florida Jeb Bush en andere gematigde Republikeinen. De heer Murphy, een fan van elektrische voertuigen, richtte het EV Politics Project op om te proberen de Republikeinen ervan te overtuigen hen niet langer te bashen – een eenzame strijd.

“Als je het Republikeinse probleem niet kunt oplossen, kun je deze doelstellingen op geen enkele manier bereiken”, zei de heer Murphy, verwijzend naar de emissiedoelstellingen van de EPA. “Ze zullen geen Democraten meer hebben.”

Elon Musk, de CEO van Tesla, dat goed is voor de helft van de verkoop van elektrische voertuigen in de Verenigde Staten, heeft zich aangesloten bij veel extreem-rechtse standpunten, waardoor analisten zich afvragen of hij de conservatieve houding ten opzichte van auto’s kan veranderen. “Hij zou de Republikeinse oppositie kunnen verzachten als hij dat zou willen”, zei Murphy. Maar er zijn weinig aanwijzingen dat dit gebeurt.

Republikeinen en de heer Trump hebben betoogd dat elektrische voertuigen China, de economische rivaal van Amerika, helpen, omdat mineralen die cruciaal zijn voor de productie van batterijen, zoals grafiet en mangaan, vaak uit China afkomstig zijn.

Het verzet van Trump tegen elektrische voertuigen heeft een dilemma gecreëerd voor politieke leiders in verschillende door de Republikeinen geleide staten waar nieuwe elektrische auto- en batterijfabrieken worden gebouwd, dankzij federale stimuleringsmaatregelen onder toezicht van de regering-Biden.

Henry McMaster, de Republikeinse gouverneur van South Carolina, werd over dat dilemma gevraagd tijdens een ceremonie in februari ter gelegenheid van de bouw van een fabriek van $ 2 miljard voor de productie van elektrische pick-ups en terreinwagens onder het merk Scout. De fabriek zal naar verwachting maar liefst 4.000 banen creëren.

Regering McMaster benadrukte dat de heer Trump niet tegen elektrische voertuigen is.

“Waar president Trump tegen is, zoals de meeste mensen zijn, zijn mandaten – federale mandaten”, vertelde gouverneur McMaster aan verslaggevers. “We begrijpen dat elektrische voertuigen deel uitmaken van de toekomst van South Carolina. Wij volgen de markt.”

De politieke en sociale boodschappen die consumenten over elektrische auto’s tot zich nemen, zouden het succes van de nieuwe regelgeving aanzienlijk kunnen bepalen, zegt Stephanie Brinley, analist voor de Auto Intelligence-dienst bij S&P Global Mobility. Dat komt omdat de regel zo sterk afhangt van de vraag of automobilisten schonere auto’s kopen.

“Dat maakt deel uit van de wildcard over consumenten”, zegt mevrouw Brinley. “Het is een emotioneel iets. Het weerspiegelt de of/of-mentaliteit die de sociale media domineert. Het kan van invloed zijn op hoe snel of hoe langzaam deze transitie gaat.”

Jonathan Weisman rapportage bijgedragen.