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The article provides a comprehensive overview of the events and developments in the field of micromounting in 2023. It discusses the incorporation of Zoom components into physical micromount events and the potential for a permanent Zoom component in the future. The article also acknowledges the deaths of prominent figures in the micromounting community and their contributions to the field. It highlights various micromounting events and symposia that took place throughout the year, showcasing the global nature of the hobby and the camaraderie among enthusiasts. The text emphasizes the importance of preserving micromounting traditions and providing educational opportunities for students. It concludes by mentioning other small organizations and providing contact information for further information. [Extracted from the article]

Solar retinopathy, resulting from solar eclipse exposure, poses risks to visual health. This study explores acute and chronic phase findings using clinical examinations and optical coherence tomography (OCT) and optical coherence tomography angiography (OCT-A) with a focus on longitudinal assessment. Seven eyes with a history of unprotected solar eclipse exposure were included. Clinical examination, fundus photography, OCT, and OCT-A imaging were performed at initial assessment, as well as at one-month and six-month follow-up intervals. Data analysis included descriptive statistics. The cases, exposed without protection, underwent assessments, revealing variable visual acuity, outer retinal layer, and Henle fiber layer changes during follow-up. Regression of hyperreflectivity within the outer retinal and Henle fiber layers was observed over time in all eyes, although persistent microdefects within the outer retinal layer were noted in specific cases. OCT-A imaging revealed a larger foveal avascular zone, which persisted over a six-month period in select cases. Additionally, affected eyes exhibited a decrease in superficial vascular density, with subsequent improvement noted during the six-month period. Solar retinopathy can result in visual impairment, accompanied by alterations observed in the Henle fiber layer using OCT. Additionally, OCT-A findings indicate possible vascular involvement. This study underscores the significance of adopting protective measures during solar eclipses and emphasizes the value of employing longitudinal multimodal imaging techniques to comprehend the pathophysiology of the condition. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

• For the first time, the ionospheric response to a solar eclipse was observed on a global scale. • Changes in all TEC disturbance parameters depended in a complex manner on relative obscuration area. • Delay time of maximum ionospheric response with respect to maximum eclipse magnitude was 15–25 min. • Duration of ionospheric response to the eclipse exceeded the duration of disturbing source influence. Solar eclipses (SEs) pertain to high-energy sources. They are capable of causing significant disturbances in all geoshells and geophysical fields. Despite the almost century-long history of studying the influence of eclipses on geoshells, the task of observing and analyzing disturbances in them remains relevant. This is explained by the fact that the response of the media significantly depends on the state of atmospheric and space weather, the location and time of observation, the SE magnitude, etc. The aim of this paper is to present the results of a statistical analysis of the features of the total electron content (TEC) variations during the October 25, 2022 SE from high to low latitudes in the Euro-Asian region. Data from Global Navigation Satellite System were used for the analysis. The error in estimating TEC in the vertical column did not exceed 0.1 TECU. For the first time, the response of the ionosphere to an SE has been studied on a global scale (from the Reykjavik station to the Novosibirsk station) using methods of statistical analysis, including the time moments after sunset. The decrease in TEC reached 1.0–19.0 TECU, and the relative decrease was approximately –0.32. Changes in all TEC disturbance parameters depended in a complex manner on the relative obscuration area of the solar disk. This can be explained by non-monotonic changes in electron density during the daytime, by the intensification of the ionosphere–plasmasphere coupling, the disturbance of the ionospheric current system, vertical plasma drift in crossed electric and magnetic fields, as well as the generation of wave disturbances during the SE period. The delay time of the maximum ionospheric response (maximum |δ V | value) with respect to the maximum magnitude of the eclipse was 15–25 min. The duration of the ionospheric response to the SE slightly exceeded the duration of the perturbing source influence. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Solar eclipses present rare celestial events that can elicit unique behavioral responses in animals, yet comprehensive studies on these phenomena, particularly concerning bird behavior, remain limited. This study, conducted at the Red Butte Canyon Research Natural Area in Utah during the annular solar eclipse on October 14, 2023, aimed to document and analyze avian activity using bird banding data. Leveraging 11 years of banding records, we observed a surprising positive peak in bird captures, indicating increased activity during the eclipse, challenging conventional expectations of decreased activity during peak totality. The unexpected, record-breaking captures on the eclipse day at this location, which also surpassed the average trend in captures over time for 18 other banding days in mid-October, highlights the complexity of bird behavior during celestial events. This study marks the first known published effort to conduct bird banding during a solar eclipse. Quantitative analyses, including species composition and capture trends, contribute to a nuanced understanding of avian responses to the eclipse. This study underscores the importance of empirical research in unraveling the intricacies of how birds navigate and adapt to unique environmental conditions created by solar eclipses. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This is an essay about looking at the sun, which means that it is actually an essay about being unable to do so. The figure at its centre is the solar eclipse, which removes the sun from view but provides the occasion to gather and look for light in the first place. While exceptional, the solar eclipse nonetheless presents a middle or common ground of light – mere light whose limits are realised by a shared witness, akin to the everyday sunset. The sunset and the solar eclipse each chart the point at which light fails, when the sun drops below the horizon or is otherwise occluded. Moving through a series of photographs of the sun, this essay takes the sun's eclipse – that is, the sun's disappearance – as central to photography's own middle ground. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The Royal Frankish Annals (RFA) report under A.D. 807 three lunar and one solar eclipse (complete and dated correctly), a lunar occultation of Jupiter, and "a small spot" on the Sun interpreted as Mercury transit. This transmission is embedded between texts on the landing of diplomatic delegates from Baghdad and Jerusalem in Venice and on their meeting with Charlemagne. Technology transfer is explicitly mentioned (a mechanical water clock). The interpretation of a spot on the Sun as planetary transit is attested in Arabic reports since A.D. 840. The Jupiter occultation by the Moon is dated "Luna 17," correctly counted in Muslim calendar practice since the first crescent detection. Eclipse predictions and records by astronomers from the cAbbasid caliphate using Ptolemy's Almagest are extant from the early ninth century. There are time-spans of 6 months each between the three reported lunar eclipses (806 Sep 1/2, 807 Feb 25/26, Aug 21/22), a period of possible repetition given in the Almagest, but not known to the Carolingians. The 6-month rule for lunar eclipses might be preserved in the Carolingian Seven Book Computus. We present multiple evidence that visitors from Baghdad brought new insight and fostered the Carolingian progress in astronomy. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

• Low latitude D-region ionospheric disturbances observed by a multi-station VLF network during the December 2019 solar eclipse. • Short propagation paths are used to formulate the relationship between solar obscuration and reduction of D-region electron density. • Based on the observations and calculation, spatial distributions of D-region electron density over the Indian sub-continent are presented. We present the low-latitude D-region (60–90 km) ionospheric disturbances due to the December 2019 annular solar eclipse observed using the multi-station Very Low Frequency (VLF) radio network in West Bengal, India. VLF signals from communication transmitters were received from ten places using low-cost VLF radio receivers. The receivers were capable of recording the amplitudes of VLF signals mainly from the transmitters VTX, India at 18.2 kHz and NWC, Australia at 19.8 kHz. During the solar eclipse, the VTX signal experienced considerable positive, negative, and mixed-type amplitude variations depending on the propagation lengths between the transmitter and receivers, whereas the NWC signal displayed a relatively small amplitude response. We have also found that the highest VLF signal disturbances in each propagation path occurred after the time when the solar obscuration was maximum over the entire path. We used the observations of the VTX signal to formulate the relationship between solar obscuration and D-region electron density reduction during the solar eclipse. On the basis of this, we presented the electron density distribution of the D-region ionosphere during the solar eclipse across the Indian subcontinent. This study shows a useful method for integrating VLF observations and simulations to estimate the D-region electron density distribution over a vast area during a solar eclipse. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Solar eclipse has remarkable effect on behavior of animals. South India experienced a 97% magnitude annular eclipse on December 26, 2019 during 08:04–11:04 h with the totality phase appeared during 09:25–09:30 h. We investigated whether the foraging activity of the bees was limited by the eclipse, what bees are affected most, and which part of the eclipse was critical for bee activities to understand how a group of insects that rely the Sun, the sunlight, and the sun rays for their navigation and vision behaves to the eclipse. We opted to watch the bees in their foraging ground, and selected the natural flower populations of Cleome rutidosperma, Hygrophila schulli, Mimosa pudica, and Urena sinuata—some of the bee-friendly plants—to record the visitor richness and visitation rate on the flowers on eclipse and non-eclipse days and during the hour of totality phase and partial phase of the eclipse. Fewer flower-visiting species were recorded on the eclipse day than on the non-eclipse days, but in the period of totality, very few bee species were active, and limited their activity to only one population of C. rutidosperma. Visits of honey bees and stingless bees were affected most, but not that badly of solitary bees and carpenter bees. Bees, particularly the social bees use Sun for navigation and deciphering information on forage sources to fellow workers. The eclipse, like for many other animals, might hamper bees' orientation, vision, and flight. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Ozone at ground level (O3) is an air pollutant that is formed from primary precursor gases like nitrogen oxides (NOx) and volatile organic compounds (VOCs). It plays a significant role as a precursor to highly reactive hydroxyl (OH) radicals, which ultimately influence the lifespan of various gases in the atmosphere. The elevated surface O3 levels resulting from anthropogenic activities have detrimental effects on both human health and agricultural productivity. This paper provides a comprehensive analysis of the variations in surface O3 levels across various regions in the Indian subcontinent, focusing on both spatial and temporal changes. The study is based on an in-depth review of literature spanning the last thirty years in India. Based on the findings of the latest study, the spatial distribution of surface O3 indicates a rise of approximately 50–70 ppbv during the summer and pre-monsoon periods in the northern region and Indo-Gangetic Plain. Moreover, elevated levels of surface O3 (40–70 ppbv) are observed during the pre-monsoon/summer season in the western, southern, and peninsular Indian regions. The investigation also underscores the ground-based observations of diurnal and seasonal alterations in surface O3 levels at two separate sites (rural and urban) in Kannur district, located in southern India, over a duration of nine years starting from January 2016. The O3 concentration exhibits an increasing trend of 7.91% (rural site) and 5.41% (urban site), ascribed to the rise in vehicular and industrial operations. This review also presents a succinct summary of O3 fluctuations during solar eclipses and nocturnal firework displays in the subcontinent. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Two solar eclipse events in 2023 appeared to produce considerable enhancements in the thermospheric column density ratio of monatomic oxygen to molecular nitrogen (ΣO/N2) as measured by TIMED GUVI. We quantify potential sources for eclipse‐induced ΣO/N2 changes and find that the observed enhancements arise from the ionospheric O+ radiative recombination contribution to the OI 135.6 nm emission from which ΣO/N2 is derived. Variations in the solar Extreme Ultra Violet (EUV) and X‐ray spectrum, due to the difference between the disk spectrum and the coronal spectrum, are also considered but shown to have negligible contributions to the ΣO/N2 enhancements. After accounting for the radiative recombination contribution, we constrain the real thermospheric compositional change to the uncertainty level of the measurements of 5%–10%. These results are valuable for the interpretation of eclipse‐induced ΣO/N2 changes that will further first‐principle model comparisons and lead to a better understanding of the response of the thermosphere to localized variations in solar EUV and X‐ray forcing. Plain Language Summary: The Thermosphere Ionosphere Mesosphere Energetics and Dynamics' Global Ultraviolet Imager provides an estimate of the column ratio of monatomic oxygen (O) to molecular nitrogen (N2) in the upper atmosphere (ΣO/N2) as a data product under normal, sunlit conditions. Eclipses are special conditions. In this paper, we model the measured ultraviolet emissions from O and N2 that go into the retrieval algorithm to understand why this increase in the radiance ratio occurs within the totality of the eclipse. There are two components to the O emission, the glow created by electrons (photoelectrons) that result from the ionization of the upper atmosphere and the glow created by recombination of ionospheric O+ ions. We find that the photoelectron source decreases significantly during the eclipse, but near the magnetic equator, the ionospheric recombination emission does not, which causes the retrieval algorithm to overestimate the ΣO/N2 column density ratio during eclipses. The observations and models are consistent with this explanation. Key Points: The apparent thermospheric ΣO/N2 enhancements (10%–30%) for two eclipse events are found to be predominantly of ionospheric originVariations in the solar spectrum due to wavelength‐dependent attenuation are found to have a negligible impact on ΣO/N2 during the eclipseThe true eclipsed‐induced thermosphere compositional changes are determined to be within 5%–10% of the pre‐eclipse values [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Solar eclipse traveled across South China in the afternoon on 21 June 2020. Five ionosondes located from mid‐to low‐latitudes and on both north and south of the eclipse path were applied to investigate the ionospheric responses. Both the zonal and meridional ranges of the observation region have exceeded 1,000 km. All the five ionosondes had observed the Intermediate Descending Layers (IDLs) simultaneously just after the eclipse maximum and this is a very small probability event. During the solar eclipse, the multi‐hop echoes above the Es, the rising Es to 150 km altitude, the plasma flux from above F2‐layer were also observed and analyzed. The descending trend of the IDLs and the peak height of F2‐layer (hmF2) shows great consistency, indicating the close relationship between the eclipse induced plasma flux and the IDLs. The traces of gravity waves were also found in the IDLs and F‐layer. The plasma flux may carry the ions to valley region and the eclipse produced gravity waves were responsible for the formation of the IDLs. Key Points: Five ionosondes observed the intermediate descending layers simultaneously just after the solar eclipse maximumThe descending trend of the intermediate layers is very similar to that of the F2‐layer peak heightsPlasma flux and gravity waves associated with the solar eclipse are suggested to induce the intermediate descending layers [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

A solar eclipse is a fascinating event that gives a unique opportunity to study the ionospheric characteristics in a controlled blockage of solar radiation. We present the upper atmosphere's response, mostly F-layer, during the annular eclipse on October 14, 2023. This eclipse was mostly visible from the North and South American regions with a maximum obscuration of around 91%. We study the response of the ionospheric Total Electron Content (TEC) and the critical frequency of the F2 layer (f 0 F 2) for three consecutive days (October 13 to 15, 2023) using ground and space-based techniques. We present the ionospheric response for a large area that covers the path of the solar eclipse of latitude and longitude range from 50 ° N to 10 ° S and 30 ° W to 150 ° W. For the ground-based observation, we use fifty-five International GNSS Service (IGS) stations and eleven Global Ionospheric Radio Observatory (GIRO) Digisonde stations that cover the annular and partial solar eclipse and are in the close vicinity of the annularity belt. We compute the vertical TEC (VTEC) and f 0 F 2 from this database and check their temporal and spatial variations. It is found that the VTEC, as computed from the IGS stations, mostly shows decrements during the partial blockage of the sun by the lunar disc. The VTEC, as computed from the GIRO database, also shows a decreasing trend but with comparatively more oscillating in nature. The f 0 F 2 shows a similar decreasing trend due to the solar eclipse. For space-based observation, we use the Swarm satellite data for the tracks that have gone through the annularity belt. Also, a spatiotemporal study is executed using the Global Ionospheric Map (GIM) database. For both cases, the VTEC shows a prominent depletion. We investigate the variation in the percentage change in VTEC as a function of obscuration and observe a positive correlation between them. We also compute the time difference between the maximum eclipse and the maximum TEC modulation to investigate the response time profiles of the ionosphere at different receiving stations. All the methods give satisfactory and consistent outcomes that corroborate the physical mechanism of ionospheric variabilities due to the effect of the solar eclipse. We check the geomagnetic condition to eliminate the scope of contamination and observe that their values are normal during the study. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Total solar eclipses occur nearly every 18 months at some place on the Earth but for any given location, it is a rarest of the rare events. In our quest for the records of solar eclipses in Indian inscriptions, chronicles and literature since Antiquity until the close of the nineteenth century, we have come across only very few references where the eclipse is stated as total. In this paper we focus on one such reference, the so-called Kurtakoti Plates from Karnataka, where there is a Grant made on the occasion of a total eclipse of the Sun. The Grant was attributed to the seventh century Chalukyan king Vikramaditya I. Being a copper plate Grant, doubts were raised over its genuineness. The Kurtakoti copper plates may be a later reproduction of the original plates, which may have been damaged or lost. We find that there indeed was a total solar eclipse over Kurtakoti, on 21 April 627 CE, that can fit the Grant. However, it occurred in the times of the King's father, the great Chalukyan King Pulikesi II with whom the details as given in the Grant are more consistent. This eclipse is an independent corroboration of his date of ascension being 610-611 CE. There is no known Indian historical record mentioning an eclipse of the Sun as total but datable still earlier. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

A solar eclipse (SE) can cause disturbances in all subsystems of the Earth–atmosphere–ionosphere–magnetosphere system, including the geomagnetic field. Using the data obtained at 15 stations of the INTERMAGNET network, the temporal variations of all components of the geomagnetic field are analyzed. It is found that the SE has been accompanied by a disturbance of the X-, Y-, and Z-components. The largest disturbances have been detected for the X-component (south–north). There has been a steady tendency to increase the disturbance of the X-component with an increase in the area of the solar disk obscuration. The disturbance magnitude of the X-component level under the influence of the SE is calculated. It is believed that the main mechanism for generating the magnetic effect is the disturbance of the ionospheric current system at the heights of the dynamo region. The results of observations and calculations are in good agreement with each other. In addition to a stable aperiodic effect lasting approximately 100...180 min, an increase in the range of fluctuations in the geomagnetic field level has been observed during the SE. This may indicate the generation of quasi-periodic disturbances of the geomagnetic field in the range of atmospheric gravity waves. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Datable graphical records of total solar eclipses allow us to assess contemporaneous variability of Earth's rotation speed, solar coronal structure, and solar-wind conditions. Such graphical records were studied back to the early 18th century. Here, we examine Matthew Paris' medieval manuscript, an eyewitness account of a total solar eclipse just after local sunrise on 1230 May 14, to analyse his drawings for this eclipse. We philologically identify his observational site as St. Albans and compute local eclipse visibility. To locate St. Albans in the totality path, our analysis requires an accumulative error in time due to the variation in the Earth's rate of rotation, Δ T , in the range 394 s < Δ T  < 764 s (loose scenario), slightly revising the latest published Δ T spline curve. The eclipsed Sun sould have been visible after local sunrise if we set the Δ T margins to 394 s < Δ T  < 659 s (strict scenario), which requires a further slight modification of the latest Δ T spline curve. Matthew Paris' drawing of the total solar eclipse showed streamer-like structures similar to solar-minimum-type coronal streamers, consistent with the local tilt of the apparent solar equator. This is morphologically consistent with the minimum-type solar coronal streamers predicted from the open solar flux reconstructed from the 14C data set. This record potentially demonstrates a similarity in solar cycles between the 'Medieval Grand Maximum' and modern solar cycles. Collectively, historical eclipse records could be used as spot references for Earth's rotation speed, solar coronal dynamics, and background solar dynamo activity on a millennial time-scale. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper relates curiosity to economic development through its impact on human capital formation and technological advancement in pre-modern times. More specifically, we propose that exposure to inexplicable phenomena prompts curiosity and thinking in an attempt to comprehend these mysteries, thus raising human capital and technology, and, ultimately, fostering growth. We focus on solar eclipses as one particular trigger of curiosity and empirically establish a robust relationship between their number and several proxies of economic prosperity. We also offer evidence compatible with the human capital and technological increases we postulate, finding a more intricate thinking process and more developed technology among societies more exposed to solar eclipses. Among other factors, we study the development of written language, the playing of strategy games and the accuracy of folkloric explanations for eclipses, as well as the number of tasks undertaken in a society, their relative complexity and broad technological indicators. Lastly, we document rising curiosity both at the social and individual levels: societies incorporate more terms related to curiosity and eclipses in their folklore, and people who observed a total solar eclipse during their childhood were more likely to have entered a scientific occupation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

We exploit a unique historical experiment to study how changes in political legitimacy affect economic performance. In historical China, solar eclipses were interpreted as Heaven's wrath incurred by wrongdoings of the ruling class, signaling a decline in the incumbent's legitimacy. Using an original dataset covering over 2000 years, we document that when total solar eclipses occurred, climate shocks had a greater negative impact on economic performance. The key mechanism appears to be that total eclipses significantly intensified the effect of climate shocks on civil conflict. Our findings thus highlight the importance of political legitimacy during periods of economic downturn. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article provides advice to the public on safe and comfortable viewing of solar eclipses. It emphasizes the importance of using proper eye protection, such as eclipse filters that comply with ISO 12312-2 standards. The article addresses concerns about the safety and quality of these filters, stating that they provide appropriate protection and are robust. It also provides guidelines for selecting and using eclipse filters, including not using other types of filters and supervising children. The article concludes by urging consistent and accurate messaging about safe viewing practices for future eclipses. [Extracted from the article]

The data of measurements of air temperature profiles in the atmospheric boundary layer (ABL) during the total solar eclipse on March 29, 2006, in Kislovodsk and at the High-Mountain Scientific Station (HMSS) on the central shadow line are presented. The solar eclipse lasted from 2:08 p.m. to 4:27 p.m. local time; the total phase of the eclipse began at 3:15 p.m. and lasted 2 min 32 s. In developing the results we obtained in our previous work, we compared the data on air temperature profiles at two points, Kislovodsk and the HMSS. The influence of local conditions has been studied. It is shown that local conditions significantly affect both the amplitude of atmospheric pressure pulsations caused by a solar eclipse and their phase, as well as the nature of the change in the spectral density of air temperature with height in the range of periods corresponding to the duration of the solar eclipse. Based on the measurements of temperature profiles, the fluctuations of the atmospheric pressure difference at the level of the earth's surface and at a certain height up to which the temperature profiles were measured equal to 600 m, were reconstructed, caused by a solar eclipse, in coordinates: height–time has different trajectories in the case of Kislovodsk and the HMSS. The difference in the trajectories of air temperature minima in Kislovodsk and at the HMSS determines both different delays in pressure minima relative to the beginning of the eclipse and time delays between surface pressure fluctuations at observation points as a whole. Also, a new method is proposed for determining the speed of ascending air currents using data on the altitude dependence of the time of reaching a minimum in temporal temperature variations caused by a solar eclipse. The changes in the spectral density of air are compared with height, the amplitude of the reconstructed atmospheric pressure pulsations in Kislovodsk and at the HMSS, and the speed of ascending air currents. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This work studies variations of ionospheric total electron content (TEC) during four distinct solar eclipse events over the Ethiopia region. Dual‐frequency global positioning system (GPS) data obtained from UNAVCO over Addis Ababa (9.036°N, 38.76°E) and Bahir Dar (11.6°N, 37.34°E) stations are used to examine the ionospheric variability during two annular solar eclipses on 15 January 2010 and 1 September 2016, a partial solar eclipse on 4 January 2011, and a hybrid solar eclipse (the eclipse path starts out as annular but later changes to total) on 3 November 2013. The results show a significant decrease in TEC values during the occurrence of the solar eclipses. Specifically, the TEC values are reduced to −20% and −10% during the annular eclipse on 15 January 2010, −33% and −38% during the partial solar eclipse on 4 January 2011, −26% and −24% during the annular solar eclipse on 1 September 2016, over the Addis Ababa and Bahir Dar stations, respectively. There is only minimal change in TEC of −8% and −9% at Addis Ababa and Bahir stations, respectively, during the 3 November 2013 solar eclipse even if the obstruction rate is high over the study area. Furthermore, the study shows that the spatial gradient of TEC reduction varies at different locations, which is attributed to the distinct amount of reduction in solar radiation reaching the Earth's surface, resulting in reduced photo‐ionization. Overall, this study provides insightful information about the behavior of the ionospheric TEC during solar eclipses over Ethiopia and emphasizes the use of dual‐frequency GPS data in tracking the variations of the TEC. Key Points: The ionospheric total electron content (TEC) variation due to four solar eclipse events over Ethiopia region was studied for the first timeSolar eclipses lowered the value of TEC up to 38% during various eclipse events over Addis Ababa and Bahir Dar stations in EthiopiaThe rate of reduction of TEC was found to depend on path of eclipse, magnitude, local time, and location of the station [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

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The article titled "Stunning Aurorae and Olbers's Comet" by David Levy discusses the author's personal experiences observing the aurora borealis and Comet Olbers. Levy describes his fascination with the northern lights and recounts various instances where he witnessed spectacular displays of the aurora. He also shares his excitement at spotting Comet Olbers for the first time. The article briefly mentions Olbers's Paradox, a concept proposed by Heinrich Olbers, and references Edgar Allan Poe's poem "The Raven." Overall, the article provides an engaging account of the author's encounters with natural phenomena in the night sky. [Extracted from the article]

Background: Millions of people in Texas lived within the path of the total solar eclipse on April 8, 2024, and hundreds of thousands of people were expected to visit Texas to view the event. Looking directly at the sun during a solar eclipse without protective equipment can cause eye damage. People were advised to view the solar eclipse only through eclipse glasses or other protective eyewear. The objective of this study was to describe the pattern of Google searches for eye injury in Texas after the solar eclipse. Methods: Google Trends analyses were performed to evaluate searches for the term "hurt eyes" in Texas. In Google Trends, data are normalized in that each data point consists of the number of searches for the term of interest divided by the total searches; the fraction or rate serves as a measure of the relative popularity of the search term. The data are scaled on a range of 0 to 100. To identify any daily changes in searches, a Google Trends analysis was performed for the 30-day time period of March 16, 2024-April 14, 2024. To identify geographic differences, a Google Trends analysis was performed for the three-day period of April 8-10, 2024, to produce a geographic heat map of the searches during that time period. Results: The Google Trends analysis for the 30-day period of March 16, 2024-April 14, 2024, found that, during March 16, 2024-April 7, 2024, the scale values ranged 0-12. The highest value was on April 8, 2024, the day of the total solar eclipse, declining over the next two days before ranging 5-10 during April 11-14, 2024. The Google Trends analysis for the threeday period of April 8-10, 2024, found that six of the seven metropolitan areas that were at least partially in the path of totality of the solar eclipse were in the seven metropolitan areas with the highest scale values. Conclusions: Google searches in Texas for the term "hurt eyes" increased on the day of the April 8, 2024, total solar eclipse and remained relatively high the next two days following the event before returning to normal afterward. Most of the metropolitan regions with the highest proportion of searches were those in the path of the total solar eclipse. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]