This week’s total eclipse just became a time traveling mindf**k of epic proportions. Sweeping across the Pacific Ocean from Indonesia to Hawaii, a 90 mile wide strip will constitute the phenomenon’s line of totality, the area of the moon’s umbra shadow. Parts of Southeast Asia, Hawaii, Alaska and Australia will all be covered in partial shadows, while the rest of the world will be able to watch a live stream of the event from Micronesia.
But these details are all trivial in comparison to this eclipse’s inability to abide by the laws of time. It’s starting Wednesday, March 9th and will be finished on Tuesday, March 8th.
What the hell?
According to the San Francisco Exploratorium, the first shadows will be cast over the Indian Ocean at 23:20 UTC, but a NASA animation shows the total eclipse starting just after midnight, Coordinated Universal Time. Sumatra, Borneo and Sulawesi are where that party will get started, seven hours ahead (WIB) of UTC. While the eclipse moves east for the next five hours the moon’s shadow will be passing over the mysterious imaginary line that nobody really understands, known as the International Dateline. When it finally wraps up over the Pacific Ocean, just North East of Hawaii, ten hours behind UTC and still powering through Tuesday, March 8th.
So if you’re not doing anything the day before the day after tomorrow…
