“几乎改变生活”：历史性的日食让新英格兰各地的人群惊叹不已
【中美创新时报2024 年 4 月 9 日编译讯】（记者温友平编译）经过几个月的期待，周一下午，一场历史性的日食席卷了美国，到达了新英格兰，使该国的大片地区陷入了诡异的午后黑暗中，数百万人聚集在一起，共同感到敬畏和惊奇。《波士顿环球报》记者及通讯员Sabrina Shankman、Carlos R. Muñoz、Hiawatha Bray 和 Alexa Coultoff作了下述详细报道。
月亮的阴影沿着其全食路径从墨西哥太平洋海岸穿过德克萨斯州，穿过 11 个州到达新英格兰，那里聚集了大批人群观看这一天体事件，然后进入纽芬兰附近的北大西洋。
在新英格兰，在晴朗的天空下，这条暮色丝带横穿了佛蒙特州北部和新罕布什尔州以及缅因州的大部分地区，吸引了大批游客前往沿线的社区。
波士顿的日偏食于下午 2 点 16 分开始。并在下午 3 点 29 分达到顶峰。当月亮的路径穿过太阳时，多切斯特音乐学院实验室特许学校的学生通过日食观测眼镜凝视天空。一些学生发出惊叹声，另一些学生则吹响塑料卡祖笛庆祝。
“太阳看起来像月亮！” 三年级学生瑟琳蒂·桑德斯惊呼道。
4 月 8 日星期一，数千人聚集在霍尔顿市中心的集市广场和主街观看日全食。MICHAEL G. SEAMANS
六年级学生凯琳·达西尔维拉 (Kaylin Dasilveira) 每次抬头时都会惊讶地发现太阳“越来越小”。
“看起来太阳是半开的，”她说。对于这个 11 岁的女孩来说，这次日食恰逢她对科学的兴趣日益浓厚，现在她想了解更多。
“有一天我可能想成为一个通过望远镜观察天空的人，”她说。
上一次日全食路径穿过美国本土是在 2017 年。据美国国家航空航天局 (NASA) 称，下一次还需要二十年时间。黑暗持续了长达4分28秒，几乎是2017年月食的两倍，而月影只用了大约1小时40分钟就穿过了北美洲，大约4000英里。
全食路径宽约 115 英里，涵盖了美国几个主要城市，其中包括达拉斯；印第安纳波利斯；克利夫兰；纽约州布法罗；和蒙特利尔。据估计，赛道内居住着 4400 万人，200 英里范围内还有数亿人。
在新英格兰北部，随着日食向东移动，人群越来越多。缅因州韦尔斯附近的收费公路上的一辆小型货车上写着“Eclipse or Bust!!!”的字样。位于阿伦德尔的迈克美式餐厅的服务员表示，其中包括满载高中生的巴士，他们前往缅因州霍尔顿，观看月球完全遮住太阳表面的全貌。
在缅因州兰奇利这个平时沉睡的小镇，主干道上的交通陷入了瘫痪，数千人涌入小镇。停车是一个失败的原因，但似乎没有人太在意人群。
在毗邻加拿大边境的佛蒙特州里奇福德，远至肯塔基州的人们聚集在泥泞的密西斯阔伊河岸边。日食将于下午 2:15 到达，游客们架起望远镜，享受野餐，并制作针孔项目做准备。
19 岁的韦斯特·艾伦 (West Allen) 在纽约州立大学新帕尔茨分校学习天文学，她说她和家人凌晨 4 点起床，开车从奥尔巴尼出发。她说这次日食很特别，因为很多人生活在全食的道路上，而太阳“正在经历一个非常活跃的阶段”。
“日冕应该很漂亮，”她说。
下午2点18分左右，月亮开始慢慢地掠过太阳的表面，覆盖了一小部分黑暗。
经过如此多的期待后，“第一时刻感觉很神奇，”纽约州施塔茨堡的 47 岁克里斯蒂安·希塔宁 (Christian Hietanen) 说，“你会听到以前看过日全食的人的故事，这几乎改变了我们的生活，我们可以体验到这种感觉。” “这是我们永远不会忘记的时刻。”
来自波士顿的纳兹穆斯·纳西尔 (Nazmus Nasir) 和艾比·索斯韦尔 (Abby Southwell) 在佛蒙特州里奇福德的戴维斯公园与近 200 人分享了公共时刻。
“与所有人建立联系真是一次奇妙的经历，”索斯韦尔说。“每个人都在一起度过同样的‘天哪！’时刻。”
纳西尔正在观看他的第三次日食，但他说这是最好的一次。“这令人敬畏，”他说，“这令人费解。”
康涅狄格州布兰福德市 65 岁的戴维·董 (David Dong) 说，他来到佛蒙特州里奇福德是为了和一位大约 30 年前看到日环食的朋友一起观看日食。他们观看了一场精彩的表演。
“这是我以前从未有过的感受，”董说。 “这是一种敬畏感，一种惊喜感，比什么都重要。我脖子后面的头发都长出来了。光是看到前景中的光芒消失，然后看到月亮周围的火环就令人惊叹不已。”
来自巴尔的摩的太空望远镜科学研究所的科学家特里·阿斯特拉马贾 (Tri Astraatmadja) 表示，他的第二次日食经历让他感到不寒而栗。 “我认为这是一种灵魂出窍的体验…… 太棒了，”与哈勃太空望远镜和韦伯太空望远镜合作的阿斯特拉特马贾说。
他想知道古代人们的感受，当时人们对日全食的含义知之甚少。“他们肯定被吓死了，”他说。
在佛蒙特州伯灵顿以南一点的地方，在韦茅斯工作的马丁·格里利什（Martin Grealish）将这次日食描述为“一生难忘的经历”。
“看到太阳的光环会让你变得谦卑，看到大自然有多么强大，”他说。“这是一次非常感人的经历。” 他与孙子们分享了这段经历，并希望他们永远记住这一点。
在缅因州卡拉巴塞特谷东部，停车场从清晨起就挤满了人，舒格洛夫山主旅馆外的一个区域挤满了人，DJ 播放着震耳欲聋的音乐。
来自纽约州亨廷顿的 60 岁斯科特·阿尔珀特 (Scott Alpert) 高兴极了。2017 年在爱达荷州度假小镇太阳谷看到日食后，他想确保自己也能看到这次日食，但这次是和他的女儿 24 岁的麦肯齐和 27 岁的斯蒂芬妮一起。
缅因州并不是他们的第一选择。他们预定了去达拉斯的旅行，但天气阻碍了他们。几天前，他们换了方向，计划前往纽约州北部，但乌云却跟着他们。周六，阿尔珀特接受了一位同事的邀请，来到了他位于舒格洛夫的滑雪屋。它得到了回报。
“这太棒了，”他说。“天气真好，天上万里无云。”
来自康涅狄格州格林威治的桑杜一家也有类似的故事。纽约州罗彻斯特是他们的目的地，直到天气预报说有云。62 岁的哈温德·桑德胡 (Harvinder Sandhu) 在缅因州伯特利预订了一个房间，并认为他们将决定从那里去哪里。当他们在缅因州旅游网站上看到舒格洛夫 (Sugarloaf) 计划的娱乐活动后，他们于早上 7 点出发。
“我觉得我停车有点违章，”23 岁的亚历克西·桑德胡 (Alexi Sandhu) 笑着说，当时她和父亲以及 18 岁的弟弟阿尔扬 (Arjan) 坐在小屋外。
在佛蒙特州伯灵顿，杰里米·布罗茨和威尔·汤普森摆了一张桌子，出售“日食岩”，这是汤普森在尚普兰湖岸边发现的带有白色条纹的黑色石头。现在它们是潜在的纪念品。
“我告诉很多人……所有这些不同的人都会来到这里，他们会想要一些东西来纪念这一时刻，”汤普森说。 “每个人都说，这是一个糟糕的主意。”
但当他去布罗茨家吃晚饭时，布罗茨的母亲梅兰妮很喜欢。因此，两人在米德尔伯里学院相遇，继续实施他们的计划。岩石有三种尺寸，价格为三美元、五美元和七美元。
“鼓励讨价还价，”他们桌子上的一块牌子上写着。（布罗茨和汤普森卖出了大约 100 美元的岩石）。
周一早上向北旅行的天文观测者遇到了交通拥堵，开车回家的情况似乎更糟。至少有一个人形容日食后的交通堵塞是“可怕的”，数千人被困在从全食路径向南行驶的走走停停的交通中。
缅因州警方在社交媒体上分享了一张照片，显示周一晚上霍尔顿 1 号公路上的交通拥堵了 7 英里。
佛蒙特州交通局还报告称，当晚，89 号州际公路从科尔切斯特 16 号出口到东南约 90 英里的新罕布什尔州边境之间的交通拥堵。该机构表示，佛蒙特州的 I-91 州际公路在纽波特和德比的 27 号出口以及费尔利的 15 号出口之间也有堵塞。
新罕布什尔州的情况也好不到哪里去，州警方分享的航拍画面显示，柏林和戈勒姆部分地区的交通陷入停滞，司机们在回家途中沿着康科德的 93 号州际公路缓慢行驶。
人们聚集在面包和木偶剧院的田野里，同时观看格洛弗的日食，Vt.ERIN CLARK/GLOBE STAFF
在波士顿，数百人在天文事件发生前分散在波士顿公园各处。
艾默生学院的大四学生米雷亚·泽尔纳 (Mireya Zellner)、海莉·鲍德森 (Haley Balderson) 和斯图尔特·加尼斯 (Stewart Garniss) 铺开毯子，享受着温暖天气的回归。已经等了很长时间了。
“这可能是波士顿今年第一次作为一个集体城市出现在公共场所，”鲍德森说。
卡罗琳·斯塔茨和柯蒂斯·波特周一从华盛顿特区飞来体验这一盛事，七年前，他们在怀俄明州第一次看到了日食。
“我就是喜欢天文学，我觉得这太酷了，”49 岁的斯塔茨说。
他们说，与许多其他人分享这段经历使它变得更加特别。
“这是将所有这些人聚集在一起的事情，”54 岁的波特说。
马萨诸塞州艺术与设计学院的学生阿曼达·麦克拉斯基 (Amanda McCluskey) 举起一台受日食眼镜保护的数码相机，而她的同学萨姆·韦伯 (Sam Webb) 用虹彩胶片覆盖了镜框，为他们的照片实验增添了一些色彩。
“我依稀记得在 2017 年见过一次，当时我没有日食眼镜，所以我做了一个 DIY 黑客活动，”麦克拉斯基说。 “现在看到它真是太棒了。”
当日食覆盖到一半时，41 岁的马特·诺顿 (Matt Norton) 和他 3 岁的巧克力实验室迪克西 (Dixie) 坐在一起。 “我记得从小到大，但这是我第一次真正看到日偏食，”这位罗德岛本地人说道。 “这种事一生只会发生一次。”
当波士顿的月食覆盖率达到 92% 时，聚集在草坪上的群众爆发出欢呼声。尽管太阳很快就会放开，但大多数观众仍继续占据草坪，享受余下的温暖春日。
在新罕布什尔州朴茨茅斯，45 岁的约书亚·布兰奇菲尔德 (Joshua Blanchfield) 和 13 岁的伊利亚·罗森菲尔德 (Elijah Rosenfield) 父子从康涅狄格州哈特福德开车前往寻找更晴朗的天空。
“我们决定追随太阳，”布兰奇菲尔德在与其他约 100 人一起等待朴茨茅斯公共图书馆组织的观看聚会时说道。
以利亚拿着一个金属漏勺，布兰奇菲尔德带来了一个用麦片盒、铝箔和白纸制成的自制针孔观察器。
“这是一种安全的看待它的方式，一种老式的方法，”中学教师布兰查德说。
与此同时，新罕布什尔州康科德市麦考利夫-谢泼德探索中心的停车场爆满，数百人聚集在那里参加日食观看派对。当月亮沿着它的路径缓慢移动并超过太阳时，倒计时开始了。
沃利斯·博拉姆 (Wallis Boram) 的父亲从西雅图专程前来观看日食。探索中心的教育协调员博拉姆表示，为了这一刻，她已经准备了一年。“感觉就像我们一直在为世界末日做准备，”她说。
她现在感觉这一天真的到来了吗？ “不知所措，”她说。“我以前从未见过日食，所以这真的很特别。”
在罗德岛州，许多人试图找到观看日食的最佳地点，但比尔·萨莫斯和他的同事发现了可能是最糟糕的地方：波塔基特地下 200 英尺处的一条隧道，他们正在建造该隧道以改善污水系统。
“这里有一群失望的人，”萨莫斯在下午 2 点 30 分左右说道，当时月亮正在穿过太阳。
罗德岛州下一次看到日全食的机会是 2079 年。
“我得重新回到健身房了，”51 岁的萨莫斯开玩笑说，“改变我的饮食习惯。不再有通心粉和肉丸了。”
《环球报》工作人员的布赖恩·阿马拉尔、史蒂文·波特、辛西娅·尼德姆、约翰·希利亚德、尼克·斯托伊科、阿曼达·戈基和玛丽安·米泽拉以及《环球报》记者玛蒂·考和戴夫·爱泼斯坦为本报告做出了贡献。还使用了美联社的材料。
题图：周一，哈娜·拉巴尔 (Hanah LaBarre) 在佛蒙特州格洛弗的面包与木偶剧院观看日食时举起双手向天空。ERIN CLARK/GLOBE STAFF
附原英文报道：
‘Almost life-changing’: Historic solar eclipse awes crowds across New England
By Sabrina Shankman, Carlos R. Muñoz, Hiawatha Bray and Alexa Coultoff Globe Staff and Globe Correspondent,Updated April 9, 2024
Hanah LaBarre raises her hands to the sky while watching the solar eclipse at Bread and Puppet Theater in Glover, Vt., on Monday.ERIN CLARK/GLOBE STAFF
After months of anticipation, a historic solar eclipse swept across the United States to New England on Monday afternoon, plunging a swath of the country into an eerie afternoon darkness and bringing millions together in shared awe and wonder.
The moon’s shadow moved from the Pacific coast of Mexico through Texas and across 11 states to New England along its path of totality, where huge crowds gathered to behold the celestial event, before exiting into the North Atlantic near Newfoundland.
In New England, that ribbon of twilight cut across northern Vermont and New Hampshire, along with much of Maine, under mostly clear skies, drawing a crush of travelers to communities along the route.
The partial eclipse in Boston began at 2:16 p.m. and reached its peak at 3:29 p.m. As the moon’s path moved across the sun, students from the Conservatory Lab Charter School in Dorchester gazed skyward through eclipse viewing glasses. Some students oohed and aahed, others blew plastic kazoos in celebration.
“The sun looks like the moon!” exclaimed third-grader Serenity Sanders.
Kaylin Dasilveira, a sixth grader, marveled as the sun got “smaller and smaller” each time she looked up.
“It looks like the sun is kind of half open,” she said. For the 11-year-old, the eclipse coincided with a growing interest in science, and now she wants to learn more.
“Someday I probably want to be someone who looks at the sky through a telescope,” she said.
The last time a solar eclipse’s path of totality crossed the contiguous United States was in 2017; the next one won’t be for another two decades, according to NASA. The darkness lasted up to 4 minutes and 28 seconds, almost twice as long as the 2017 eclipse, and it took just about an hour and 40 minutes for the moon’s shadow to cross North America, about 4,000 miles.
The path of totality, which was about 115 miles wide, encompassed several major US cities, including Dallas; Indianapolis; Cleveland; Buffalo, N.Y.; and Montreal. An estimated 44 million people live within the track, with a couple hundred million more within 200 miles.
In northern New England, crowds grew as the eclipse swept east. A minivan on the turnpike near Wells, Maine, carried the message “Eclipse or Bust!!!” on its rear window, and the waitstaff at Mike’s American Diner in Arundel said business was brisk as “eclipsers,” including busloads of high school students, headed to Houlton, Maine, to view the totality, when the moon entirely obscures the face of the sun.
This minivan with the words “Eclipse or Bust!!!” on its rear window was spotted near Wells, Maine, on Monday morning.DAVE EPSTEIN
In the normally sleepy town of Rangeley, Maine, traffic was at a standstill on the main road, as thousands made their way to town. Parking was a lost cause, but no one seemed too bothered by the crowds.
In Richford, Vt., along the Canadian border, groups from as far away as Kentucky gathered on the shore of the muddy Missisquoi River. With the eclipse to arrive at 2:15 p.m., visitors set up telescopes, enjoyed picnics, and made pinhole projects in preparation.
West Allen, 19, who studies astronomy at SUNY New Paltz, said she and her family woke up at 4 a.m. to drive from Albany. She said this eclipse was special because so many people live in the path of totality and the sun “is going through a very active phase.”
“The corona should be beautiful,” she said.
Around 2:18 p.m., the moon began to inch across the face of the sun, covering a small section in darkness.
After so much anticipation, “that first moment just feels magical,” said Christian Hietanen, 47, of Staatsburg, N.Y. “You hear stories about people who have been to total eclipses before, it’s almost life-changing, and we get to experience that. It’s a moment we won’t ever forget.”
Nazmus Nasir and Abby Southwell, of Boston, shared a communal moment with close to 200 people at Davis Park in Richford, Vt.
“It’s such an amazing experience bonding with all the humans,” Southwell said. “Everyone is having the same ‘Oh my gosh!’ moment together.”
Nasir was watching his third eclipse but said this one was the best. “It’s awe inspiring,” he said, “it’s mind-bending.”
David Dong, 65, of Branford, Conn., said he came to Richford, Vt., to watch the eclipse with a friend who saw an annular eclipse about 30 years ago. They were treated to a spectacular display.
“It was something I never felt before,” Dong said. “It was a sense of awe, a sense of surprise more than anything else. I had hair coming out of the back of my neck. Just seeing the light going off in the foreground then seeing the ring of fire around the moon was just amazing.”
Tri Astraatmadja, of Baltimore, who is a staff scientist at the Space Telescope Science Institute, said his second eclipse experience gave him chills. ”I think it’s an out of body experience. . . . It’s sublime, ” said Astraatmadja, who works with the Hubble Space Telescope and Webb Space Telescope.
He wondered what people felt in ancient times, when there was little understanding of what a total eclipse meant. “They must have been scared to death,” he said.
A bit south in Burlington, Vt., Martin Grealish, who works in Weymouth, described the eclipse as “the experience of a lifetime.”
“To see the aura of the sun makes you humble, to see how powerful nature is,” he said. “It was such a moving experience.” He shared the experience with his grandchildren and hoped it was something they would always remember.
To the east in Carrabassett Valley, Maine, parking lots were filled since early morning, and an area outside the main lodge at Sugarloaf Mountain had crowds of people and a DJ blasting music.
Scott Alpert, 60, of Huntington, N.Y., couldn’t have been happier. After seeing a 2017 eclipse in Sun Valley, a resort town in Idaho, he wanted to make sure he saw this one, too, but this time with his daughters, Mackenzie, 24, and Stefanie, 27.
Maine was not their first choice. They had booked a trip to Dallas, but weather got in the way. A few days ago, they shifted gears and planned to go to upstate New York, but the clouds followed them. On Saturday, Alpert took up a colleague’s offer to come to his ski house at Sugarloaf. It paid off.
“It’s amazing,” he said. “Beautiful day, not a cloud in the sky.”
The Sandhu family from Greenwich, Conn., had a similar story. Rochester, N.Y., was their destination until the forecast called for clouds. Harvinder Sandhu, 62, booked a room in Bethel, Maine, and figured they would decide where to go from there. When they saw the fun planned at Sugarloaf on Maine’s tourism website, they headed out at 7 a.m.
“I think I parked a little illegally,” laughed Alexi Sandhu, 23, as she sat outside the lodge with her father and brother, Arjan, 18.
In Burlington, Vt., Jeremy Brotz and Will Thompson set up a table to sell “eclipse rocks,” black stones with streaks of white that Thompson found on the shore of Lake Champlain. Now they were potential souvenirs.
”I told a bunch of people … all these different people are going to come up here and they’re going to want something to commemorate the moment,” Thompson said. “And everybody was like, that’s a terrible idea.”
But when he went to Brotz’s house for dinner, Brotz’ mother, Melanie, loved it. So the pair, who met at Middlebury College, went ahead with their plan. Rocks came in three sizes, priced at three, five and seven dollars.
“Haggling encouraged,” a sign on their table read. (Brotz and Thompson sold about $100 of the rocks).
Skygazers who travelled north Monday morning faced heavy traffic, and the drive home appeared to be even worse. “Horrible” was how at least one person described the post-eclipse gridlock, as thousands got stuck in stop-and-go traffic heading south from the path of totality.
Maine State Police shared a photo on social media that showed traffic on Route 1 in Houlton backed up for 7 miles Monday evening.
The Vermont Agency of Transportation also reported heavy traffic in the evening on I-89 between Exit 16 in Colchester and the New Hampshire border, about 90 miles southeast. I-91 was also backed up in Vermont between Exit 27 in Newport and Derby and Exit 15 in Fairlee, the agency said.
It wasn’t any better in New Hampshire, where State Police shared aerial footage that showed standstill traffic in parts of Berlin and Gorham, and drivers were slowly moving along down I-93 in Concord during the trek home.
People gather in a field at the Bread and Puppet Theater while watching the solar eclipse in Glover, Vt.ERIN CLARK/GLOBE STAFF
In Boston, hundreds spread out across Boston Common ahead of the celestial event.
Mireya Zellner, Haley Balderson, and Stewart Garniss, seniors at Emerson College, spread out a blanket and savored the return of warm weather. It had been a long time coming.
“This is probably the first time Boston as a collective city has come out and hung out in the commons together this year,” Balderson said.
Caroline Statz and Curtiss Potter flew up from Washington, D.C., on Monday to experience the event, seven years after seeing their first eclipse in Wyoming.
”I just love astronomy and I think this is so cool,” said Statz, 49.
Sharing the experience with so many others made it more special, they said.
”It’s something that brings all these people together,” said Potter, 54.
Amanda McCluskey, a student at the Massachusetts College of Art and Design, held up a digital camera protected by eclipse glasses while her classmate Sam Webb covered the frame with an iridescent film, adding some color to their photo experiment.
“The one in 2017 I vaguely remember seeing, and I didn’t have the eclipse glasses, so I did one of the DIY hacks,” McCluskey said. “Seeing it now is really awesome.”
Matt Norton, 41, sat with his 3-year-old chocolate lab Dixie as the eclipse reached half coverage. ”I recall partial eclipses growing up but this is my first real viewing,” the Rhode Island native said. “It happens once in a lifetime.”
As the eclipse reached its full 92 percent coverage in Boston, the masses of people gathered on the lawn erupted into cheer. Though the sun would soon be unblocked, most viewers continued to occupy the lawn to enjoy the rest of the warm spring day.
In Portsmouth, N.H., father and son Joshua Blanchfield, 45, and Elijah Rosenfield, 13, had driven from Hartford, Conn., in search of clearer skies.
”We decided to follow the sun,” Blanchfield said as they waited with about 100 others for a viewing party organized by the Portsmouth Public Library.
Elijah carried a metal colander and Blanchfield brought a homemade pinhole viewer made from a Cheerios box, aluminum foil, and white paper.
”It’s a safe way to view it, an old-school method,” said Blanchard, a middle school teacher.
Meanwhile, the parking lot overflowed at the McAuliffe-Shepard Discovery Center in Concord, N.H., where hundreds of people gathered for an eclipse watch party. A countdown began as the moon inched along its path and overtook the sun.
Wallis Boram’s father had traveled from Seattle to see the eclipse. Boram, an education coordinator at the discovery center, said she’s been preparing for this moment for a year.”It feels like we have been doomsday prepping,” she said.
Her feeling now that the day had actually arrived? “Overwhelmed,” she said. ”I’ve never seen a solar eclipse before, so that’s really special.”
In Rhode Island, many people tried to find the best place to watch the eclipse, but Bill Samos and his colleagues found what was probably the worst place: 200 feet under Pawtucket in a tunnel they’re building to improve the sewage system.
”A bunch of disappointed guys down here,” Samos said a little after 2:30 p.m., just as the moon was moving across the sun.
The next chance to see a full eclipse in Rhode Island will be in 2079.
”I’m going to have to get back in the gym,” joked Samos, 51. “Change my eating habits. No more macaroni and meatballs.”
Brian Amaral, Steven Porter, Cynthia Needham, John Hilliard, Nick Stoico, Amanda Gokee, and Marianne Mizera of the Globe staff and Globe correspondents Maddie Khaw, and Dave Epstein contributed to this report. Material from the Associated Press was also used.
