Again in April, North America was handled to a uncommon celestial occasion: a complete photo voltaic eclipse. Observers from Mexico to Maine witnessed a tremendous sight because the moon handed in entrance of the solar and made it as darkish as night time in the course of the day.
I do not stay within the path of that eclipse so I did not get to see it in particular person, however I made up for that at this time. If you happen to’ve received a duplicate of Microsoft Simulator 2024, you possibly can expertise a tremendous simulation of April’s eclipse everytime you need.
Necessary observe: I did not determine this out myself. Reddit person Junior72 is the pilot/astronomer answerable for this cool discovery. They went into MSFS 2024, set the date to April 8, and watched the simulated moon passing in entrance of the simulated solar whereas flying round in a jet. So cool.
I wasn’t concerning the miss the eclipse once more so I jumped into the sport this morning and tried it myself. I picked my airport as Dallas Love Subject, proper within the eclipse’s path. I set the date to April 8 and turned the clock to about 1:35 pm, a couple of minutes earlier than the overall eclipse occurred. Certain sufficient, trying up into the sky I may see only a sliver of daylight left because the moon handed in entrance of the solar. It is a bit laborious to see within the photograph under with out enlarging it, however it’s there. (Please ignore my pilot’s horrible hair and face.)
A couple of minutes later it received eerily darkish, and the solar fully vanished from the sky. Wait lengthy sufficient, and the sky will start to brighten because the moon continues alongside its path. It is actually cool.
I feel my favourite half, although, is trying on the eclipse from area. Utilizing the freecam, I zoomed means, means out till I may see most of North America. And there it’s, the whole shadow of the moon smack dab on Texas:
If you happen to personal Microsoft Flight Simulator 2024, I actually advocate checking it out your self. This is a information to the eclipse’s path, which is able to let you know the instances it passes over the varied areas on April 8. Hop into free flight, set the time and date, and benefit from the present.
