Eclipse Chaser

Mid-day, no clouds in the sky, yet it’s getting darker. The wind picks up, the temperature falls. Confused animals make loud noises; birds go to sleep.

A dark shadow comes at you at 2000 miles an hour and you find yourself in a cone of shadow as dark as night. People nearby start to cry or talk too much. Sunrise and sunset colors surround you in a 360 degree circle. The sun is gone. In its place is the moon, surrounded by mother-of-pearl and flares of fire.

A bad dream? The apocalypse?

A total solar eclipse, explains Marc Maccini, an “astonishingly beautiful phenomenon.” Yet, he adds, “You can see why it terrified early cultures.”

A total eclipse occurs every 1 ½ to 2 years, but since ¾ of the earth is water, most are not seen. Covering a path of 150 miles, from first shadow to light again takes 3 to 4 hours, but the totality lasts mere seconds to 5 or 6 minutes.

The experience is unlike any other. “In an eclipse you get a sense of motion — you get a sense that you’re in some kind of mechanism,” explains Maccini. Normally, he adds, we don’t sense that we’re in continual motion, moving around the sun, turning in a circle on our axis.

“In an eclipse get a sense that you’re on a planet and something very bigger than you is happening.”

Maccini, a self-taught astronomer whose enthusiasm for his subject is infectious, has loved the sky since he was a child.  He got his first telescope at the age of “12 or 13” and taught himself to use it. “Curiosity drives interest,” he says. “I wanted to see things … so I figured out how.”

Around the same time, in 1970, a total eclipse passed by Chatham, but while he lived in Medford, he couldn’t convince his parents to take him. This was a “huge disappointment.” When the next one came along in 1972 in Prince Edward Island, he says, “I was going .. even if I had to take a bus alone.”

This time his family was convinced and Maccini, his parents, sister and brother drove there together. Maccini, this time with his partner of 32 years, has since been to eclipses in Washington State, Curacao, Hawaii and France.

Photos of the sky fill his house, including one of the lunar eclipse that occurred during the game the Sox clinched the 2004 World Series. Maccini laughs, recalling how he spent the evening running back and forth between the game and his telescope on his deck, which faces Swampscott harbor.

While he photographs the celestial events he witnesses, Maccini is careful not to sacrifice the experience in order to get a photo. Thus, he practices at home with his camera on its tripod, manipulating his hands while keeping his eyes trained away from his gear.

To be an astronomer means “you continually learn. What we’re learning about the nature of the universe is fascinating … it’s a galloping understanding.”

The next total solar eclipse is scheduled for August 2017, and will be in the western states. Maccini plans to be there.

Maccini will share his enthusiastic knowledge as well as his photos on Tuesday, Feb. 7 at 7 pm at , located at 459 Humphrey Street.

Julie Brooks, owner of Gaga Gallery, says that the invitation to have him speak was an easy decision. “He’s a born teacher.”

Marc Maccini, a social worker and therapist by day, is also an accomplished pianist and singer song-writer. He plays regularly at . To hear his music or buy CDs, visit his website at http://www.marcmaccinimusic.com

When asked about his diverse interests, Maccini laughs. “There are 88 constellations and 88 keys in a piano … coincidence?”