A Father, Two Daughters, and Three Eclipses
The celestial events have inspired myths, math, and science. For our family, we can’t help but chase them.
There are two kinds of journeys. In one, you go somewhere but on your own time. In the other, you travel for an event that’ll happen regardless of your arrival — one that won’t wait for you and likely won’t happen again. An eclipse belongs to the latter kind, and it was for this reason that on August 12, 2026, we found ourselves on the Mediterranean coast of Spain, in a town called Benicàssim, waiting, along with several thousand strangers, for the Moon to pass in front of the Sun.
We had come from New York City, and this was our third solar eclipse as a family. In 2009, we had seen everything but the moment of totality (monsoon clouds had covered it) in India. In 2024, we saw a total eclipse in Montreal. Now, we were chasing the great European eclipse of 2026. My family has been chasing eclipses for two decades. Here’s the story of why humans have been doing so for millennia.