Way back in 1978, a teacher made a promise to his students and 46 years later in 2024, he followed up on it. This week’s total solar eclipse has been predicted for a long time, but one teacher and his former students have been waiting for more than 40 years.
Back in the 1970s, a 22-year-old Patrick Moriarty had just started his teaching career.
The newly-minted earth science teacher was at work near to Rochester, New York in 1978 when he made a promise to his ninth-grade class.
This was that when the time came, the class would get together again to witness the next total solar eclipse to pass over their hometown.
While eclipses happen around once every 18 months they can only be viewed from the path of totality, where the Sun and Moon line up perfectly.
Often this passes over the sea or remote areas, but sometimes it does pass over heavily populated areas.
SOURCE: https://www.unilad.com/news/us-news/total-solar-eclipse-teacher-students-new-york-031865-20240410?
VIDEO SOURCE: NBC NEWS