A once-in-a-lifetime total solar eclipse swept the country from coast to coast on Monday, gripping the nation’s undivided attention for a few minutes at a time. Lasting over an hour and a half long, the path of totality crossed a 70-mile-wide stretch of land from small towns in Wyoming to large cities like Nashville.
This kind of celestial phenomenon was last experienced in the continental United States in 1979, and has not travelled such a broad swath for close to a century, The New York Times reports. It came as no surprise then that Americans converged outdoors in droves to get a glimpse of one of nature’s biggest events. Cities and towns on the path of totality experienced a sudden surge in tourists, hotel reservations and flocks of vendors hawking eclipse paraphernalia.
Even the Great American Desert south of Thermopolis in Wyoming appeared to be a different place altogether for two minutes, Live Science reports. As the sun vanished, planets and stars suddenly peeked out, and the desert temperature dipped.
There was laughter, tears, reverent silence, millions of photos across the USA.
And in South Carolina, one baby girl born. Her parents named her Eclipse, of course.
Eclipse was born at 8:04 a.m. ET in Greenville, one of the cities in the solar eclipse’s path of totality, CNN reports. She came into the world at 6 pounds and 3 ounces, measuring 19 inches long, according to the Greenville Health System. She was dressed in a Total Solar Eclipse onesie from the hospital.
Eclipse’s parents were awestruck at their baby’s participation in the historical day. Freedom Eubanks, the baby’s mother, said, “It kind of still feels like it’s not real. It all hit me at once.”
Michael Eubanks, the baby’s father, said, “Wow, my child is born on something that happens every so many years. It’s extremely rare.”
