Jim Chapman Lake lies in a triangle between Commerce, Cooper, and Sulphur Springs, Texas. Jim Chapman Lake also lies in a direct path to see the total solar eclipse on Monday, April 8, 2024, weather permitting, according to data from NASA. Granted, the total solar eclipse is expected on the following times, but it is going to take place almost a year from now, and the following are the predicted times.

Path of the Eclipse

The path of the eclipse, as the earth also orbits the sun, will move pretty quickly. For example, a partial eclipse begins in Dallas at 12:23 p.m. CDT and begins in Idabel, Oklahoma, at 12:28 p.m. Also, the total viewing opportunity is approximately 39 minutes from partial beginning to partial end according to NASA. Jim Chapman Lake is only 67 miles straight northeast of Dallas, directly in the eclipse’s path. 

In Klondike, Texas, a small town on the northwest side of Jim Chapman Lake, these times are predicted for the eclipse to pass over: Partial phase start: 12:25:50, CDT (GMT-5), at "03:30 o'clock" on the sun's disk, duration of total eclipse: 4m 13.9s, totality start: 13:43:04, CDT (GMT-5), and mid-eclipse: 13:45:11, CDT GMT-5). We hope it will not be too cloudy next April 8.

Solar Eclipses: Rare? 

It is a common myth that total solar eclipses are rare once-in-a-lifetime experiences, but they are not. Every 18 months or so, a total solar eclipse happens somewhere visible from different locations on the earth. Two to five partial eclipses happen somewhere on earth every year, and a total eclipse occurs less frequently. In one location on earth, an eclipse happens when the moon passes between the sun and earth.

People in the U.K. and Western Europe rarely see a total eclipse. The last total eclipse people in the U.K. witnessed was on August 11, 1999. NASA publishes a webpage with tables of eclipse calendars up to the year 3,000 and dating back to 1901. The eclipses are listed in tables of decades, a twenty-year solar eclipse calendar of paths, and a century catalog, plus a map of eclipse paths. 

The moon orbits the earth in 27.3 days as the earth rotates, and the earth orbits around the sun. As the earth turns, the view of the eclipse travels from west to east, which is the moon's shadow on earth. According to NASA, the oldest recording of a total solar eclipse is thought to have been recorded in petroglyphs at the Loughcrew Megalithic Monument in County Meath, Ireland, on Nov. 30, 3340 B.C. in the Neolithic era. 

In Anyang, China, scribes drew eclipses on tortoise shells and oxen shoulder blades, and they called these materials oracle bones. These eclipses occurred in 1226 B.C., 1198 B.C., 1172 B.C., 1163 B.C., and 1161 B.C. The ancient Chinese scribes wrote, “The sun has been eaten.” Other solar eclipses are recorded on clay tablet carvings in ancient Babylonia, now Syria on May 3, 1375 B.C.

There are partial solar eclipses, total solar eclipses, and annular eclipses. Annular eclipses happen when the moon’s perceivable diameter is less that the sun’s perceivable diameter, and the moon does not totally cover the sun like in a total eclipse. Annular eclipses are known as “ring of fire” eclipses because we see the rim of the sun around the moon. 

Humans have long been fascinated with total solar eclipses. During the total solar eclipse on June 24, 1778, astronomer David Rittenhouse published his comments in one of the first volumes of the American Philosophical Society. That total solar eclipse began in the Pacific Ocean, traversed eastward, and passed near Philadelphia.

Thomas Jefferson, in Virginia at that time, was terribly disappointed because it was cloudy. He wrote a letter to Rittenhouse about his disappointment and asked Rittenhouse to send him a more sophisticated timepiece “for astronomical purposes only.” The scholarly men of the U.S. continued to record the eclipses of the U.S., and we are as fascinated with eclipses as were ancient humans. 

Time Table for the April 8, 2024 Total Eclipse