Joe Rao, an associate astronomer at the American Museum of Natural History’s Hayden Planetarium in New York, discovered that an Alaska Airlines flight traveling from Anchorage to Honolulu would be passing directly through the path of last night’s total solar eclipse.
After months of emailing back and forth with Alaska Airlines to get the flight pushed back by 25 minutes, they finally agreed. “We recognize our customer’s passions,” Chase Craig, Alaska’s director of onboard brand experience, said in a release. Being above the clouds is one of the major perks to seeing an eclipse from cruising altitude. Rao says, “You also get a chance to see the moon’s shadow sweeping across the landscape. At 37,000 feet, that’s a dramatic sight to see.”
What’s the different between a Solar and a Lunar Eclipse?
A lunar eclipse occurs when the Earth passes between the Moon and the Sun, and the Earth’s shadow obscures the moon or a portion of it. A solar eclipse occurs when the Moon passes between the Earth and the Sun, blocking all or a portion of the Sun.
Upcoming 5 Total Solar Eclipses
| Dates | Path of the eclipse |
|---|---|
| Mar 8 / Mar 9, 2016 |  |
| Aug 21, 2017 |  |
| Jul 2, 2019 |  |
| Dec 14, 2020 |  |
| Dec 4, 2021 | 
Source: timeanddate.com |