Back in April, North America was treated to a rare celestial event: a total solar eclipse. Observers from Mexico to Maine witnessed an amazing sight as the moon passed in front of the sun and made it as dark as night in the middle of the day.
I don't live in the path of that eclipse so I didn't get to see it in person, but I made up for that today. If you've got a copy of Microsoft Simulator 2024, you can experience an amazing simulation of April's eclipse whenever you want.
Important note: I didn't figure this out myself. Reddit user Junior72 is the pilot/astronomer responsible for this cool discovery. They went into MSFS 2024, set the date to April 8, and watched the simulated moon passing in front of the simulated sun while flying around in a jet. So cool.
I wasn't about the miss the eclipse again so I jumped into the game this morning and tried it myself. I picked my airport as Dallas Love Field, right in the eclipse's path. I set the date to April 8 and turned the clock to about 1:35 pm, a few minutes before the total eclipse happened. Sure enough, looking up into the sky I could see just a sliver of sunlight left as the moon passed in front of the sun. It's a little hard to see in the photo below without enlarging it, but it's there. (Please ignore my pilot's terrible hair and face.)
A few minutes later it got eerily dark, and the sun completely vanished from the sky. Wait long enough, and the sky will begin to brighten as the moon continues along its path. It's really cool.
I think my favorite part, though, is looking at the eclipse from space. Using the freecam, I zoomed way, way out until I could see most of North America. And there it is, the entire shadow of the moon smack dab on Texas:
If you own Microsoft Flight Simulator 2024, I really recommend checking it out yourself. Here's a guide to the eclipse's path, which will tell you the times it passes over the various locations on April 8. Hop into free flight, set the time and date, and enjoy the show.
