‘It’s a poetic sort of thing,’ Utahn says looking forward to eclipse

SALT LAKE CITY — Even the most beautiful of sunsets seems rather ‘pedestrian’ when compared to an eclipse, according to retired teacher, Bill Christiansen.

“For many people, it’s a poetic sort of thing,” Christiansen said. “You think, oh my gosh, what is this?'”

He stood underneath a solar eclipse’s totality in Idaho in 2017.

“When you have a total eclipse like that, the sunset is in 360 degrees around and so you look around and think, ‘Well, this is an unusual day,’” Christiansen said.

An annular eclipse will never overshadow a total one.

“If you’re where it’s 100 percent, you’ll see a ring around it and the rest of us will sort of see a pie shape there,” he said.

But for Christiansen and many others Saturday’s annular eclipse still holds significance from the sentimental to the symbolic.

“Everyone’s making predictions, you know, and most of the time they don’t happen,” Christiansen said. “This is a confirmation of science.”

Christiansen and others can’t wait for that awesome, cosmic collision course and an out-of-this-world experience.

“It’s a wonderful, wonderful thing,” he said.