Five charts to start your day

One week on and I'm still thinking about the eclipse

Now this isn’t technically a chart in the traditional sense, but it is a fantastic data visualisation. I’ve never seen a total solar eclipse in my life, but I’ve been close to seeing one back in 1999 at Gatwick airport.

I was 16 years old and I was working in McDonald's in the North Terminal. It was my first job – a summer job between GCSEs and A-levels. A pilot let me view the event through his special glasses, which I think he used for aviation. We got about 90 percent of the eclipse, so it got really dark and the street lights came on.

Hopefully I will have better luck in 2026, when there will be an eclipse over Spain in the evening. It’s within driving distance, so it’s definitely doable. Or I could perhaps visit my father in Sydney in July 2028, where his apartment sits directly under the path of the eclipse.

Let’s just hope it’s not raining on the day. Yes, I know, one week on and I’m still talking about eclipses. Well, I do have a daughter who wants to be an aerospace engineer when she grows up. So, it’s good to keep her keen.

Source: Astronomy

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• Who owns the global equity market?

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