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Why the August 12 Solar Eclipse Looks Like It’s Moving Backward on Maps

The eclipse path only looks strange on flat maps because the moon’s shadow sweeps over the Arctic in a wide curve.

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Pull up a map of the August 12 total solar eclipse, and something will immediately look off. The path appears to start near the North Pole, sweep toward Greenland, and curve down through Iceland and into Spain—which would mean the shadow is traveling east. Solar eclipses do not travel east. Except this one appears to.

Every total solar eclipse moves west to east, no exceptions. The moon and Earth both travel counterclockwise, and the moon’s shadow crosses Earth’s surface faster than the planet rotates beneath it, so the path of totality always sweeps in the same direction. It’s been doing this for billions of years.

What’s happening with August 12 is a cartographic illusion, the same kind........

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