The Atlantic

The Largest Mass Migration to See a Natural Event Is Coming

This month’s solar eclipse is likely to put major pressures on infrastructure.
Source: Alexander Demianchuk / Reuters

Mid-morning on February 15, 2013, in Russia’s southern Ural mountains, a visitor arrived from outer space. A 20-meter asteroid that no one saw coming slammed into the atmosphere at 43,000 miles an hour. As the meteor burned up, it briefly shone brighter than the sun. Its shockwave packed a punch 30 times greater than the bomb dropped over Hiroshima. Windows shattered. People were knocked off their feet. The residents of Chelyabinsk panicked, and they got out their cameras.

The Chelyabinsk event was one of the most documented celestial events in history. It was also a reminder that we exist in a grander solar system, whose proportions and contents defy our comprehension. We’re about to have another.

On August 21st, thanks to an

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