Witnessing a total solar eclipse is doing what is, mathematically, almost impossible. The odds of simply existing in such brief, harmonic alignment with the sun and moon are near zero; the fact that we’re able to do it — and plan for it — is a series of astronomically improbable miracles. Simply the *existence* of a total solar eclipses is enough to make one believe in a higher power. The sun is 400 times wider than the moon, and yet the moon is 400 times closer. They can align perfectly for just a few seconds or minutes (up to 7 minutes 29 seconds). To our knowledge, doesn’t occur as perfectly anywhere else in the galaxy. We just happen to occupy the one space rock that gets to see something like this somewhat regularly (about once every 18 months somewhere around the globe). Even still, most humans will never see one. Any given location on Earth only sees a total solar eclipse once every 375 years on average. That’s four average lifetimes; we each get only one. The ability to travel into the path of totality is even more unfathomable. The Earth is about 4.5 billion years old. Humans have been around for about 200,000 years. Until the past 1,000 to 3,000 years, we couldn’t accurately or reliably predict eclipses. Only in the past century has air travel existed, and international air travel only became accessible for upper middle-class citizens of developed countries in the past 40 to 50 years. Remember — half of humanity still lives on under $7 a day. In a few hundred million years, total solar eclipses will no longer exist. The moon is drifting away from Earth at the infinitesimal rate of 1.5 inches per year. That’s just enough that, someday, the moon will never appear big enough to cover the solar disk again. If you saw Wednesday’s solar eclipse, count your blessings. Existing at this precise moment in spacetime, and having the knowledge and means to be in the path of totality, is far more special than one-in-a-million; it’s like going to a beach and choosing one specific grain of sand that happens to be the lucky winner. Those who know me know I studied atmospheric sciences at Harvard. I’m all-science through and through. But this is the sort of stuff that keeps me faithful. If you get to experience a total solar eclipse, it’s hard not to be.