Along with an earth-shaking election season, 2024 also included a solar eclipse and Northern Lights making a Central Valley showing.

The total solar eclipse in April — only about 40 percent visible from Stanislaus County — was the first since the fall of 2017. And there won’t be another visible in the contiguous United States until Aug. 22, 2044.

“I’ll be almost 30 then because I’m almost 10 now,” said Paige Evans, a third-grader at Hughson Elementary School who was at the Turlock Library with her grandmother Terri Bartgis in anticipation of the eclipse. “I like space and science and I like watching what happens. I think it will be orange and yellow, but kind of dark. But kind of light, too.”

Stanislaus County Library partnered with Sutter Health and the Modesto Children’s Museum for viewing parties at all of the county’s public library branches, as well as at the Gallo Center for the Arts. About 10,000 pairs of special eclipse-viewing glasses were handed out to interested spectators.

Then in May, an incredibly strong solar storm brought the spectacular northern lights to California, including Stanislaus County, where local photographer Dan Gomes was able to capture the stunning night sky. A historic geomagnetic storm, the strongest recorded in more than 20 years, caused solar flares which made the phenomenon visible much further south than normal.