By Nancy Kriz
Millions of people - including area residents - donned protective eye wear, took photos with solar filters and used telescopes to catch a glimpse of “totality” during the Great American Eclipse this past Monday, the first full solar eclipse to cross the United States in 99 years.
The fact that “full totality” didn’t happen in southern Orange County didn’t matter. People took breaks from their offices, kids gathered with friends and family and strangers met in common places to don the necessary eye wear and look to the sky.
Look to the skyThey stopped what they were doing to watch the moon as it neared and crossed in front of the sun for only a bit more than two minutes.
This eclipse was noteworthy because it was the first total eclipse in 38 years and gave North Americans an opportunity to see - if they wanted to travel - the moon passing in front of the sun along a narrow path spanning from the west to east coasts.
Science geeks called this the Great American Eclipse for several reasons.
Total solar eclipses aren’t rare as they occur twice every three years on average and can be seen from some part of the Earth.
But a total eclipse of the sun that can be viewed from the west to east coasts occurs less frequently, and the last time was June 8, 1918. In addition, it was the first time since the total solar eclipse of Jan. 11, 1880, that a total solar eclipse occurred exclusively over the continental United States, though many nations saw a partial eclipse of the sun.
And, that’s probably why area residents took to social media to commemorate their participation in the Great American Eclipse. Cooperating sunny skies allowed them to take and share photos of varying degrees of quality, selfies in those hard to find ISO 12312-2 safety glasses and other types of photos to show they were a part of this historical phenomenon.
A 15-degree drop in temperatureEven The Photo News was a part of eclipse, as a writer was in the area of full “totality.”
A plan to match the eclipse’s precise line of travel was overlayed against a map of greater Greenville, S.C., resulting in a short trip to Central, S.C., determined to be one of “dead center” towns the eclipse would pass over. The group’s car was positioned in a store parking lot handpicked using Google Maps because of its size, assuming people would show up there to watch in a place with ample parking. The gamble was that most locals would watch from their homes and offices, while the masses of tourists would flock to Greenville using major highways instead of local roads.
The gamble paid off. At the 2:37 p.m. mark, bright sunny skies instantly turned to near darkness, a drop in temperature of at least 15 degrees and a bit more than two minutes of eye wear-free viewing of a spectacular sight. People cheered and stood in near disbelief, with many realizing they’d never live long enough, or live in an area of the country or world, to ever see anything like this again.
Even if area residents weren’t in the “path of totality,” they knew seeing the eclipse to the degree it was visible offered them the same feeling.
And that’s what mattered.
As quickly as it happened, it ended.
Next time: 2024But if you missed it, there’s another chance on April 8, 2024, so plan now. That’s when the next total solar eclipse will travel a different path from Texas to Maine, with portions of Mexico and eastern Canada included.