Millions of people gathered Monday to witness the Great American Eclipse. Parts of 15 states were in the direct line of the total eclipse where the moon completely blocked out the sun for more than four minutes.
KNAU’s Science and Technology Reporter Melissa Sevigny traveled with Lowell Observatory to Waco, Texas — one of the cities within that path of totality — to experience it firsthand.
She spoke with Host Bree Burkitt soon after about the rare event.
Melissa, where are you?
MELISSA SEVIGNY: So, I am reporting from Waco, Texas, which was right in the path of totality. That's the band where the sun went totally dark for about four minutes here on the ground and it was a really cool experience.
What was it like to experience that totality to be — like you said — in the dark for four minutes?
SEVIGNY: It's really indescribable. This is my second time seeing a total solar eclipse and it's mind-blowing. Like, the sun is getting skinnier and skinnier. You're looking at it through your glasses and then the moment it disappears... I'm sitting in a crowd of about 10,000 people [and[ everyone screamed. It's just this insane experience where suddenly you're plunged into darkness. Jupiter and Venus came out in the sky, the clouds all started moving around, the breeze picked up. And there's this thing in the sky that is so hard to describe — the moon has totally covered the sun. I went and talked to some folks in the crowd and one kid described it as, "a portal to another universe," which I thought was a pretty good description.
You've been out there all day hanging out with everyone who was also there to see the eclipse. What is the energy like?
SEVIGNY: Everybody's just so excited about having this shared experience together. They're laughing, they're crying — just really having a great time. I talked to folks who had traveled from as far away as Australia, Germany, Argentina — all coming together to this one little narrow spot where you can kind of share this experience. And it was really great to see that mood especially because the weather forecast in Waco was not great. We woke up to a sky, just solid gray with clouds. And I have to say there was a lot of positive thinking. People were, like, "It's gonna clear. It's gonna be okay." And, sure enough, those clouds parted for us and we got to see totality.
Can we expect to see any special science done during the course of an eclipse?
SEVIGNY: Yeah, there's still a lot of science that's done during eclipses and there have been, for hundreds of years, scientists kind of studying this phenomena. And the thing is, you get to see things that you don't normally get to see. So one of those things is the corona — you know, that kind of like outer atmosphere of the sun becomes visible to everybody with the naked eye and you can't normally see that. In our case, we got to see this very strong, kind of bright pink prominence on the sun, which is something you normally wouldn't be able to see with your naked eye. So scientists are studying the corona. I learned about scientists who are studying sun-grazing comets, which are comets that are really close to the sun. In some cases, kind of doing a kamikaze thing into the sun. And you can't normally study them closely because the sun is so bright. But during those few rare moments of the eclipse, you can really get to see them closely. So there are all kinds of really cool things that people are looking at, including the way Earth reacts to the solar eclipse — how do the animals and the birds react? How does the weather react? Scientists are learning so much every time one of these events happens.
When can we expect to see the next eclipse?
SEVIGNY: Well, I have bad news for you because there are eclipses happening all over the world all the time at an average about twice a year. But if you don't want to have to travel to another country, your next chance is going to be in Alaska and 2033. A few northern states — Montana, North Dakota — are getting an eclipse in 2044. Really, your next chance to see an eclipse like this one, which was so special because it was crossing the entire United States from Texas to Maine... The next time you're going to have a chance like that is in 2045. So mark your calendars. It's a little way out.
Melissa Sevigny, thank you so much.
SEVIGNY: Bree, it was great to talk to you.
