Just as the days are getting brighter, it will get darker next Monday, April 8. That’s the date of a complete solar eclipse in many parts of the country when the moon passing in front of the sun will cast a shadow on the Earth darkening the sky as if it were early morning or late evening.
While the sun will be only 75 percent obscured here starting Monday afternoon, some local libraries and school classes are marking the rare occasion with special events and studies. And some folks are traveling to experience the full eclipse first hand.
Total solar eclipses, when the moon completely blocks the face of the sun, happen every one to three years, according to the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA); however, the events are usually only visible from Earth’s poles or from the middle of the ocean. Total eclipses are seen from any one place on Earth roughly every 400 years.
The 2024 total eclipse will begin in Texas at 1:27 p.m. CDT and end in Maine at 3:35 p.m. EDT before passing into parts of Canada. The exact time of the eclipse will vary by where observers are in its roughly 100-mile-wide path.
In advance of the eclipse, local libraries are holding solar eclipse parties for children ages 5-12 with crafts, “sun fun” and a chance to learn about the solar marvel. Each participant also will receive special glasses which are critical for viewing the eclipse safely. The Watertown Library is hosting an event Wednesday, April 3 from 3-4 p.m., Norwood Young America on Friday, April 5, from 3-4, and the Waconia library Saturday, April 6, from 10:30-11:30 a.m. Registration is required.
The Carver County Library system applied to the Southeast Library Academic System (SEAL) to be a distribution site for glasses. The libraries are giving out glasses as supplies last and they are going quick, according to Paul Ericsson, branch manager.
Some schools are turning the eclipse into an unforgettable science lesson, while others, particularly in cities in the path of totality, are closing to avoid unprecedented traffic and crowds, and to offer families a chance to witness what could be a once-in-a-lifetime experience together.
Eagle Lake Observatory at Baylor Park near Norwood Young America regularly hosts celestial star parties to view the night sky; however, the Minnesota Astronomical Society is not hosting a daytime viewing event for the partial solar eclipse because many of its members will be chasing totality in other parts of the country, according to MAS spokesperson and member Lilah Blinkman.
The MAS has about 700 members. There are roughly 100 very active members, most who are leaving town, she said.
Many other people will be too from all parts of the country and the world. This solar eclipse will be visible in a dozen states and is drawing a tourism boom across the nation with as many as 3.7 million people expected to travel to the path of totality, according to various reports.
“Most MAS members are going to Texas. There are also several of us going to Indiana, Blinkman said. “Texas has counties that have already declared a state of emergency due to expected road congestion and food shortages.”
Joshua Kerwood, a Cologne resident and Waconia graduate, is another one of those heading for Texas. He is a local photographer who also traveled to capture the total solar eclipse of 2017 from the middle of a cornfield in Nebraska. That’s the last time an event like this took place over the United States, and the first time people were able to see the event across the entire continent in nearly 100 years.
“My family and I are headed down to Paris, Texas to catch the solar eclipse. We will have a little over four minutes of totality in that area, almost double the amount of time that we had when the eclipse came in 2017,” he said. “My interest for capturing this event stems from a deep love of science, space, and photography. I have been deeply involved with the medium since my childhood, learning how to utilize photography to capture once in a lifetime events like this. It drives me in a way that is hard to explain. I just seriously love what I do.”
Kerwood also has captured photos of the comet Neowise, along with the Milky Way, Andromeda, and a few other celestial bodies.
For this event, he will be taking along his wife and six children. They were not able to travel out of state back in 2017 to witness the last eclipse. His youngest brother and mother also will be traveling to Texas to witness, “so it’s truly a monumental event in every possible way for me and my family,” Kerwood said.
Others traveling from here include Sarah Wooderson Cotant and her husband Andy.
“We experienced totality in Missouri in 2017 and it was such a cool experience we want to see it again,” she said. The couple have no background in astronomy, but were overwhelmed by the roughly four minutes of near darkness and how the birds hushed then started singing again like morning when the sun became visible again in the sky.
They are going to Missouri – Sarah was raised on a farm there, and plan to base in St. Louis, then maybe end up in southern Missouri or Illinois depending on the weather.
If you are not planning to, or unable to travel for the total eclipse next Monday, here are a few organizations sponsoring viewing events of the partial eclipse visible locally: Eclipse at the Bell Museum; Science Museum of Minnesota – Eclipse Day; Bethel University; Wild River State Park; Sibley State Park; and Minneopa State Park.
This total solar eclipse could be your last chance to see one occur for two decades. According to NASA, the next total solar eclipse visible from the contiguous U.S. will not occur until August 2044.
Most Popular
Comments / 0