Students, faculty, and staff left classrooms and offices on April 8 to witness a partial solar eclipse. The sky darkened and the temperature dropped as the moon partially covered the sun.
According to NASA’s Eclipse Explorer interactive map, the moon hid 78.5% of the sun at its maximum coverage in Columbus.
On Main Campus, UTEACH Columbus, a STEM teaching organization, held a viewing event from 1:30 p.m. to 4:00 p.m. The organization provided a few pairs of eye-protecting eclipse glasses, which students passed around to view the phenomenon. UTEACH also provided a SunSpotter solar telescope as well as plastic scoops, colanders, and cheese graters, which produced crescent-shaped shadows during the eclipse. Dozens of students had gathered by the time maximum coverage was reached around 3 p.m.
Downtown, the Coca-Cola Space Science Center held its own viewing event and hosted a livestream of the eclipse as seen from its observatory. The Center sold out of eclipse viewing glasses prior to the event. A SunSpotter and large telescopes were also set up for viewers.
This solar eclipse was the second over the contiguous United States in the past decade. A previous eclipse was visible on August 21, 2017. The next solar eclipse visible from campus will occur on August 12, 2045.
