Experiencing a total solar eclipse is something you'll likely never forget—but experiencing two is rare for most people.
Visitors and students on the campus of Southeast Missouri State University got to experience this unique event from 1:58:16 p.m. to 2:02:25 p.m. CST with nearly perfect weather conditions for viewing, which lasted just over four minutes.
The eclipse block party began on Normal Avenue at 11 am with inflatables, a telescope, hands-on activities, carnival games, food trucks, a student organization fair, Greek Week activities, and a teach-in with speakers from NASA's Marshall Space Flight Center in Academic Auditorium.
Two teach-in presentations were available to those at the event— one at 11:30 a.m. and one at 12:30 p.m.
The first included details on the Artemis Program, scientific research related to the eclipse, and careers with NASA and related space-related organizations with Matt McSavaney. McSavaney leads the Artemis Moon to Mars Program Office, bringing over 20 months of expertise and a background in physics and astrophysics.
The second presentation was at 12:30 p.m. by payload operations specialist Blake Parker, who has a decade of experience with developing procedures for International Space Station experiments.
While waiting for the eclipse, we spoke with a high school student and potential Agri-Business major, Keegan, who came from Steele, MO along with other classmates to tour SEMO's campus. He was there to take in the day's activities, including the viewing of the total solar eclipse.
He said he viewed a partial solar eclipse where he lived on Aug. 21, 2017, but had never seen a total solar eclipse. He said he 'couldn't wait' when asked about the upcoming event.
We spoke to another person, Foster Forehand, who said he traveled from Green Cove Springs, Florida with his wife, and a hand puppet animal he called his 'travel beaver'— which he had outfitted with a matching t-shirt commemorating his two-time viewing of a total solar eclipse. He watched the 2017 total solar eclipse from Ste. Genevieve, MO.
Converging in Cape Girardeau, he met his daughter and her husband who traveled from Kansas City to see them during the eclipse.
When asked about the experience, he said he was "glad he got to see them, and the eclipse, so it's been a nice trip".
On his eclipse road trip, he talked about seeing the opening night of a Braves game in Atlanta, GA, stayed in Paducah, and would head back a different way— likely to make more memorable stops on the way home.
Shortly before the eclipse began, we stopped by the SEMO Astronomy Club booth to speak to the president of the organization, Brianna Mills, an Environmental Science major, who gave perspective about the eclipse.
Mills also witnessed the 2017 eclipse and was in St. Louis during that one.
She sees the event as a great opportunity to educate others about safely viewing the event and dispelling some myths that sometimes accompany cosmic events.
"One of the biggest questions people ask is when they can take their [eclipse] glasses off because everyone wants to look at the sun", said Mills. She stressed the importance of waiting until totality, or when the moon completely covers the sun to observe the total eclipse.
As far as misconceptions, and conspiracy theories, she says some people believe [the eclipse] is "causing other crazy events", but says she "hasn't heard too many of those this year, which is good".
Brianna Mills, the SEMO Astronomy Club, and members of the organization have certainly done their part to educate others about the celestial event.
"I went and gave a talk yesterday [Sunday] at a campground in Illinois....Our secretary is a part of Citizen CATE, which is an imaging project—she's over in McLeansboro, so they'll be taking pictures of the eclipse for data", said Mills.
In the Fall 2023 semester, the College of Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics—or STEM, and the Astronomy Club held Space Week , and also invited speakers to campus to talk about the eclipse, with Mills adding that "it's definitely been a build-up over quite a few months".
She showed me the telescope, hooked up to a TV monitor, projecting the stages of the eclipse as the moon moves slowly across the sun before the total eclipse, so event attendees could see the image in detail.
As we returned to the spot where we would view the event for ourselves, excitement built. People begin to take out their eclipse glasses and face toward the southern sky on the hillside of Academic Hall and the plaza in front of Kent Library.
Finally, the moment arrived, and at 1:58:16 pm, the total eclipse began, and the crowd briefly grew silent—then erupted into cheers, screams, and applause. For over four minutes—which seemed to pass quickly, the crowd observes the spectacular event together in awe.
Everything is eerily silver as the corona shines around the moon, a 360-degree sunset forms around the horizon, a few tiny flares can be seen, there is a light breeze, and the temperature drops by what feels like a few degrees. As your eyes adjust to the twilight, you can even see a few stars and a couple of planets.
Then, just as the eclipse began, the moon again slowly appeared to move away from the center of the sun.
Crescent-like shadows of leaves on the ground also begin to form—then return to normal, the crowd starts to disperse, as students head back to their classes and visitors head home, and the sky brightens quickly, returning to normal.
North America won't see another total solar eclipse for another 20 years, in 2044, which will start in Greenland on Aug. 23, 2044, and only cross two contiguous states—parts of North Dakota and Montana.
The next US-wide total solar eclipse occurs on Aug. 12, 2045, beginning in California, moving east, and ending in Florida.
A full list of documented past and calculated future eclipses can be found on NASA's website.
