Trip to Experience Totality
By Alina W. Hussain
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On Monday, April 8th, the Illinois Tech chapter of the Society of Physics Students (SPS IIT) drove down to Crawfordsville, Indiana (with two buses full of students) to watch the total solar eclipse, the last of which would occur in the continental United States until 2044. While the total solar eclipse lasted only around 30 seconds in Crawfordsville, the partial eclipse occurred for a little more than an hour before and after totality. The celestial event was for many students their first solar eclipse of any kind, and for many others their first total solar eclipse.
A total solar eclipse occurs when the moon moves between the Earth and the Sun. While this occurs once every moon cycle during the new moon, the moon does not often align angle-wise with the Sun and Earth, and so the moon’s shadow does not fall on the Earth. During a total solar eclipse, regions of the Earth experience the moon’s total shadow, which is why many people travel to regions of totality to watch the eclipse. Usually, the region for viewing the partial eclipse is much larger. The closer one gets to the region of totality, the greater degree of coverage occurs during the partial eclipse, and the more spectacular the phenomenon.
It is important to note that observers should always wear eclipse glasses (or special glasses which filter out the Sun’s harmful energy rays) when viewing the partial eclipse, including in the moments before and after totality. The pupils in our eyes naturally shrink when we look at the Sun under normal circumstances, because our eyes become sensitive to the large amount of oncoming visible light. The shrinking of our pupils ensures that UV light cannot damage our eyes. During a partial solar eclipse, and especially right before a total solar eclipse, the amount of visible light is greatly reduced. Our pupils only react to visible light, so without the bright cue to tell our pupils to shrink, they stay wide open, absorbing all the dangerous UV rays that our eyes would normally protect us from. In Crawfordsville, Indiana, SPS brought eclipse glasses and also received some from the city, which was co-hosting the event.
SPS’ time in Crawfordsville, while short, was a lot of fun! The local library organized food vendors and live music during the partial solar eclipse, and Illinois Tech received a warm welcome from the city. Before totality, SPS set up the department’s new telescope, Unistellar, to take pictures of the partial and total eclipse. Unistellar is an easy-to-use digital telescope that automatically aligns with celestial objects selected on the device—phone or tablet—connected to the telescope. The telescope requires no eyepiece, instead mirroring the image it sees through its camera onto the connected device. The app makes it easy for anyone to use the telescope, regardless of observation experience.
The total eclipse itself was breathtaking. It’s harder to tell during a partial eclipse, but as the moon moves over the Sun, it becomes eerily dark. Streetlights turn on, and right before totality, it feels like sunset coming to a close. You can hear crickets chirp, and the temperature drops suddenly (sometimes up to 10 degrees). As soon as totality occurs, it appears to be midnight. The total eclipse, which can be viewed without eclipse glasses, is a bright blue ring in the sky, or the corona of the Sun. With more powerful telescopes, the solar prominences of the corona are visible. As soon as totality comes to an end, eclipse glasses are required. Then, light returns abruptly, unlike a sunrise.
SPS wanted to ensure that as many students who wanted to see the eclipse got the chance to do so, since this was the last eclipse in the contiguous United States for at least 20 years. We are so happy that many students got to experience this celestial phenomenon!
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