by Geoff Fox
Mid Afternoon turned into late evening as folks gathered in Widmeyer Park and across Hancock as a total eclipse darkened the skies above Hancock on Monday afternoon, April 8.
The eclipse itself started just after 2:30 p.m. in the Hancock area. Around 3:19 p.m., the sun was 92% totally eclipsed. It lasted until after 4 p.m.
Hancock Veterans Memorial Library held an event to mark the eclipse with about 35 to 40 people showing up. A few people dropped by later, missing out on glasses.
Parents and grandparents brought kids of all ages to get their glasses and make viewing boxes from shoeboxes, plastic cups, and toilet tissue rolls.
As they arrived, they had to register so they would be able to have access to the limited number of special glasses.
By the time the eclipse had actually hit even 50%, the people who gathered at the library had already left.
Schools in the area dismissed early with Southern Fulton dismissing school at 11:30 a.m., Hancock on a two and a half hours early dismissal, and Morgan County Schools being dismissed early.
As Hancock only saw 92% total coverage, places like Erie, Pennsylvania, Niagara Falls and Buffalo, New York, were experiencing 100% coverage.
The path of the eclipse took it from the South Pacific Ocean and across North America, passing over Mexico, United States, and Canada.
The landfall was Mexico’s Pacific Coast around 11:07 a.m. and exit at 5:16 p.m. off Newfoundland, Canada, Atlantic coast.
A total solar eclipse happens when the moon passes between the sun and Earth, blocking the face of the sun.
When this happens, people in the path of totality, the sky will darken as if it were dawn or dusk and, weather permitting, people along that path will see the sun’s corona, or outer atmosphere. That atmosphere is usually obscured by the sun’s brightness.
You might be waiting for the next total solar eclipse to happen here in the United States as it won’t occur until August 23, 2044, and only shadow three states – Montana, North Dakota, and South Dakota – according to NASA.
The various stages of the eclipse. While it was dangerous to the cameras of cell phones taking pictures of the eclipse, these were taken with part of the eclipse glasses taped onto a cellphone as protection.
photos by Geoff Fox.
