Comets’ eyes were on the skies above Margaret McDermott Trellis Plaza for the total solar eclipse on April 8. Check out some of the eclipse reactions on Instagram.
A gray morning over The University of Texas at Dallas campus gave way to just enough breaks in the clouds around midday for throngs of Comets to experience the total eclipse of the sun that captivated millions of onlookers across North America on April 8.
Visitors joined faculty, staff and students for the “No Comets Left Inside” campus celebration of the once-in-a-generation cosmic event. Viewers flocked to open green areas, parking lots, garage rooftops, the Margaret McDermott Mall and Chess Plaza, where free eclipse glasses and commemorative T-shirts were hot commodities.
Telescope projections and other indirect viewing methods, set up by faculty, and music drew hundreds to areas such as the courtyard of the Sciences Building and the south end of the mall near — and in the middle of — the University Roundabout. Researchers with the William B. Hanson Center for Space Sciences conducted an experiment in which they measured a dip in the density of electrons in the ionosphere during the eclipse. Dr. Frederick Turner, professor emeritus of literature and creative writing, wrote a poem inspired by the eclipse.
A forecast calling for afternoon rain didn’t dampen the excitement of the expectant crowds. Donning protective glasses to view the initial partial phase of the eclipse, which began at 12:23 p.m., Comets trained their eyes skyward until the big event at 1:41 p.m. — totality — when the glasses came off and cheers rang out across campus. During totality, the moon completely blocked out the disk of the sun, leaving behind an apparent black hole in the sky surrounded by the sun’s glowing corona and blanketing the region in an eerie darkness for 3 minutes, 38 seconds.
Visit the UT Dallas eclipse website for an archive of eclipse-related stories, news coverage, photos and other UTD-related information.
