ATWATER — In Minnesota, it was a total eclipse of the partial solar eclipse on April 8, thanks to heavy cloud cover. But eclipse enthusiasts still gathered for activities and a fun time, including at the Atwater Public Library and Sibley State Park for their eclipse-themed events.
The Atwater Public Library opened its doors and sidewalk for its Partial Eclipse Sidewalk Party, starting at 11:30 a.m. with a lunch and a bake sale.
Inside there were televisions hooked up to the live stream of the solar eclipse from NASA TV, which would allow people to see the eclipse in its entirety from many locations along the path of totality.
"Thank you for attending here," said Atwater Assistant Librarian Margaret Weigelt. "We can hang out on the sidewalk; we can sit in here and watch the TVs, watch the progress."
Visitors were also able to take home an eclipse kit, which included eclipse glasses, a make-your-own eclipse glass holder and instructions to make a sundial.
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"It does actually work, but I noticed the clock was one hour off," Weigelt said. "That has something to do with daylight savings time."
The highlight of the Atwater event was a program by amateur astronomer Pat Thibault of Willmar, who has been viewing the heavens and sharing his passion for astronomy with others for more than 40 years. He has been holding stargazing events with the Atwater Library for about five years, and on Tuesday, he shared his knowledge of the sun, moon and eclipses with the crowd.
"Just to mention something about the magnificence of our sun, in one second it burns 600,000,000 million tons of hydrogen," Thibault said. "It creates trillions upon trillions of watts of energy."
For an eclipse to happen, the moon also must be between the Earth and sun, which technically happens every month, during what we call a new moon. However, the moon's orbit is tilted, so it is not always on the same plane as the sun and Earth when it goes along its orbit, causing the shadow of the moon to miss the earth. The three bodies do line up on the same plane about every six months, which causes some type of solar eclipse. There are four types — total, partial, hybrid and annular.
"In the 21st century, which we are in, we will have about 223 of these eclipses," Thibault said.
Distance also plays a big role in eclipses. The sun is about 400 times bigger than the moon, at approximately 865,370 miles wide, while the moon is only 2,159 miles wide. The sun is also about 400 times farther away from the moon, so from Earth the two celestial bodies look similar in size.
"It is a matter of having the right distance to block out the sun," Thibault said.
The next total solar eclipse will take place Aug. 12, 2026, with the path of totality traveling over the Arctic Ocean, Greenland, Iceland, the Atlantic Ocean, Portugal and northern Spain. The next total solar eclipse in the lower United States will take place on Aug. 22, 2044, with the path of totality visible in Montana, North Dakota and South Dakota. Minnesota won't be in the path of totality for a total solar eclipse until Sept. 14, 2099.
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Up at Sibley State Park in rural New London, as the solar eclipse started to reach totality in areas of Texas and Arkansas, another group of hopeful eclipse viewers gathered in the park's interpretive center. Youth were able to make an eclipse craft and a livestream of the total solar eclipse was displayed on a projector screen.
As the livestream showed the total solar eclipse in all its glory, Sibley State Park Naturalist Stephanie Stephenson explained what people were seeing, including the sun's corona and even solar activity such as flares and explosions when the moon completely covered the sun. As totality was reached near Dallas, Texas, there was a bright flash, which caused people at Sibley State Park viewing the livestream to exclaim in awe.
"This particular eclipse is really special because we are seeing more solar activity than the 2017 totality," Stephenson said.
Stephenson also talked about the importance of wearing proper eclipse glasses if anyone had the chance to view an eclipse.
"These are about 100,000 times darker than sunglasses. Basically, the only light that would get through here is something as bright as the sun," Stephenson said.
Regardless of the clouds, the group at Sibley did venture outside as the partial solar eclipse neared its peak in Minnesota, at approximately 2:02 p.m. It may have been a bit darker than normal, but the sun and the eclipse stayed behind the clouds. Just to be safe though, solar eclipse glasses were donned by some.
If the eclipse had been viewable, it would not have been as dark as what people experienced in the path of totality, Stephenson said.
"For us it would have been like a weird twilight," Stephenson said.
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While the clouds may have put a damper on this latest astronomical blockbuster in Minnesota, the heavens always have more to offer, from viewing the constellations to seeing a meteor shower or comet.
For Thibault there is something inspirational to just looking up at the stars, and some research has shown that those who take a few moments to stargaze or gaze at the moon have better mental health.
It is all about awe, the amazement one feels when one sees something beautiful in nature or life.
"Stargazing is part of that," Thibault said. "... After a few moments, you lose sense of all the other things around you. You are just experiencing this moment."
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