HONOLULU (KHON2) — The solar eclipse brought some excitement to Hawaii Monday morning, despite only seeing about less than 30% of the sun being covered by the moon.
Viewers sent in photos from across the state of what they were able to see from their home, yard, or even from the beach.
Some Kailua students even received extra credit for waking up early to catch a glimpse of the partial eclipse.
“It’s such a lovely experience to see that,” said one Kailua Intermediate School student who was at Kailua Beach early Monday morning. “It’s such a magical thing to see in the sky.”
Experts said if you didn’t have the proper glasses or equipment, you were left in the dark.
“You never really saw anything with the naked eye in Hawaii,” explained UH Institute of Astronomy Director Doug Simons. “Even if you’re blocking a third of the sun, it’s still so bright.”
The last time Hawaii experienced a total solar eclipse was in 1991.
Hilo photographer Andrew Richard Hara said he didn’t remember that one, so he and his girlfriend took advantage of her family living in the path of totality in Van Alstyne, Texas.
“We spent the weekend just preparing and the weather was kind of dodgy, it wasn’t cleat at all, and we were going to go to San Antonio, but then they started getting thunderstorms,” Hara explained.
They decided to stay put, and it paid off.
He was able to see totality for about one minute before some clouds rolled through, and he was able to capture some amazing photos of the historical event.
“It just got really dark, really quiet, the birds came out, and it looked sort of like what it looks like before the sunrise, maybe half an hour before totality,” he explained.
He said it made him think about what life would be like on another planet, experiencing just a few short minutes of nighttime.
“It gets dark very fast,” explained Simons. “And the limiting factor in what you see is how quickly your eyes dark adapt, because as they dark adapt, and the corona gets brighter is when you start to see the stars and planets in the vicinity of the sun as well.”
A Hawaii woman told KHON2 that she was supposed to fly home on Monday, but during a layover in Oklahoma, decided to change her flight, rent a car, and drove three hours to Dallas, Texas and found a free viewing event at Cotton Bowl Stadium.
She said it was a magical experience that brought tears to her eyes. She said she was able to see so many planets during totality and the weather held up.
A former Hawaii resident, who now lives in New York City, said lines to get solar eclipse glasses were circling around the block, and after sleeping through the earthquake last week, she said she had to witness this.
“It was kind of cool to experience this,” said Agatha Danglapin. “In New York City it had this weird filter of a sort, like it was dimmer than usual, like sunlight but someone was putting a pair of sunglasses over you.”
She said NYC had about 90% eclipse coverage; while some places upstate New York had totality.
Hara said he would recommend anyone to go travel to witness a total solar eclipse in the future.
The next total U.S. solar eclipse will be visible in Montana and Northern Canada in August 2044. Simons said it will be hundreds of years until the next total solar eclipse happens over Hawaii.
