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Syracuse , N.Y. — On Monday morning ( April 8) , a crowd began gathering on the lawn of the Milton J. Rubenstein Museum of Science & Technology ( MOST ) , hop to witness atotal solar occultation .
" I ’ve seen a number of partial [ solar ] eclipses , but this is my first entire eclipse , " saidLindsay hay , a political platform scientist in the Planetary Science Division atNASAHeadquarters . " So I ’m very excited for it . "
The partial phase of the April 8 solar eclipse seen through clouds above Syracuse, New York.
William Harrison Hays reply question from occultation viewer as a part of the museum’sSolar Eclipse Festival , which lasted from 12 p.m. to 4 p.m. ET Monday , though many arrived earlier . With costless eclipse glasses , a huge occultation cake and a variety of trafficker and food truck , the event institute a communal occultation experience to downtown Syracuse ’s Armory Square . meeter , including many families with kid , load out on picnic blankets in the mild atmospheric condition .
One meeter , Christopher Ducey of Solvay , New York , set up a Cave Astrola telescope from the seventies on the lawn . The vintage telescope is heavy and bulky by advanced standards , Ducey say .
" But I like this old thing , and it easy convert to a really nice projecting solarscope , which is what I ’m using it for today , " Ducey added . before in the Clarence Day , the telescope ’s ocular cast a frizzly projection of the sun onto a screenland behind it , but clouds prevented the solarscope from working later in the day .
A view of the crowd gathered on the lawn at MOST to watch the April 8 total solar eclipse.
relate : Here are the best photos of the April 8 full solar eclipse over North America
Still , the morning ’s cloud were patchy , and attendees remained optimistic that they might get a glimpse attotality — the moment during a totalsolar eclipsewhen the moon all blocks the Lord’s Day ’s disk , plunging the ground below into shadow . If the swarm cover rest light , Hays said , there was a chance that the eclipse itself couldcausethe cloudsto dissipate slightly . The decreased sunshine could limit the vaporization of water into the atmosphere , she said , resulting in fewer swarm forming . Hays tell this same effect often causes the sky to solve up slightly during the night .
Hays was even bright that the sky might clear up enough to give away satellite , such asJupiter , near the moon during the sudden darkness of totality .
A view of the sun through eclipse glasses in Syracuse, New York, during the early partial phase of the solar eclipse on April 8.
Like Hays , many at the outcome were aroused to experience total for the first clip .
" It ’s the most pretty part of it , " said Theo , 5 , from New York City , show off the picture he ’d drawn of a dark - blue moon rim by a pale - chickenhearted Saint Ulmo’s light ( the Sunday ’s taboo standard atmosphere , which is seeable with the naked eye only during totality ) .
Other attender were simply delirious to be there , taper to the occultation as a unify military unit in a divided mankind .
A view of the partial solar eclipse through clouds shortly before the start of totality.
" I ’m excited to watch everyone together , specially in such a chaotic time , " tell Ora Jezer , who was at a booth representing the Central - Northern New York ( CNNY ) chapter of the Sierra Club , along with her mother , Rhea Jezer , who is the CNNY group chair .
As museum workers announced the start of the partial phase of the eclipse , the sky remained cloudy , with the sun be adrift in and out of scene . Often , nothing at all was seeable through the eclipse glass . But every few minutes , shaft of sunlight radiate through the swarm and cheers from onlookers marked each good look at the occultation .
Just before the start of entirety , the swarm dissipated enough to follow the last light beam evaporate behind the moon . Colors became bizarrely hushed , and soon enough , the darkness of even suddenly swept across the sky .
A view of the April 8 solar eclipse through eclipse glasses soon after the end of totality in Syracuse, New York.
unluckily , the Dominicus ’s Saint Ulmo’s fire was n’t bright enough to thrust the bed of cloud over MOST . But others in Syracuse , including onlookers ascertain from an event atSyracuse Inner Harbor , were favorable to catch a glance of the corona through a spread in the clouds .
Despite the weather condition , the eery iniquity of totality filled the crowd with awe .
" When the darkness wash out over the crowd , you could experience the energy and the wonder that people were experiencing,“Emily Stewart , older film director of educational activity and curation at MOST , publish in a email to Live Science .
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After a second and a one-half , a single astragal of bright , golden brightness began to egress from the cloud . The phenomenon , call Baily ’s beads , happens when sun peek through valleys on the moonshine ’s control surface . There were more cheers during the sun ’s reemergence , and the partial opinion directly after were some of the clearest of the day .
Though the purview of the eclipse from MOST was n’t ideal for view sum , Stewart said the experience was still memorable .
" Seeing so many hoi polloi come out to see an astronomic consequence , to hear them cheering and clapping when they see the eclipse with their own eye , was so rewarding for our whole squad , " she said .
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