Aggieland gets a glimpse of the solar eclipse
COLLEGE STATION, Texas (KBTX) – Saturday Texas was one of eight states getting the best view of the solar eclipse. This eclipse, dubbed the ring of fire, is caused by the moon not entirely blocking out the sun, producing a ring effect.
There were several events locally to help you see the eclipse.
One watch party was held by the Texas A&M University Libraries.
The eclipse began in Aggieland at about 10:20 Saturday morning, and lasted until about 1:30 pm. At maximum eclipse, 85% of the sun was covered. That was around 11:55 am here.
This watch party was held in the East Quad, where free safety viewing glasses were available.
“It’s a little crazy because everything else is blacked out. So you just see the big orange sun and then the moon is slowly sort of coming over to cover it. It’s a pretty incredible sight. You can’t just recreate that by looking it up online,” said Blake Baehner, a Junior at Texas A&M.
The Astronomy Group also partnered with the A&M University Libraires to have telescopes at the event.
The Bryan and College Station Public Library System also held solar eclipse watch parties at both libraires. They handed out solar-viewing glasses. The Brazos Valley Astronomy Club also provided solar-filtered telescopes. Librarians say this is a historic event, and are preparing for the next eclipse in April.
“This one was an annular eclipse. The next one is going to be a total eclipse. This one we had a ring of fire around the edge, the next one is going to be a ring of white light around it. So we are really excited,” said librarian Makenzie Kubacak.
She says the library is already planning events for the next eclipse, April 8th. The last big eclipse was back in 2017.
