2017 ECLIPSE: Arkansans trek to Missouri, stand in moon’s shadow

The moon passes in front of the sun for a total solar eclipse visible Monday from Farmington, Mo.
The moon passes in front of the sun for a total solar eclipse visible Monday from Farmington, Mo.

FULTON, Mo. -- The first coast-to-coast total solar eclipse in almost a century cut a swath across America on Monday, turning day into night for as long as 2 minutes and 40 seconds for people in a 70-mile-wide path from Oregon to South Carolina.

It was the first such eclipse to cross the continental United States since 1918, and the first total solar eclipse visible anywhere in the continental U.S. since 1979.

The entire North American continent experienced a partial eclipse Monday lasting from two to three hours, but hundreds of thousands of people were expected to travel to the 70-mile-wide zone experiencing a total eclipse.

For many Arkansas residents, central Missouri was the closest place to see the total eclipse. Many Arkansans were on the football field at Fulton High School in Missouri when clouds rolled in just before the total eclipse began at 1:13 p.m.

But the cloud cover didn't dampen the dramatic effect as the moon crossed in front of the sun, plunging Fulton into darkness and causing the crowd on the football field to break out in cheers.

"It feels great!" someone shouted as the temperature suddenly dropped.

The sun looked like a fiery ring. Venus could be seen clearly even with the clouds.

Two minutes and 34 seconds after the total eclipse began, the crowd clapped as the moon moved away from the face of the sun, allowing the sun to shine again.

The eclipse elicited a different kind of darkness, said Torie Baysinger, a senior at Fulton High School.

"It was a different color than I was expecting," she said. "It was purplish."

Even though Fulton was in the dark, clouds on the horizon were lit by bright sunshine.

"It wasn't as dark as I was led to believe," said Rachel Diemler, a theater teacher at Fulton High School.

The moon's shadow raced across middle America at 1,500 miles per hour. Many of the Fulton High School students wore T-shirts that read "Eclipse of the Heartland."

Partial eclipse in central Arkansas

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Photos by John Sykes

Fulton was ground zero for several Arkansas researchers and students who observed the eclipse.

A busload of about 50 students from Arkansas State University left Jonesboro at 4 a.m. Monday to get to Fulton for the total eclipse. Jonesboro was expecting a 95 percent eclipse, but a total eclipse is much more dramatic.

There would have been a few more ASU students on the bus, but a stomach ailment swept through the campus over the weekend causing about a half-dozen students to cancel the trip, said Emily Devereux, director of research and development at the university.

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Monday was the first day of classes at ASU, but students who traveled to Fulton for the eclipse were excused from class, Devereux said.

Other students from ASU and Pottsville High School were in Fulton to help launch a weather balloon to film the eclipse for NASA. They were assisting Arkansas BalloonSat, a high-altitude ballooning project.

Ed Roberts, a Pottsville High School teacher, founded Arkansas BalloonSat in 2006 at the request of NASA.

Roberts and James Tillman Kennon manage the BalloonSat project. Kennon is associate chairman of the chemistry and physics department at Arkansas State University in Jonesboro and a professor of science education.

Kennon said the researchers lost their Wi-Fi connection Monday when the balloon reached about 40,000 feet, which was before the total eclipse. As a result, the camera didn't provide a live feed of the eclipse to NASA.

A smoldering motor in an air transfer unit in the duct system at Fulton High School caused the problem, said Superintendent Jacque Cowherd. The Fulton Fire Department responded, but by then the system had shut down, reset itself and restarted, he said.

When that happened, somehow the Wi-Fi connection was severed.

It was a freak incident, Cowherd said.

"We hadn't planned for that, but it was a great day," he said. "A lot of kids had a great experience."

The balloon reached an altitude of 79,761 feet before it burst and a parachute opened to bring the payload back to Earth.

It landed in a creek near Truxton, Mo., about 50 miles northeast of Fulton. Kennon said the modem and a radio were still transmitting after it landed, so he doesn't believe the water caused any damage. Kennon said he would view the video and photos after he returned home to Arkansas on Monday night.

Kennon said the Arkansas researchers formed one of 52 teams filming the eclipse for NASA. Even though the Wi-Fi interrupted the live-stream feed to NASA, Kennon said he figures the video camera in the balloon's payload recorded the event, and video may be posted online for the public to view.

NASA reported that 4.4 million people were watching its television coverage midway through the eclipse, the biggest livestream event in the space agency's history.

NASA solar physicist Alex Young said the last time earthlings had this kind of connection to the heavens was during man's first flight to the moon, on Apollo 8 in 1968. The first, famous earthrise photo came from that mission and, like this eclipse, showed us "we are part of something bigger," he said.

Hoping to learn more about the sun's composition and activity, NASA and other scientists watched and analyzed from telescopes on the ground and in orbit. The International Space Station, airplanes and scores of high-altitude balloons captured live video and other data.

About 20 students from the University of Arkansas, Fayetteville also were in Fulton on Monday. They're affiliated with an astronomy club called S.P.A.C.E. Hogs (Space and Planetary Association for Collaboration and Education Hogs). They had solar telescopes for students at Fulton High School to view the eclipse.

Special glasses were handed out to the students in Fulton so they could safely view the eclipse. While some of those in the crowd used the glasses from time to time to check the moon's progress across the face of the sun, most seemed to be waiting for that brief moment of total eclipse, which could be viewed with the naked eye.

Arkansans who missed the total eclipse will have another opportunity when a total solar eclipse crosses Arkansas in April 2024.

photo

Tillman Kennon hangs onto a weather balloon while Ed Roberts (far right) helps with the cables Monday. The balloon carried cameras 79,000 feet in the air to film the eclipse above Fulton, Mo., for NASA. Kennon is associate chairman of the chemistry and physics department at Arkansas State University in Jonesboro and a professor of science education. Roberts is a physics teacher at Pottsville High School.

photo

AP/ANDREW HARNIK

President Donald Trump and first lady Melania Trump wear protective glasses as they view the solar eclipse Monday at the White House. Monday marked the first total solar eclipse to cross the continental United States since 1918.

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http://www.arkansas…">Partial eclipse enough for many in state

Information for this article was contributed by The Associated Press.

A Section on 08/22/2017

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