Under the burning rays of the sun, dozens of people gathered at the University of Puerto RicoPrecinct Piedras River to appreciate, through a range of instruments, the solar eclipse; an astronomical spectacle that was partially perceived from the Puerto Rican archipelago.
The heat did not stop the students and teachers of the Astrophysical Circle of Puerto Rico, who at 1:00 pm had already deployed, in the vicinity of the first teaching center in the country, telescopes, projectors and solar glasses that would allow them to see an event that many described as extraordinary.
“Although we do not have the correct perspective for (the Sun) to be completely covered, we must take advantage of all opportunities. “So we are here so that people can appreciate this partial eclipse.”said the doctor Carmen Pantojaprofessor in the Department of Physics, The new day.
“For us, the eclipse is mainly an opportunity for education, to share science and to help transmit different concepts that we want to the public.“added the astronomer.
1/9 | In community: this is how they enjoyed the solar eclipse from the Río Piedras Campus of the UPR. The Department of Physics of the Faculty of Natural Sciences, together with professors, students and visitors, observed the total solar eclipse.
– Josian Bruno/GFR MEDIA
Around 2:39 pm, the eclipse began to be seen and, although at times some cloudiness hid the Sun, the students, adults and children present were not discouraged. On the contrary, they were heard saying “Look! Look! “It's starting to get covered.”.
With glasses specifically designated for this event, they soon turned their gazes towards the firmament; But they were not the only ones whose attention was focused on the star, since three telescopes with solar filters were already pointing towards the sky.
One of the instruments was identified by Dr. Pantoja as the “Dynamic Eclipse Broadcast”, a project of the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA), through which images of the eclipse are captured and shared in real time throughout the world.
Behind a computer, Nadja Aldarondo, a student of Physical Sciences, took, together with his partner, the first photos. The excitement was evident on her face.
“We are taking images from the beginning to the end of the eclipse with the maximum peak, which here is 6%. “We are going to upload them to a database and they are going to be used to understand the evolution of white light in the Sun's corona. So these data are going to be used for scientific purposes through an initiative of the University of Illinois.”explained Aldarondo.
The student said that, since she was little, she was always interested in astronomy. She frequently watched space movies with her father and thus she developed her passion.
“These are very rare events. So it is magnificent (…) For a student of Astronomy, of Physics, it is spectacular,” held.
For Julian Ramosalso a student of Physical Sciences, carrying out a scientific dissemination experience for the community has been “beautiful.”
“We can approach people who may not have experience in astrophysics or have no experience in physics as such and we can bring this to them and show them how beautiful it is. The idea is that everyone learns, that everyone manages to enjoy it and that everyone knows about these things, even if this is not their field,” he told this medium.
“The Moon will cover the Sun only 6%, but you have to appreciate it because this doesn't happen much and the few times it does it is good to go out. Look at it so that when you are very old you say: 'ah, I remember, I saw it,'” the astronomy fan said with a laugh.
As predicted, the eclipse reached its peak partiality between 3:10 pm and 3:30 pm, specifically at 3:20:46. Around that time, more people arrived at the place to enjoy the long-awaited event.
Their faces showed amazement, while the children walked from instrument to instrument to observe it from different perspectives.
One of them managed to spot it through a pair of binoculars and couldn't contain a “wow”. Then, he turned to a kind of projector called a “Sunspotter,” which allowed them to see not only the portion of the Sun covered by the Moon, but also some of the star's spots.
The event ended around 4:00 p.m.., so, in total, the activity lasted almost an hour and a half.
According to the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA), during a total solar eclipse, the Moon perfectly blocks the Sun, so a strip of the Earth is under darkness. Unlike a lunar eclipse, which can be seen from any point on Earth, solar eclipses can only be seen in relatively small areas at a given time.
The excitement regarding the phenomenon not only took over Puerto Rico, but also took over the USA, where the event was seen in its entirety across 13 states including Texas, Oklahoma, Arkansas, Missouri, Illinois, Kentucky, Indiana, Ohio, Pennsylvania, New York, Vermont, New Hampshire and Maine. The last time this phenomenon occurred in the North American nation and the region of the Americas was in 2017.
As part of this year's event, Miguel Martínez Ledesmaresearcher of Department of Heliophysics of the Goddard Space Flight Center of the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) shared in a previous interview with this medium that NASA would launch several rockets in Virginia that will study the ionospherethe layer of the Earth's atmosphere collides with the vacuum of space.
Likewise, he indicated that an event of this type, even if partially perceived, would bring with it a slight reduction in temperatures and the intensity of sunlight.
Upcoming significant astronomical events
- Although these astronomical events will be observed on the island in the coming years, The next significant annular solar eclipse will be in 2038, when the Moon is expected to cover about 88% of the Sun.
- Later, in 2045, Puerto Rico will partially experience a total solar eclipse in which the satellite will cover about 98.5% of the star.. “It is an eclipse that will have totality in several states of the United States, but the line of totality will pass exactly over Dominican Republic. For that reason, it will look so intense from here,” explained Irizarry Robles.
- According to SAC models, The next total solar eclipse that could be observed in Puerto Rico will be on October 17, 2153. If so, the sky will look completely dark for a few minutes. He mentioned that some Puerto Ricans say they saw a total solar eclipse in 1998. However, he clarified that it was not an event of this type, since the Moon covered about 90% of the Sun, and not 100%.