By Jasper Smith
Thousands of people in the D.C. area gathered in parks, outside of businesses, and around the National Mall to get a glimpse of the solar eclipse that darkened the sky Monday afternoon.
The solar eclipse, which lasted just under four minutes, will not be seen again in North America until 2044, according to NASA. For some residents and businesses, the rare sighting spurred numerous community viewing parties and solar-inspired pop-up shops throughout the District.
Because Science, a STEM themed gift shop, hosted a viewing party where attendees decorated their own pinhole eclipse viewers out of cereal boxes. The shop also provided refreshments, offered coloring sheets, and played educational videos on how the eclipse occurs.
“This is definitely a once-in-a-generation phenomenon,” Stephen Clad, a store manager at Because Science, said. “It’s really worth viewing to understand the wonderful placement of planet Earth relative to space.”
Clad said that the shop ordered more than 400 pairs of solar eclipse glasses to sell to customers ahead of the eclipse, but by noon on Sunday, the coveted glasses were completely sold out – a testament, he said, to people’s excitement to engage with science.
Adams Morgan resident Lynne McEnroe said she was unable to obtain a pair of the glasses, which protect the eye for solar viewing, but also didn’t want to miss the community events celebrating the rare sighting.
“Thinking about the eclipse, I wanted to know what time it was going to start so I could be outside,” she said. “It’s wonderful that people are engaged in our universe.”
While the DMV area was not in the path of totality, at 3:20 p.m., nearly 90% of the sun was blocked by the moon, creating a crescent-shaped sliver of sunlight seen through the lenses of solar glasses and telescopes.
On the National Mall, the Smithsonian Museums offered free solar eclipse glasses, attracting lines that stretched the sidewalks of the Washington Monument. On the lawns of the monuments, solar eclipse viewers lay on picnic blankets, gazing and pointing at the sky.
Thousands of people gathered at the National Mall on April 8 to witness the solar eclipse. In D.C., nearly 90% of the sun was blocked during the phenomenon. (HU News Service/Jasper Smith)
Ifeoluwakitan Onasanya said they traveled 30 minutes to the National Mall from Silver Spring, Maryland, to participate in a celebration of the solar phenomenon.
“To view the solar eclipse with other people at the national mall is a very lovely experience,” Onasanya said. “We all had the same goal, and that was to see the moon cover the sun. Even though it was a partial eclipse, it was still wonderful to experience that with strangers. We all felt connected in that way.”
