Under clear skies in the middle of the afternoon, students, faculty and members of the New Haven community gathered at the Leitner Family Observatory and Cross Campus to watch the moon obscure the sun.
The News estimates that over 1,000 people attended the Leitner Family Observatory and Planetarium, which hosted a public viewing party of the eclipse, while over 300 congregated on Cross Campus. Monday’s eclipse was the first solar eclipse visible from the United States since 2017; the next is not predicted to be until 2044. New Haven observed 92 percent totality, while those who traveled to Vermont or upstate New York witnessed 100 percent totality.
“This is the biggest event [at the observatory] since the pandemic,” Kristin Kampp, the program coordinator of the center, told the News.
Kampp said that staff members from the observatory have been preparing for the eclipse since last year, primarily by gathering special eclipse glasses that allow people to view the phenomenon without damaging their eyes. On the day of the event, the observatory gave out over 1,000 pairs of eclipse glasses.
10 minutes before the point of maximum coverage — which occurred at 3:27 p.m. — Kampp announced that they had run out of glasses.
The observatory allowed members of the public to view the eclipse through its telescope. The telescope, approximately one-and-a-half feet long, is outfitted with an attached solar finder, which automatically centered the telescope on the eclipse, and a hydrogen-alpha filter, which allowed viewers to view the eclipse safely.
A dozen student volunteers also helped operate sunspotters and different pinhole instruments — alternative devices that allowed people to view the eclipse. Joseph Wolenski, a molecular, cellular and developmental biology professor, also brought multiple eclipse-viewing devices and students from his class to the observatory, welcoming others to try his handmade contraptions.
Christopher Lindsay GRD ’26, a Gruber Science Fellow in the astronomy department, helped operate the telescope. In an interview with the News, he explained that the historic telescopes permanently mounted in the observatory’s domes are not well-equipped to view the sun.
“We can't actually use telescopes that are that big,” Lindsay said. “Because if you have a large mirror or lens, pointed at the sun, you are collecting a ton of energy.”
Lindsay compared the mirrors in telescopes to those used in solar energy plants; to generate energy, energy plants focus light through mirrors to boil water, which is “not what you want to do to somebody’s eyes,” Lindsay said.
Amartya De ART ’22 — a photographer who aims to capture “the city and the many subdivisions of New Haven” — brought his 810 Alpinist 8x10 view camera to capture viewers’ reactions. It was the first time De had ever watched a solar eclipse, yet he chose to spend his time capturing peoples’ reactions.
“I can’t capture both [the people and the eclipse with one camera],” De said. “So I choose the memory of people.”
In an interview with the News, Dean Pericles Lewis reflected on the first eclipse he ever witnessed when he was in elementary school.
“The [eclipse] I most remember was from when I was like seven or eight — sometime in the mid 1970s or so,” Lewis said. “I remember building the pinhole camera in class and you don't look directly at it, you see a shadow.”
Given the rarity of the eclipse, Lewis approved of the many students who left campus to witness the total eclipse. He also said that multiple students requested that students receive automatic Dean Extensions when there is a total solar eclipse in New Haven.
“So, in 400 years, everyone can have an automatic Dean’s Extension,” Lewis joked.
The Leitner Family Observatory and Planetarium holds weather-permitting planetarium shows and telescope viewings on Tuesday evenings.
Contact Asuka Koda at asuka.koda@yale.edu.