the westminster news
Published by the students of Westminster School
By Kimi Weng ’24Photos below: on the left by Carolyn Cheng, top photo at right by Mr. Leary and bottom right by Mr. Van Dolah. We see the sun and the moon almost every single day, and they are the symbols of day and night, respectively. But did you know that the sun and moon can appear at the same time at the same location?
A solar eclipse happens when the moon passes between the sun and the Earth and blocks the sun from the perspective of the Earth. There are two main types of solar eclipses: a partial solar eclipse and a total solar eclipse. A partial solar eclipse, as its name suggests, is when a part of the sun is covered by the moon. On the other hand, a total solar eclipse is when the entire sun is covered by the moon and is accompanied by sunset effects and brief darkness. Although a total solar eclipse is not a super rare occurrence, you will only be able to see a total eclipse at the same location once in your lifetime. Recently, a solar eclipse occurred in North America, and fortunately, the path of total solar eclipse, or totality, also crossed the contiguous United States. According to NASA, the next time we will be seeing a total solar eclipse in the contiguous United States will be in 2044. As the totality was expected to pass through the United States, lots of people who were near the path wanted to take a glimpse of this spectacular phenomenon. And of course, Westminster will not miss this chance either. On April 8, 2024, a group of Westminster faculty took a group of students on a trip to St. Johnsbury, Vermont to watch the total solar eclipse. As I am currently returning from the trip at 10 p.m. on a Monday, past check-in, I decided that this is the perfect topic for a newspaper article. But before I get started, I want to give a huge thanks to the excellent planning of Mr. Leary, Mr. Van Dolah, Mrs. Urner-Berry, and Mrs. Keough; because of them, 22 students were able to embark on this once-in-a-lifetime trip to witness the total solar eclipse. At 7:45 a.m., the air was filled with excitement as two buses departed the Westminster campus under a clear sky. However, we encountered somewhat severe traffic from the “solar eclipse rush” and road construction. Together with two pit stops for bathroom and lunch (a random couple came up to us during one of the pit stops and gave us three Moonpies), the road trip there was almost seven hours. We arrived at St. Johnsbury, Vermont at around 2:30 p.m. Under the instructions of Mr. Leary, we assembled the binoculars and tripods with solar filters. After he handed special filter glasses to each one of us, we started observing the sun and noticed that the lower right section of the sun was already covered by the moon. The solar eclipse had begun. As more of the sun was covered by the moon, we noticed that the temperature was decreasing and the surroundings were slowly getting darker. We also did a fun little experiment where we made small holes with our fingers and observed the shadows. Due to the special shape of the sun, the small opening of our hands allowed light to pass through and form a small crescent in the shadow. At around 3:30 p.m., the moment that everyone had been waiting for arrived. We saw sunset effects in all directions and the sky turned dark. A total solar eclipse was happening. The moon completely covered the sun. A ring of glare quietly sat in the sky. The sun’s corona, the outer atmosphere, revealed itself in front of us. Since the sun was fully covered by the moon, everyone took off their filter glasses and enjoyed the magnificent phenomenon. The total solar eclipse lasted about two to three minutes, but the most surreal experience came after totality, as the sun was unveiled. The sky turned bright again, but it was nothing like a normal sunrise. The light that initially shone on Earth was so concentrated that we felt as if we were under stage lights. The grass that we were standing on, the mountains behind us, and the entire world felt artificial because our brains were so used to the normal conception of day and night. Roughly 10 minutes after the totality, the sky returned to its normal brightness, and it marked the end of the climax of this trip. After moments of sharing our excitement, we were on the road and ready to leave at 4:30 p.m. However, the fun part of this trip didn’t end there. I would also like to highlight the bus ride back to campus, as it was also a memorable experience. Due to the continuation of the traffic caused by the solar eclipse, we did various things on the bus to kill time, including reading, watching movies, singing karaoke, passing snacks across the toaster, and sharing our longest travel experiences (not knowing that this would become one of them). We also stopped at a plaza in Vermont to get dinner, and this is when it started to get interesting. Some of my friends and I couldn’t resist the lure of Five Guys and decided to wait in a relatively long line for some burgers. What we didn’t know was that we would be spending the next hour in Five Guys, holding everyone else on the bus back. It was the busiest Five Guys I have ever seen in my life. There were so many milkshakes ordered that the person making them was losing his voice from yelling numbers. He shouted, “The spinner in the milkshake machine is not spinning anymore.” Eventually, we got our burgers. The rest of the road trip happened in the dark. Everyone was tired, but the March Madness game between UConn and Purdue kept us excited. We returned to campus at 11:45 p.m., slightly later than we originally planned due to the unexpected traffic. The commitment of Mr. Van Dolah and Mrs. Urner-Berry driving for the entirety of this trip is truly impressive, and this trip wouldn’t have happened without them. After approximately 13 hours of being in a toaster, I think this field trip might have broken the record for most time spent in a Westy toaster in a day. Even though the time spent on the road seemed daunting, if I were asked to go see the total solar eclipse again, it would be a yes without any second thought. Witnessing a total solar eclipse is truly an amazing event that you will remember for the rest of your life. https://science.nasa.gov/eclipses/future-eclipses/eclipse-2024/what-to-expect/ https://science.nasa.gov/eclipses/types/
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