Professor of Physics Paula Turner has been waiting to see the moon blot out the sun her whole life. She’s not about to miss her opportunity when a rare total solar eclipse comes to Knox County on April 8.
“I’ve never gotten to see a total eclipse,” said Turner, who teaches a variety of courses related to astronomy and astrophysics. “I missed the solar eclipse in 2017 [in Kentucky] because it was during new student orientation.”
Like millions of others, her eyes will be pointed heavenward when a total solar eclipse comes to the Buckeye State for the first time since 1806. The path of totality during the celestial event will briefly cross portions of the county, including some parts of Gambier, and won’t return to Ohio until the year 2099.
“I’ve been thinking about it for seven years,” Turner said. “This is it. This is my chance.”
A few places at Kenyon will experience a total eclipse around 3:13 p.m., but only very briefly. Most of campus is located just outside the edge of what is known as the path of totality, which in Ohio extends diagonally from the Dayton area up to Cleveland.
During totality, the sun is completely covered by the moon, whose umbral shadow darkens the Earth. NASA says that the air temperature will drop during this time, nocturnal animals may wake up, and it may be possible to see a 360-degree sunset — as if the Sun has set over the entire horizon instead of just in the west — as well as some particularly bright stars or planets in the darkened sky.
The Franklin Miller Observatory is probably the best place on campus from which to view the astronomical event, where totality will last about 30 seconds, Turner said. The Brown Family Environmental Center, which will briefly experience totality, is welcoming guests for an event from 1:30-5 p.m. that includes live streaming of the eclipse across the U.S.; yoga sessions; yard games; data collecting; and solar/lunar crafting.
To the north and west of campus, eclipse-viewing events will be taking place at Ariel-Foundation Park in Mount Vernon — where totality will last for more than a minute — and at the library in Fredericktown, where viewers will have over 2 minutes of totality.
Most of campus, though, will have to settle for a partial eclipse, which will be visible beginning around 2 p.m. and conclude about 4:30 p.m.
Still, Turner cautioned that while outdoor light will dim, it will not result in the stark darkness of a total eclipse, nor the other changes that come with it: “My friends who are eclipse chasers have said things like, “Paula, 99 percent partial is not 99 percent as good as total.”
Anyone viewing the sun during the partial eclipse phase will need to do so through special protective eyewear, which should only be removed once the moon completely obscures the sun, and quickly replaced as soon as any sunlight begins to appear again from behind the moon, Turner said.
To help, the Bicentennial Advisory Committee is providing 2,000 custom glasses for free to the College community. They will be distributed April 4-5 and April 8 at a table in the atrium of Peirce Hall and in the Kenyon College Bookstore, and they also will be available at the BFEC for its event.
Turner plans on viewing the eclipse from a Knox County location within the path of totality as part of an excursion with physics faculty, students and alumni. It’s the culmination of a weekend of events planned for a physics alumni reunion.
She said she is particularly interested in experiencing the observable phenomena that accompany a total eclipse.
“Do we notice that it gets colder? Does the wind drop? Those are all things that are reported to happen when you’re in totality. I want to get a chance to experience that.”
Among those who will be with her is Tom Giblin, a professor of physics who plans on bringing his daughter along.
“I’m super pumped,” he said.
Giblin’s only worry? The weather. The National Weather Service reports that, historically, it’s likely there will be cloud cover on April 8. But no matter what happens, it will still be worth it, according to Giblin.
“It’ll get dark, so it won’t be a waste of time,” he said. “You just won’t be able to see the corona and stars and everything else.”
He added that in addition to being exciting to observe, eclipses have played an important role in the history of science. In 1919, the British physicist Sir Arthur Eddington tested Albert Einstein’s four-year-old theory of general relativity during a total solar eclipse by determining the deflection of the starlight next to the Sun, according to NASA.
“That was one of the early important clarifications of general relativity, which is of course the basis of all the work I do,” Giblin said.
Eve Currens ’25, a physics and dance double major from North Carolina, has had the date circled on her calendar for a while
“It’s pretty much a once-in-a-lifetime experience,” said the president of the Society for Physics Students. “It’s so cool! When in totality, you can take off your glasses and see some of the solar corona and you might be able to start seeing planets and stars.”
Experiencing the eclipse with fellow physics buffs should make the moment even more perfect, she said.
“I’m really excited that it’s part of this physics alumni reunion weekend because I love the physics department so much. It’s a really incredible community, and now I get to expand that community to past students, too,” she said.
It’s all so incredible that it’s got her thinking about the next eclipse already — even if it’s 75 years away.
“We’ll see if we have a physics reunion that year that I can come to.”