- The next total solar eclipse visible from Florida will be in 2045
- Even though Florida was not in the path of totality, there was a slight drop in temperature during the eclipse
- Different ways to view the solar eclipse? Solar eclipse glasses, pinhole cameras & Ritz crackers
With a name like the Space Coast, wewent all in when it came to the Great American Solar Eclipse. So a few of us spread out Monday afternoon across our 72-mile -long county to see how people celebrated this celestial event.
Gemini Elementary
On Monday, Mrs. Kozusko’s sixth-grade science class at Gemini Elementary in Melbourne Beach listened to Kennedy Space Center biologist Tim Kozusko.
He spoke to kids about UV rays, how light is a wave of alternatingand magnetic fields, how ancient civilizations learned to tell time by using the sun and moonand how they would have viewed an eclipse.
Kozusko showed the kids how to make eclipse viewers out of shoeboxes and cereal boxes. The kids took them outside before lunch to see how they worked.
Gemini Elementary principal Jennifer Julian said, "to experience this with our children here today and being so close to Kennedy Space Center where many of our students might evenbe employed there some day ... It has ignited their love for science and we are so honored to experience this together."
— Luann Manderville, community content specialist
Endeavour Elementary
Students at Endeavour Elementary School in Cocoa witnessed a phenomenon they had only read about in textbooks. With special glasses to protect their eyes, dozens of students piled out of the classrooms and onto the grass to watch the solar eclipse.
"The first time they saw it — oh my goodness, you should have heard them," said Michelle Berry, the school's science coach. "It's neat to get the kids so excited about science."
Looking through their special glasses, the kids at first could only see darkness. But as they tilted their heads toward the sky, a yellow sliver of the sun appeared.
It looked like a banana or Pac-Man, they said.
Sitting on the hot sidewalk and gazing toward the sun, students logged observations in their journals and drew pictures of what they saw in the sky.
Inside the classroom, they learned the science behind the eclipse. With the lights switched off, one student would shine a flashlight toward a sphere to represent the Earth, and on the door behind the Earth they could see the light from the flashlight get fainter and fainter.
Students in Mikki Corriveau's fifth-grade class also could poke their heads through a cardboard cutout with different phases of the moon glued around their head. With their head in the spot of the Earth, facing toward a globe model of the sun, they could see the different views earthlings would get during the various phases of the moon.
— Caroline Glenn, education reporter
Ocean Breeze Elementary
This Satellite Beach elementary school may have about 520 students, but kids in prekindergarten and kindergarten stayed inside and watched the solar eclipse on TV.
Students in grades first through sixth gathered on the school field, watching at brief intervals, then taking a break every few minutes.
One young girl thought the solar eclipse looked like Pac-Man.
— Tim Shortt
Student absences
While schools like Endeavour and Gemini Elementary planned viewings and activities around the eclipse, many students opted to stay home.
The school district announced Tuesday schools would excuse absences for the eclipse, which resulted in much lower attendance. Districtwide, about 76 percent of students came to school Monday morning — much lower than the 95 percent in class thistime last year.
At Endeavour, principalHilahMercer said about 200 of the school's 700 students showed up, and many were signed out before the end of the day.
— Caroline Glenn, education reporter
Florida Institute of Technology
Florida Tech in Melbourne hosted solar eclipse festivities. The university's space and sciences department set up stations where people could makepinhole cameras or use a Ritz cracker to view the eclipse.
Former astronaut Sam Durrance, who flew aboard two NASA space shuttle missions as a payload specialist, checked out the eclipse via a high-powered telescope with his daughter. Coincidentally, Durrance is a professor in the physics and space sciences department at FIT.
— Tim Shortt, visual journalist
Eastern Florida State College Planetarium
As the moon had its day in front of the sun, hundreds of people turned their eyes skyward atop the planetariumand aboutthe grounds.
Guestscould peer at reflected images in boxes or projected by telescope onto cardboard, or talk to planetarium and EFSC staff about the science of the phenomenon.
Mother and son Trish and Andrew Losoof Viera didn't have proper glasses butfound people willing to sharepeeper-safeeyewear.
"Thiswas awesome... he just came back from China and is only home for six days before he goes back to school," said Trish, whose son attendsColumbia University in New York"So we'll always have the memory of this cool experience."
Mark and Mindy Gunter of Satellite Beach closed their Coastal Interiorstore at noon so they could enjoy the solar showcasewithdaughters Sarah, 6, and Hannah, 8.
They didn't think twice about lettingtheir kids skip school for the day, Mindy Guntersaid.
"Definitely — thiswaseducational in itself," she said.
— Britt Kennerly, deputy public opinion editor
More: Solar eclipse timelapse
Kennedy Space Center
Space buffs from Brevard and beyond converged at KSC Visitor Complex for a far-out view of the solar eclipse. Hundreds lounged on the grass in the Rocket Garden or sat on the bleachers on the picture-perfect day.
Ashley Below of Orlando captured an iconic pictureof the Great American Solar Eclipse on her iPhone using her solar eclipse glasses as a filter. She spent a few minutes in the Rocket Garden trying to set up the perfect shot. And the effort paid off.
Matthew Haas, 16, and his 21-year-old brother, Stephen Haas, both of Orlando, meanwhile made pinhole projectors out of paper towel and toiler paper rolls. They lounged on the grass and shared their pinhole projectors with those interested in viewing the eclipse sans eclipse glasses with their mom, Michelle.
— Jennifer Sangalang, entertainment reporter
Meanwhile, back at the office ...
For a few moments, it seemed as it the sun was all anyone could talk about or focus on during the mid-afternoon work hours. Stepping outside of FLORIDA TODAY's office off U.S. 1 near Pineda Causeway, there were workers with cardboard boxes jury-rigged to catch the moon's shadow as it was slowly gliding across the surface of the sun. Along the pavement, as the peak moment hit, crescent-shaped shadows showed up on the ground.
A few feet away, colleagues passed around a pair of special eclipse-watching shades. There also was laughter and a round of adoration as the sky darkened slightly and the afternoon breeze became decidedly cooler.
— Jeff Gallop, breaking newsreporter
Contact Sangalang at 321-242-3630
or jsangalang@floridatoday.com.
Twitter: @byjensangalang
Instagram: @byjensangalang
