Eclipse thrills PB-area students, workers
Eight-year-old Xavier Grant got to watch the North American solar eclipse Monday with his mother Andrea in the Watson Chapel High School football bleachers.
At times, Xavier’s facial expressions told the story about his amazement over a phenomenon not expected to revisit the continent again until 2045.
“I thought it was just amazing,” the second grader said. “I thought it was going to look like … the sun is bigger than the moon, and it looks like a ring around the moon.”
That was the image of totality Pine Bluff narrowly missed.
The Grants were among many families who joined their high school-aged loved ones in taking in the eclipse, which left the city just shy of the estimated 100-mile-wide path of totality. Pine Bluff is just 40 miles southeast of Little Rock, which was part of the path that arched from just north of San Antonio to Burlington, Vt.
“It’s very important to be able to do this with my child,” said Andrea, whose 15-yearold daughter Xandria attends Watson Chapel High. “I’m glad that Watson Chapel allowed us to come here. My son’s school is not allowing them to view it, so it’s very important to be here with my family to view it together.”
The moment was “so cool,” Xavier described.
It was estimated 98.7% of the sun was obscured by the moon’s orbit in Pine Bluff just before 2 p.m., leaving the city in an unusually dark shade for a spring afternoon. The cloud cover over the city played its part in the evening-like atmosphere as well, but at times the thin crescent shape of the sun shone through the heavy puffs.
Monday’s eclipse was the first over North America since Aug. 21, 2017 and second since Feb. 26, 1979. The next eclipse over the continent is forecast for Aug. 12, 2045.
Heliophysicist Samaiyah Farid said during a presentation at the University of Arkansas at Pine Bluff last month the dates depend on the rotation of the sun. She added eclipses happen somewhere every six months, just not always over the U.S.
The near-total eclipse in Pine Bluff did not warrant a closure of local schools Monday, nor did it lead to a traffic jam in the city, as some might have feared with others traveling from afar either to totality or near it. Many kids, however, were not to be denied from seeing history.
Jada Thomas witnessed it with her classmates from the Watson Chapel bleachers.
“With it being my first time ever experiencing a solar eclipse, it was cool,” she said, adding she didn’t know what
to expect. (“A big circle?” she guessed.)
The moment was enough for the science-minded student to pique her interest in the solar system.
“The way the moon was covering the sun, and it looked so clear,” through the protective eyewear, Aron Estrada explained.
Chloe Harris, too, captured the moment after missing out on the 2017 eclipse.
“Now I get to see it, I like looking into it,” she said. “… Solar eclipses are cool to see, especially since the moon is blocking the sun.”
One could drive down Fluker Avenue and see a throng of Pine Bluff Junior High School students watching solar history. Earlier, youngsters at Friendship Aspire Academy Downtown Campus walked outside with their lawn chairs to watch the first celestial event they’ll remember, as some were just born at the time of the last North American eclipse.
Meanwhile, one of their schoolmates, Brooklyn Harris, hung out with her grandmother, Barbara Dunn, on the courtyard behind the Main Library, passing the time with cornhole games before the eclipse.
“I really want to see the darkness and the sun and stuff,” the 6-year-old said.
Back on Main Street, Gayla Bogy wore an eclipse-themed T-shirt and peeked at the sky outside with AgHeritage Farm Credit Services co-workers just outside the front door.
“I think of God,” Bogy said. “I just think it’s amazing God created this. If it wasn’t for him, we wouldn’t be here looking at this. That’s exactly what I think of.”
Buck Horton echoed “Ms. Gayla’s” sentiments.
“The Bible tells us in the beginning, He created the heavens and the earth,” Horton said. “And I think, the eclipse may be a sign from Him showing us, you know, something to give our faith to, knowing that he’s still in control and it’s another one of His signs that we see today.
“It’s just showing His beauty and His control that the world is in His hands.”
The eclipse was just starting to ease past the Pine Bluff sun at about 12:35 p.m. when Shannon Robinson enjoyed it with Horton and Bogy.
“It’s just cool that, in an hour or so, it’s going to be almost total darkness,” she said.
Dark it was, but there was always that little light that shone past the moon — sometimes behind the clouds — in Pine Bluff.
“I wish we were in the totality,” Robinson said.