‘Eerie’ shadows and quiet wildlife in path of totality
Matthew Dolan, Frank Witsil, Eric Seals, Brian Manzullo, Amy Huschka, Neal Rubin, Georgea Kovanis, JC Reindl, Keith Matheny, Arpan Lobo, Tanya Wildt, Brian McCollum, Ryan Garza, Jamie L. LaReau and
Anjanette Delgado
Monday was the Great American Eclipse, and it was quite the show for crowds in southeast Michigan.
The April 8, 2024, total solar eclipse is the last of its kind to cross the United States until 2044, giving millions of Americans a once-ina-generation celestial show.
The eclipse’s path of totality grazed Michigan as it passed through central Indiana and northern Ohio. The Free Press had journalists dispatched in Detroit, Luna Pier (which sits along the edge of the path of totality), northern Ohio and even the Austin-to-Detroit flight, to bring the eclipse experience to you.
5:51 p.m.: Over the moon about a totally hidden sun in Toledo
Thousands of visitors packed the Toledo Zoo to watch the eclipse. The zoo reached maximum capacity shortly after 1 p.m., forcing staff to turn away a long line of vehicles. The estimated attendance of 10,400 was busier than a normal Monday, although short of any record.
The Toledo sky was slightly overcast by midafternoon, permitting skygazers to capture the key seconds before and after the full eclipse without special eyewear.
The crowd cheered moments before the sun disappeared behind the moon, plunging the day into temporary nightfall. Several minutes later, cheers rang out again as the sun reappeared.
“People were going nuts! Everyone was just so excited to share in something together,” said Amanda Zwiren, of Royal Oak, who drove to Toledo with her brother, Kyle Zwiren, and his two young sons.
Other Michiganders in the crowd included Rachel Farley, 37, of Mount Pleasant, and her two young sons, Max and Rex.
They, too, were thrilled by the whole experience.
Although like some others in the crowd, particularly those for whom it was a first eclipse, they had expected an even deep darkness.
“I thought it would be like midnight dark,” Max Farley, 9, said.
For Joe and Nancy Trela, who traveled from their home in Allen Park, the event marked their second full eclipse.
Their first was in August 2017 in Jefferson City, Missouri.
They watched that eclipse more or less by themselves in the middle of a field. For this eclipse, they said, they wanted to be part of a big crowd.
4:20 p.m.: Local watering hole welcomes eclipse watchers
Mike Doyle, of Farmington Hills, gazed upward, his paper glasses firmly affixed to his face and exclaimed, “It’s astronomically wild. It’s the last in my lifetime and it’s spectacular.”
Doyle, 77, admired the solar eclipse as it approached 99% totality Monday afternoon. He was one of about three dozen people who came to Stella’s Black Dog Tavern in Plymouth to view the solar eclipse. The place is special to him because his brother used to own the tavern years earlier.
As the moon crept over the sun, a parking lot full of people outside of Stella’s grew chilly, streetlights went on, silence ensued — and 3:13 p.m. looked and felt more like 8 p.m. Several pedestrians from nearby downtown Plymouth wandered over to talk to total strangers, bonding over the remarkable celestial event everyone was witnessing.
“He has a telescope if you want to look at it,” Rose Rosin said to a 30-something businessman who came to Stella’s parking lot in awe of how “wild” it suddenly felt outside.
Indeed, John Bentley, of Plymouth, had brought his powerful Celestron NexStar telescope to Stella’s. The tavern was hosting an eclipse party from 11 a.m. to 4 p.m., offering a $10 buffet and drink specials that included a “Dark and Stormy,” made with dark rum, lime juice and ginger beer, or a “Solar Eclipse,” which is tequila, simple syrup and lime juice.
Bentley set up his telescope in the parking lot.
“I wanted everyone to be able to have a look at it, and experience it because it happens so infrequently,” Bentley said. “It’s going to be exciting today.”
Stacy and Jeff Evans both got lucky to have the day off from work and came from their home in Northville to Stella’s because they are friends with the owners and wanted to be part of the community in experiencing the eclipse, they said.
“It’s once in a lifetime and it’s pretty amazing,” Stacy Evans said.
The next solar eclipse isn’t expected for two decades, but this one had such a profound effect on Rose Rosin. She stared up at it during near totality and exclaimed, “This is just beau
tiful. I’ll have to drink more so I can live to 96 to see the next one.”
– Jamie L. LaReau
4:10 p.m.: A day for science, and all scientists
As Michael Stafford puts it, “I’m an archaeologist. I look down.”
Monday’s solar eclipse was about looking up. But Stafford is also the director of the Cranbrook Institute of Science, so as the eclipse waned and the throngs began to drift away from metro Detroit’s largest viewing event, he was darned near starry-eyed.
“This was citizen science at its best,” he said. “We loved it.”
Stafford loved, he said, that some of the 600 or so people in attendance arrived in strollers, and some came on buses from senior centers. Loved that members of the Warren Astrological Society showed up with large telescopes and expertise to share. Loved that Cranbrook was able to demonstrate that its buildings and staffers serve more than the student body of an exclusive campus.
The sun and moon did their part, and the science center did its part. People wandered through exhibits that had nothing to do with astronomy, and maybe saw things that will bring them back even on days when TV crews stay home.
“We want to be the focal point for citizen science,” he said, and as they used to say when
astronauts strolled the moon, mission accomplished.
– Neal Rubin
3:47 p.m.: And a round of clapping in Detroit, too
“Don’t look at it,” someone at the riverfront yelled about the sun, as the darkened so that the sign for Caesar’s casino across the river in Windsor glowed especially bright.
And then, when the sky reached its darkest, the crowd of hundreds, even thousands, clapped in unison.
Mary Davis applauded when the sky reached its darkest point. She marveled at the unity of those who joined in. “Wasn’t that a joy that we were all one,” she said. Davis, who is 86, is visiting family in Detroit from Portland,
Oregon.
– Georgea Kovanis
3:45 p.m.: Astronomical applause
The Luna Pier Beach crowd erupted in cheers as the eclipse went total and darkness descended on an otherwise sunny, nearly cloudless day. Tom Kosek said afterward that it was worth the 12-mile drive to this site.
“The best part was that it looked like a sunset in the east” over Lake Erie, he said.
– Keith Matheny
3:41 p.m.: As sun disappeared, time to don glasses
At its peak, the sun was only a small sliver, but the sky, while remarkably more dim, never completely went dark.
“It’s so amazing,” Kabita Gurung, 47, of Warren, said, as she held her protective glasses to her eyes. “It’s something, hopefully, I will experience with my children when they are older, too.”
–
Frank Witsil
3:18 p.m. So close to 100%
In Grosse Pointe Shores, eclipse totality, the science center astronomer said, is 99.4%.
“There’s a noticeable difference now, from when we started,” astronomer Paulette Epstein said. “The spots on the sun are a 1,000 degrees cooler.”
She said she had to put on a jacket. Then the birds quieted. Their behavior will change, Epstein said.
The crickets began to chirp. And the shadows began to change and, she said, will get “eerie.”
– Frank Witsil
3:15 p.m.: Sure, the eclipse, but don’t forget about Mercury
As a professional astrologer, Jane Pierce, watched the eclipse at the RiverWalk in Detroit, with certain trepidation. Any eclipse is disruptive, she said, but this one could be extra disruptive.
Why?
“Because it’s so visible,” Pierce, who is also known as Tarot Jane, said.
And something else: Mercury is in retrograde.
2:58 p.m.: University of Michigan astronomy buffs find clear skies
The University of Michigan Student Astronomical Society traveled to the University of Toledo to experience the total solar eclipse.
Sophia Davis is majoring in astrophysics and museum studies. She is serving as a NASA Eclipse Ambassador, which allows her to provide solar viewing glasses and “share eclipse knowledge with underserved communities off the central paths,” according to the new NASAfunded program, Eclipse Ambassadors Off the Path.
“This eclipse means a lot to me as it serves as a focal point for all members of the community to come together and just be excited about science regardless of their scientific backgrounds — it’s just cool,” Davis said.
– Matthew Dolan