Eyes on the skies

Crowds wowed by eclipse viewing at Wesleyan’s observatory as well as the party atmosphere

MIDDLETOWN — Hundreds of people gathered at Wesleyan University’s Van Vleck Observatory Monday afternoon, their eyes transfixed on an event hundreds of thousands of miles away.

Under bright blue skies with light clouds, folks of all ages milled about Foss Hill in Middletown, setting up chairs and blankets on the grass. Students in easily visible red shirts passed around glasses so attendees could catch a glimpse of the moon passing in front of the sun, a spectacle that last occurred in 2017.

Astronomy major Cat Hou pointed out a solar spot visible before the eclipse.

She explained that the solar eclipse “is able to happen because, even though the moon is much, much smaller than the sun, it’s much closer to Earth. It takes up around the same angular diameter.”

Astronomy major Louis Cedarbaum said the eclipse almost seemed like fantasy to him. “It’s so removed from here on Earth, with really amazing supernovae and galaxy black holes at not-comprehensible scales.”

Student Matteo Andres was manning a telescope as a long line of people waited to view the sun. “The machine has to be constantly rotating ever so slightly to keep it in the field of view,” he explained.

Aidan DeFranchesco had last seen the rare sight many years ago. However, he was “too young to appreciate

it,” he said.

Joe DeFranchesco was familiar with Foss Hill, having viewed fireworks from that vantage point in the past. He had watched the eclipse in the early 1990s at Central Connecticut State University in

New Britain. “The expectations are better than when I saw it many years ago because now that it’s so clear out, I can see it,” he said.

Keeping their glasses glued to the sky, the crowd counted down to the moment when the moon covered

about 90 to 95 percent of the sun, just before 3:30 p.m. As cheers echoed across the field, the sun appeared as a slim crescent.

The next total eclipse that can be viewed from the United States will happen on Aug. 23, 2044.

Photos by Cassandra Day/Hearst Connecticut Media Hundreds of people flocked to Wesleyan University’s Foss Hill Monday to watch the solar eclipse in Middletown.