The Tartan

By Sam Bates and Arden Ryan

Just after 2 p.m. on April 8, the Pittsburgh sky began to darken, creatures of the evening emerged, and Carnegie Mellon’s campus filled with wonderstruck sun gazers. A major solar eclipse was cutting across the afternoon atmosphere.

Last Monday, thousands of Carnegie Mellon students came outdoors and gathered around campus to watch the rare eclipse. Partiality began at 2 p.m. as the moon crept into the right corner of the sun, a sight only (safely) visible through solar viewers, which are far darker than regular sunglasses. The solar event ended at 4:30 p.m. as the moon slipped away.

The next time a solar eclipse will cross the United States will not be until Aug. 12, 2045, an event that will span from northern California to Florida.

The eclipse in Pittsburgh last week was near-total, with the moon covering 97 percent of the sun at the maximum. Two hours to the north ran the path of totality, cloaking northern Pennsylvania in a darkness for a few minutes.

At Carnegie Mellon, students, faculty, wandering visitors, and families gathered to witness the event as a community. The Tartan spoke with various onlookers immediately after the moment passed and the sky began to lighten.

Two second-year students, Kailey Rugani and Emma Nissan, told The Tartan that the eclipse was a very emotional experience for them.

“We were listening to ‘Total Eclipse of the Heart’ and it was really emotional,” Rugani said.

There was a noticeable emotional response at the moment of peak coverage, 3:17 p.m. Participants could hear a sudden and collective surge of exclamations and shouts from upward-gazing onlookers as the clock hit 3:17. Claps and cheers rose from the gathered crowd.

Just after the time of maximum coverage, when the sun was just a slim crescent, a plane passed right in front and bathed campus in deep twilight for a fraction of a second. Folks in the crowd declared jokingly that “we’ve achieved totality,” sharing a laugh on the Mall.

One student told The Tartan that the eclipse made them feel “really insignificant” and that it reminded them that “we’re all ants and nothing matters, in a good way.” 

Another student stated that they felt stressed because they might “have to manifest or something,” expecting it to be much darker. 

Many viewers wore eye protection thanks to the CMU Women in Science (WiS). The club handed out free eclipse glasses to students. WiS vice president Jessica Wei told The Tartan that the club began distributing glasses after special lecturer Diane Turnshek reached out to them asking if they could act as hosts.

These glasses were in high demand  — the line to pick them up stretched from the Fence to the doors of Baker Hall. Wei told The Tartan that the club gave out as many as 900 glasses over two hours and said that she felt “really happy” about the event.

“It was fun seeing everyone use the glasses to look at [the sun],” Wei said. “You don’t normally see that many people gathered in one place on campus.”

The club also offered pinhole viewing boxes made out of Amazon containers. These boxes filter the sun’s rays and allow the viewer to see the eclipse crescent reflected onto a white paper inside.

Seeing the amount of people on campus was a major subject of excitement for a lot of students watching the eclipse. There were thousands of people watching together on Flagstaff Hill, the Mall, and the Cut. Everywhere around campus were classes watching, groups of friends, and even Pittsburgh families and locals. There were even tour groups going about campus tours during the event, showing off a very unique moment for prospective high schoolers. 

One student shared the common sentiment that they “didn’t realize that this many people went to” Carnegie Mellon. Another followed up by saying that seeing the amount of students put the size of the student body more into perspective for them.

Many students seemed grateful about witnessing something so rare and called watching the eclipse “an amazing experience.”