Totality over Fort Worth: Residents explore upcoming solar eclipse at Report event | Fort Worth Report (2024)

For a little more than two minutes on April 8, Fort Worth residents will be able to witness a total solar eclipse passing through the sky.

“Fort Worth is special every day of the year, but it will be extra special during the eclipse,” Fort Worth Report environmental reporter Haley Samsel said.

Eclipses themselves are fairly common, but it’s rarer for a total eclipse to be visible in the same place twice. It’s the first time Cowtown has been in the path of a total eclipse since 1878. Samsel led a discussion about the once-in-a-lifetime phenomena at the Fort Worth Report’s Totality Over Texas event March 22, in partnership with the Fort Worth Museum of Science and History.

Samsel shared information from a one-day workshop hosted at the University of Texas at San Antonio, where Texas-based journalists learned more about the eclipse from scientists and how to provide in-depth local coverage. The event, which also featured a viewing of the “Totality Over Texas” film inside the Noble Planetarium, was the first of several member events that the Report seeks to launch in the coming months.

“This is just one example of something we’re really working hard on, building a collaborative effort around our reporters and our development team to really show you what it’s like reporting the story,” development director Sonya Cisneros Wierzowiecki said.

The next total eclipse won’t happen until 2045, Samsel said. Totality, or the period when the moon fully covers the sun, will start at 1:41 p.m. — but the event will last between 12:22 p.m. and 3:01 p.m.

There’s more to do than just stare at the sky; Samsel shared information on two programs residents can get involved with to share their observations of how life on Earth responds to the phenomena. That includes the reactions of your furry friends.

• Eclipse Soundscapes Project
• Solar Eclipse Safari

“Animals don’t look at the sky during an eclipse, so don’t worry about them damaging their eyes. Animals are not as dumb as humans,” Samsel said, jokingly.

Event attendee Jamie McNeal has a personal curiosity about eclipses and planetary movement, she said. The April 8 event will be the first time McNeal has been in the path of totality. Before attending, she said, she didn’t realize Earth was the only planet to experience total eclipses, or how critical the exact angles of the sun and the moon are in making the phenomena happen.

“Now I realize it’s not just nice, it’s miraculous,” she said. “Because if everything were not in its place and not the size that it was, we wouldn’t experience it now.”

You may be wondering what makes this eclipse different from the one six months earlier. Fort Worth experienced a partial eclipse in October, when the moon partially covered the sun. The total eclipse in April will happen when the moon completely blocks the face of the sun, darkening the sky.

If you’re planning on making time to watch the eclipse, chances are you’re not alone. Samsel pointed out that 88% of Americans viewed the 2017 total solar eclipse. McNeal plans to host a small party.

“We’re going to put blankets on the ground, lay down with our (solar eclipse) glasses and just enjoy the best feature-length movie we’re going to see in a long time,” McNeal said.

Residents keeping an eye on the sky — with appropriate safety glasses — will be able to see bright pink curls along the edges of the eclipse, thanks to what’s known as the solar maximum: the period of greatest solar activity during the sun’s 11-year solar cycle.

The Fort Worth Report will bring you in-depth, local coverage of the eclipse’s impact on the area both before and after the skies darken in April. Samsel will be at the Fort Worth Zoo to monitor animal behavior alongside Dr. Adam Hartstone-Rose, a North Carolina State University professor. Other stories will include eye safety tips, the tourism impact in Fort Worth and how school districts will handle science education.

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