The 2024 Total Solar Eclipse, as seen from Mansfield, OH

Meteorologist Jeffrey Hoole brings us views of totality
Published: Apr. 8, 2024 at 9:42 PM EDT
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Mansfield, OH (WVVA) -

At 3:12 PM, on Monday, April 8th, 2024, cheers erupted across Richland county Ohio, as the moon eclipsed the sun in a breathtaking display of nature.

Crowds of out-of-towners gathered at South Park, while locals stepped out the doors of their own homes to experience totality, which lasted a grand total of 3 minutes and 19 seconds in Mansfield, OH.

Juliene Osborne-McKnight was visiting from Bucks county, PA and remarked, “It was miraculous...mind blowing...and it was worth it to do because....for us this is our last one.”. She continued, “We’re never going to see another one again. So how lucky we were, that we ended up here in the light on this day.”

The partial solar eclipse, also called “first contact”, began at 1:57 PM, with onlookers needing to have special eclipse glasses to view it. That is, until the “second contact”, when totality causes night to fall, allowing the stars and planets to shine in the middle of the day. It is during this phase, where we are able to see the sun’s corona, the whispy, white, outer layer of the sun’s atmosphere. “Third contact” signals the end of the darkness, as the moon moves out of perfect alignment with the sun.

Oddly enough, it didn’t feel like sunrise, it was a unique experience, where darkness and light seemed to intermingle.

“Fourth contact” marks the moment where the sun is no longer obscured by the moon, and the eclipse is over.

It will be over 20 years before the next coast to coast total solar eclipse occurs, on August 12, 2045.