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By Brian O’Shea, Plateau Daily News
People throughout the country took a moment to watch the solar eclipse on April 8, and that includes a small group of the community who donned eclipse glasses and gathered on Sunset Rock for the Highlands-Cashiers Land Trust Star Party.
A couple dozen people watched the solar eclipse on April 8 from Sunset Rock overlooking Highlands.
“It was such an amazing time to watch the eclipse at Sunset Rock because we cultivated the wonderfully present community of Highlands while overlooking the town,” said Jessica Blackburn, HCLT Education AmeriCorps member and organizer of the event. “Also, Sunset Rock is such a beautiful place that can tolerate large members of the public. Year-round Sunset Rock provides really good coverage of the sky and the sun for most parts of the day.”
Looking at the solar eclipse through the clouds without glasses from Sunset Rock.
A solar eclipse happens when the moon moves in between the sun and the earth. More specifically, the moon must be in the new moon phase for the solar eclipse to occur.
Looking at the solar eclipse with glasses.
Blackburn said the Highlands/Cashiers area did not see fully eclipsed sun, but were able to catch the eclipse at 83-84% totality. The peak was at 3:07 pm, and the eclipse began at 1:49 pm and ended at 4:29 pm.
Grabbing a comfortable spot on Sunset Rock to watch the solar eclipse.
She added that the next total solar eclipse will be on August 12, 2026, but it will be visible in the Iceland and Greenland areas. The next total solar eclipse in the U.S. won’t be until 2044. However, there will be plenty of lunar eclipses and annular eclipses in the near future, but not all will be visible within the U.S.
Spectators watch a solar eclipse from Sunset Rock.
“I want to thank The Morehead Planetarium for providing HCLT with the glasses and so many great materials to add to the wonderful eclipse event,” said Blackburn. “This is a bit sappy but for me it’s amazing how an event completely independent of humans, like an eclipse, can cause such unity amongst people. Humanity loves celestial events and it always seems to bring us closer together, even if it’s only for a couple of moments.”
For more information about future eclipses from NASA, click HERE.