Willoughby, Ohio: Solar Eclipse—2024 (Pt. 1)

Featured Photo: “Before the Eclipse, Vapor Trails”  Willoughby, Ohio—2024

1. Getting There

It’s not a bad drive from our home near Philadelphia, Pennsylvania to the city of Willoughby, which is located about 15 miles northeast of Cleveland in the neighboring state of Ohio. The trip is just over 400 miles and should take less than six-and-a-half hours if traffic is light, and one doesn’t stop along the way. Of course, traffic is never light along the PA and OH Turnpikes, and there are always stops—bathroom breaks, grabbing a coffee or lunch, and a gas fill-up or two. On this drive we also ran into road construction, so it took my wife and I nearly eight hours.

We arrived on Sunday, April 7, 2024. The solar eclipse was the following day, with totality—the time when the moon completely covers the sun—expected to occur at 3:16 PM.

This astronomical event was going to be special in many ways, not least of which was the significant portion of the US that would get to observe the total solar eclipse. The path of totality stretched from Del Rio, Texas to Houlton, Maine, and included Dallas, Indianapolis, Cleveland, and Niagara Falls. Much of the rest of the country would also experience a partial eclipse to some degree. It was most fortunate that my in-laws’ apartment in Willoughby was directly in the path of totality.

2. Getting Ready

My wife had started planning our trip several months prior. She searched (in vain) for an affordable hotel in Willoughby and researched authentic solar glasses that would preserve our eyesight as we viewed the eclipse.

When the glasses arrived, we examined the narrow and rather flimsy cardboard frames, then decided to tape an extra piece of cardboard above the lenses, to better protect our eyes from sunlight that might otherwise leak around the edges.

She had purchased a sufficient number of the solar glasses to send the extra pairs—sans the extra cardboard protection—to our sons in Los Angeles, CA and Bloomington, IN; there were even enough for them to share with their friends.

Having completed our journey to Willoughby, we checked into the hotel where my wife had a reservation—the same hotel we always stay in while visiting—but now paying the “eclipse premium” rate of three times the usual price! We unloaded our luggage and drove the short distance to visit with my wife’s parents. After the four of us had dinner together, my wife and I returned to the hotel to get a good night’s sleep before the big day.

3. Things to Come

We arrived back at my in-laws’ apartment on Monday, April 8, for an early lunch, wanting to be on time to witness the lunar-solar pas de deux in its entirety.

The total solar eclipse was going to begin just before 2:00 PM in what’s called the partial stage, with the moon edging in front of the sun, darkening just a sliver of the disc at first. The partial stage would continue with the moon advancing across the face of the sun, hiding more and more of the light and giving our giant star a crescent shape. Just before the total eclipse stage, the sun’s corona (its outer atmosphere) would become visible and—together with a single remaining “jewel” of sunlight—would create a “Diamond Ring”.

At totality, only the solar corona would be visible, with the moon blocking the whole face of the sun. Darkness during the total eclipse would last a whopping four minutes—almost. These events would then repeat in reverse order, another Diamond Ring appearing—the mirror image of the first—as the moon receded, covering less and less of the sun. The eclipse would end nearly two-and-a-half hours after the start, when the sun would once again be completely visible.

4. Getting Set

A couple of hours before the eclipse, we began to fear the weather might not cooperate, with the sky filled with more clouds than had been predicted. But by 1:00, the clouds cleared out and the sky became crisp, bright blue. My wife told her parents we were going out to scout the best location for viewing. We exited their building and were surprised to see a few other residents already gathering in groups and setting up chairs to enjoy the solar show. The weather was a bit chilly as we started walking along the sidewalk that encircled the apartment complex, but the bright sunlight warmed our faces.

We found what we thought might be a great location for watching: a bench set near a small man-made pond with a few trees that were not too tall, all of which provided a pretty clear view of the sun. I took a picture to show the possible viewing location to my in-laws and observed the sky, crisscrossed with airplane vapor trails.

I remembered reading that some airlines had sold tickets to fly along the path-of-totality—from southwest to northeast—tracking the moon to remain in the shadow of the eclipse for an extended period of time. Apparently, the flights had gotten an early start.

I got bold and took another photo—at great risk to my eyesight and the iPhone’s camera lens—zooming way out to include the sun’s blinding light shining brilliantly through one of the jets’ linear cloud creations.

Still mesmerized by the vapor trails, I zoomed in to capture today’s Featured Photo: a more abstract close-up composition with the sky seeming like an irregular checkerboard, tethered by gables and trees. My wife and I started back to the apartment, realizing the area by the pond might get crowded as the onset of the eclipse drew nearer, with a fight possible over who might lay claim to the prime bench spot. We decided it didn’t really matter where we sat, as long as we had a clear view of the sun. With our solar glasses on, the dazzling sphere would only appear as a rather modest dot anyway.

We went back inside to collect my wife’s parents, letting them know we had decided to set up right beside the entrance to their building. We grabbed our four folding chairs and headed back outside. My wife also remembered to grab the all-important solar glasses. We set up the chairs and took our seats at about a quarter to two. There were dozens of other residents scattered in the space around us, but our view toward the sun was completely unobstructed.

Donning our magical solar glasses, we did exactly what our mothers told us never to do: we stared directly at the ultra-bright, life-sustaining orb in the sky. And we did not go blind! Through the protective lenses of the special glasses, the sun appeared like a small-ish, orange-ish point of light, as in the nicely composed web photo below, taken during a different eclipse.

Then we eagerly waited, talking amongst ourselves, describing what we saw through the glasses and what we were expecting. At 1:59 PM—as we sat in awe in Willoughby, Ohio—the edge of the moon began to pass between us and the source of heat and light for all the earth.

5. The Curtain Rises

With our solar glasses safely in place, we watched the start of the eclipse. Initially, it appeared as if a small dark “bite” was taken out of the orange-ish sun. The bite grew larger and larger, progressing through the phases of the eclipse.

During this time, we also tried a few alternate ways to view the eclipse. One suggestion I read was to place a pin-hole—or several holes—in a paper plate and allow the sunlight to stream through the openings, projecting the image onto a second plate. The multiple holes were supposed to give a scattered mosaic pattern showing the partial sun resulting from the moon-bite. It didn’t quite work out for us, but I took a picture to memorialize our attempt anyway. Looking closely at the dots of light, although the image is a bit blurry, you can make out the crescent-shaped eclipsed sun.

We put our solar glasses back on and watched the eclipse continue over the next hour or so—the moon following its path directly in front of the sun—until only a small sliver of light was still visible. Then we saw the “jewel” of light appear at the edge of the dark moon with the solar corona forming the “Diamond Ring”. Truly remarkable!

Beneath the lower edge of my protective glasses, I noticed the area around us turning darker; it seemed the late afternoon was quickly becoming dusk. It began to feel colder—the temperature dropping by  5 or 10 degrees in a matter of a few minutes. And then, just before 3:15, the big moment came: the total eclipse. With the final bead of light disappearing, the sun was completely blocked by the moon, and everything went dark.

(To be continued…)