Counting Down to Totality

What is a Total Solar Eclipse Like?

March 07, 2024

by Sutton Reekes, Communication and Media Manager, Imagination Station

There are very few times when everyone in northwest Ohio is doing the exact same thing at the exact same time. More often, maybe groups of us are doing the same thing: commuting to work or heading to sports games.

But rarely, is the whole region stopping to do one thing – together.

That will change on April 8 at 3:12 pm, as everyone in the path of totality in northwest Ohio takes off their eclipse glasses and stares at the sun together, experiencing the brilliance of totality.

Totality is a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity. Totality is when the moon passes between the Sun and Earth and fully covers the Sun. With the moon fully covering the Sun, the world around you pauses as day turns to nighttime darkness and the Earth stills.

The stars illuminate from the shadows, and Venus and Jupiter will glisten against the dark sky. The corona will be visible in feathery white streams of light coming from the sun. Given how bright the sun is, we rarely have the chance to see the outer edges of the sun on a daily basis and how often we see the planets in the sky depends on their location or the time of day.

Totality gives us two minutes of extraordinary ability to see our solar system in a way like never before.

But totality also lets us see our community like never before. For two minutes, everyone in northwest Ohio will be looking at the sky – doing the exact same thing at the exact same time together.