Last week on Monday, April 8 Rancho Cucamonga High School witnessed the solar eclipse. A total solar eclipse happens when the moon passes between the sun and Earth, completely blocking the face of the sun. This eclipse was special for viewers because we haven’t had one like this since Monday, Aug. 21, 2017! For more information about this eclipse, visit this story covering the details.
RCHS science department teachers Ms. Windy Brown and Ms. Kristin Herchenroeder traveled to Texas together to see the total eclipse in full.
“It looked like there was a black hole in the middle of the sky, and then like, a white layer around it and it kind of looked like Twilight and the stars shone through,” said Brown.
The whole school was united for around five minutes, watching the solar eclipse together.
I was watching the eclipse with my friends, and it was cool to see how many people at school cared and wanted to see it.”
— Kaithlyn Aguirre, senior
Although not everyone had eclipse glasses, most students shared with each other and some teachers had some to give out to their students. Some students even made shadows with paper.
“You could have a piece of paper and some holes in it; it will show that crescent,” said Brown.
Brown explained that since there was more visibility in Texas, she saw the eclipse shadows through trees and sheets of paper.
“When it’s enough to pass shadows, every beam of light that makes it through the leaves [of a tree], turns into a crescent because the circle of the sun is covered by the moon,” said Brown.
The eclipse in California wasn’t at 100% totality, so we couldn’t see much difference since we were only around 43%, according to NASA.
“We only get an eclipse when it’s a new moon. And what’s weird is we don’t really see new moons and they usually don’t light up like the moon is a little higher than the sun but when the moon just lines up perfectly because of the earth’s tilt and the moon is a little bit different, when it lights up perfectly is when you get that eclipse so it’s only directly underneath the shadow of the moon is 100% coverage.”
This solar eclipse united RCHS and let students and teachers bond over the event together.
