Temperatures dropped, sunlight levels lowered, and shadows turned fuzzy like something out of a fantasy book. Was it the apocalypse? No! For many people here in Fruita and Grand Junction, the annular solar eclipse that took place on October 14, 2023, was an incredibly breathtaking sight to behold. Locals are lucky that the path of the eclipse was so close, allowing them to experience this strange phenomenon.

Brook Stockert, a teacher at FMHS, was outside during the eclipse at Lincoln Park. He said that he borrowed some eclipse glasses from others that were with him to look at it. Stockert said that he thought it was very cool, although it didn’t get as dark as he expected.

The reason it wasn’t very dark is because this wasn’t a total solar eclipse; it was annular. The word annular means “ring-shaped”, describing the corona of light still visible around the outline of the moon. The reason that this light was still visible is because the moon was not close to Earth at the time, so the shadow cast on Earth was smaller. The moon will be much closer to Earth in April, which means a total solar eclipse will occur. 

For amateur astronomers and space enthusiasts, this eclipse was much anticipated, and the next one will be even more exciting! Unfortunately, the total eclipse, taking place on April 19, 2024, will not be as close to us as the annular one. It is expected that the path of the eclipse (also known as the “path of totality”) will pass across 13 states, including Texas, Oklahoma, Arkansas, Missouri, Kentucky, Indiana, Ohio, Pennsylvania, New York, Vermont, New Hampshire, and Maine.

Chandra Rea, a senior at FMHS says “ I think eclipses are beautiful, I love how rare they are, even if I do not know too much about them”. This  generalizes how many of the people here at Fruita felt about the eclipse. Even if one doesn’t know much about it, a strange and beautiful thing like that is easy to appreciate.

I was fortunate enough to see the last total eclipse in the US in Idaho, on August 21 of 2017. The path of totality included fourteen states, and was only visible in the US. The experience was truly incredible. It was similar to the annular eclipse, except for around a minute, the sky was completely dark. It was like night time, everything went quiet and cold. Then the familiar sound of crickets chirping filled the air. I had never experienced anything like that before.

 This next eclipse is sure to be just as amazing.