Hundreds of faculty, staff and students emerged from their classrooms on the first day of the semester to brave the heat and don special sunglasses in anticipation of the first total solar eclipse visible from the contiguous U.S. since 1979.

Louisville itself witnessed the moon covering about 96 percent of the sun beginning around 1 p.m. and lasting just less than 3 hours. 

A few engineering students gathered near Grawemeyer Hall for the occasion.

“I’m a big science guy, so this is cool. It’s a once-in-a-lifetime event,” said Donovan McCoy, a senior engineering major.

“I’ve never seen anything like this. There are people all over the place, looking up,” added Eric Lewis, a sophomore mechanical engineering student.

Unlike McCoy and Lewis, Kelsey Hamilton doesn’t consider herself to be a science person. Still, the junior communications major was just as excited to witness the event.

“It’s really cool to experience this and to be here while doing it. I love everyone’s excitement about it. I work at the Information Center, so people have been talking about it every day, which has added to the excitement and it’s finally here,” she said. 

Dillon Miles, who works in the Development Office, added that the opportunity to witness the eclipse on a campus made it even more special. 

“We work at an institution that is focused on learning,” he said. “What a better way to learn than to observe it in person?” 

Those who missed today’s phenomenon will have to wait until 2024 for the next total solar eclipse in the U.S. 

“A total eclipse of the sun is a very rare and beautiful event that you can only really enjoy from within the path of totality,” said Gerard Williger, PhD, associate professor in the Department of Physics and Astronomy at the University of Louisville. “It’s as though the sun was taken away for a couple of minutes and then it comes back and it’s all better afterward.”

Kentuckians will have the opportunity to experience that rare and beautiful event on August 21, when the moon will pass directly between the sun and the earth, eclipsing the sun’s light for about two minutes. The path of totality, a 70-mile-wide swath of Earth that lies in the eclipse’s full shadow, will cross the southeastern corner of Kentucky, passing over Hopkinsville and Paducah, in a line stretching from South Carolina to Oregon.

At this month’s Beer with a Scientist event, Williger will share the wonder of the total eclipse experience, explain exactly how rare it is, and provide guidance on safe viewing of the eclipse. Yes, special equipment is required, but it isn’t costly.

The event begins at 8 p.m. on Wednesday, May 17, at Against the Grain Brewery, 401 E. Main St. in Louisville. A 45-minute presentation will be followed by an informal Q&A session.

Also in the double-header discussion, Nick Duong will discuss recent research on near-Earth asteroids (NEAs) and share what we know about their likelihood of striking the Earth. Duong, a recent UofL graduate, worked with the to study and map Asteroid 1992 UY4. SETI, which stands for Search for Extra-Terrestrial Intelligence, is a private institute that researches life in the universe.

The University of Louisville Department of Physics and Astronomy has created a , including viewing events sponsored by UofL for students, alumni and the public.

Admission to Beer with a Scientist is free. Purchase of beer, other beverages or menu items is not required but is encouraged.

For more information and to suggest future Beer with a Scientist topics, follow Upcoming dates: 

• June 14 – Jacquelyn Graven, Graven and Assoc. – How to work less and play more
• July 12 – Lee Dugatkin of UofL – How to tame a fox and build a dog