Hundreds of people watched the partial solar eclipse from the Rockwall County Library on Monday.
“It was really cool,” said Sophia Davilia, of Dallas. “I’ve never seen one, so to see it its really cool."
“It was wonderful,” said Sylvia Polhamus of Richardson. “It’s like a little mouse took a bite out of the sun."
A NASA ambassador, Max Corneau of Rockwall hosted the watch party.
“The sun is absolutely showing off,” Corneau said, who retired from the U.S. Army as Lieutenant Colonel, Senior Space Operations Officer.
“A brand new set of sunspots rotated around just for this event," said Corneau, who is known around town as “Astrodad.”
North Texas experienced a partial eclipse this time, but on April 8, 2024, it will lie in in the path of totality during the next solar eclipse.
“Everything is bigger in Texas," said Corneau. “In 2024, the period of totality will fall over North Texas, the time that the sun will be totally black when it’s safe to look at the sun in 2024, [it] will be almost twice as much [time] as it is right now."
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“Imagine that, we will be in the epicenter of the really biggest eclipse of the century and in just six-and-a-half years," Corneau said.
The center line will pass through Sulphur Springs, but the path of totality will spread 80 miles wide, leaving much of North Texas in total darkness for four minutes and 15 seconds.
