Graduate students from the Department of Earth and Space Sciences at the University of Washington College of the Environment chased the March 2024 total solar eclipse across the Midwest — the last to be seen in the U.S. for the next 20 years.
In “Chasing Totality: The 2024 Solar Eclipse,” the team traveled from Seattle to Missouri and finally to Arkansas to reach the center of a narrow 115-mile band of totality stretching from Texas to Maine. In this zone, the sun is completely covered by the moon, creating four minutes of night in the middle of the day, and revealing the stunning solar corona.
Despite uncertain weather and moving clouds, Calico Rock, Arkansas, provided ideal conditions to witness the breathtaking totality atop ancient fossilized beach sandstones. With a solar H-alpha telescope in tow to capture the sun’s chromosphere, the students and UW research assistant professor Baptiste Journaux will never forget this cross-country adventure and celestial spectacle.
“We decided to go to Arkansas for one main reason: During a total eclipse, being mobile is key to being able to chase clear skies without clouds until the last minute. It was likely to be much less crowded in Arkansas and Missouri than in Texas, while still offering the best chance of good weather,” Journaux explained. “Following weather predictions from the night before and last predictions at 4 a.m., we ended up in Calico Rock, where we were able to observe totality without clouds and in perfect conditions, standing on top of beautiful fossilized beach sandstones from 460 million years ago.”
The team that included four UW graduate students — Alysa Fintel, Ula Jones, Andrew Shumway and Haskelle Trigue White-Gianella — and Journaux brought along several cameras to photograph the lower atmosphere of the sun where a lot of activity can be seen during the progression of totality. In the totality zone, the sun is fully covered by the moon, cre,ating four minutes of night in the middle of the day. The moments preceding totality are characterized by the ability to visualize the solar corona, the outermost region of the sun’s atmosphere, with the naked eye.
The researchers were treated to this once-in-a-lifetime experience, and it’s something they will remember forever.
“I remember just pointing out the planets and looking for the moon with Ula, Alysa and Andrew. It was just so special and I loved it,” Trigue White-Gianella said.
“Seeing the totality is unlike anything else,” Shumway added. “Words cannot really describe it. You really, really have to see it for yourself.”
UW News published this related Q&A with Journaux about the trip.
