WALB continues team coverage following the eclipse

ALBANY, Ga. (WALB) - WALB has been covering the Great American Eclipse all day on Monday.

WALB News 10′s Lenah Allen, Brittanye Blake, Katelyn Barker, and Mackenzie Petrie covered how cities in South Georgia helped people celebrate the eclipse.

Thronateeska Heritage Center in Albany

Lenah Allen reported live from the Thronateeska Heritage Center in Albany where many children saw the eclipse for the first time at the center’s planetarium.

It was definitely precious and heartwarming to see the little ones come up here put on their glasses, and literally gasp as they looked up at the sky. Science was definitely knocking on everyone’s door today as people scrambled to get their solar eclipse glasses.

People in Albany used this time not only to come together and view the rare phenomenon but also to educate themselves on what was going on above us. The Thranateeska Planetarium had a hand in bringing solar eclipse lessons to some kids as they showed their new show Totality. Overall people of all ages could not get enough of the rare sighting in the sky.

“By the passing of it. The passing of the sun and moon together and the darkness. in the daytime. It’s just exciting to me to see that,” said Darlene Smith, solar eclipse viewer.

“It’s exciting and I mean having her to share it with. That would be exciting. Yes,” said Kristin Bassig, solar eclipse viewer.

Families and couples were just thrilled about this experience on Monday.

Valdosta State University

Brittanye Blake reported live from the Valdosta State University observatory where many VSU students, along with parents and their children, went to view the eclipse.

The VSU observatory looks a lot different now that the crowd has been cleared out from the partial solar eclipse viewing — the partial eclipse fully passed the area around 4:18 p.m.

Some of VSU’s astrology and physics students took this as an opportunity to put their learning into action, a few of them said they were excited about the eclipse because of their experience in 2017 and now being able to be a part of the planning brings even more excitement.

“To be honest I’ve been to a solar eclipse before, I like to see people actually get into awe about this,” said Xavier Wellons, VSU senior and Physics and Astronomy major.

“The last eclipse I seen that is one of the reasons that I started on my journey as an astronomy and physics major is because of the eclipse in 2017. To me it’s just like watching a phenomenon,” said Tyler Knox, VSU junior and Astronomy major.

For other astrology students, this was their first time experiencing any type of social eclipse and they were excited to witness this phenomenon physically after learning about it in their classes.

“A few sections ago we went over the different moon phases and we do have a lab in the middle of the night at the different stars, planets…looking at the moon through the telescope is like looking at an HD picture online,” said Dajia Brodeur, VSU senior and Physics and Astronomy major.

Over 500 people filled the observatory overlooking VSU’s campus earlier today for the solar eclipse event.

The crowd was filled with people of all ages and a few of them shared what brought them out to witness the partial solar eclipse.

“To see it go like halfway blocked, it will hopefully go all around,” said Stella Roberson, 3rd grader.

“What brought me out here is because I didn’t get to go to the last one seven years ago,” said Brodeur.

“To be honest I’m not quite sure I’ve never seen a partial eclipse so maybe to see any solar flares. We do have some devices set up so we can send that back to other universities,” Wellon said.

The astrology students and professors are working on a project in collaboration with other universities to track the eclipse’s movement which will be used for future studies and planning for the next full eclipse in 2045.

ABAC eclipse watch party

Katelyn Barker and Mackenzie Petrie reported from ABAC’s campus where they held a watch party to view the solar eclipse.

ABAC had music, food, games, and lots of fun for the entire campus to enjoy.

The solar eclipse party is officially over but ABAC made sure they had the perfect solar eclipse playlist to help make the occasion what it was.

“I know one of these teachers was adamant about playing Total Eclipse of the Heart. So that like Neon Moon, Black Hole Sun, Here Comes the Sun, Ain’t No Sunshine. I mean I have a whole playlist ready really,” said Hunter Holton, ABAC student.

Besides the music, the school had time for students to really learn the science behind the eclipse, students made pinhole viewers to look at the reflection of the eclipse if they couldn’t look at the sun. They had so much for students to do and it has been a full day.

Earlier in the day, ABAC in Tifton threw a party to watch the eclipse. The students were able to eat good food, receive some free glasses, and even make a pinhole viewer which is something you could use to see the eclipse if you didn’t have those special glasses.

“I really had a lot of fun today. I really liked seeing everybody come out as a school, and all the faculty come out, especially all the science professors coming out and showing different things about the plants and how they can fold up with the reaction the sun and stuff like that,” said Sena Stanfield, ABAC student. “It’s just really interesting to see stuff happen.”

“I saw the actual other eclipse in 2017 when I was in high school. It was kind of “Okay, everybody, let’s go out and see the eclipse and then go back to class.” This time, in college, with throwing the party, we really just brought everybody out. We were able to have fun with the karaoke, free food, and decorating cookies. It was just a lot of fun to connect with other students on campus,” she said.

If you missed the solar eclipse, or if you weren’t prepared with your special glasses, another one will be back in about 20 years, so you have some time to prepare.

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