Bogalusa joins nation in watching solar eclipse
Published 4:04 am Wednesday, August 23, 2017
- Bogalusa High School students point upwards as the solar eclipse makes its way across the sky Monday afternoon. Biology teacher Mel Hall told the students about the science of the eclipse, while they viewed the natural event from the home bleachers at Lewis V. Murray Stadium.
Bogalusa residents joined the rest of the nation Monday, as they enjoyed the unique natural show of a total eclipse of the sun.
Several citizens stopped by the Daily News office, with eclipse glasses in hand, while across town at Bogalusa High School, faculty and staff peeked early in advance of heading to the stadium where biology teacher Mel Hall provided some color commentary.
Hall told the middle and high school students when the eclipse was at its maximum occlusion, or coverage of the sun. That was at about 1:29 p.m. and the sun was about 78.5 percent covered. Hall related the brightness to another planet.
“This is like a normal Mars day,” he said.
Hall also mentioned that the next total solar eclipse would take place in 2024, and that Bogalusa itself would be directly in the path of an eclipse in 2078. The exact dates of those events are April 8, 2024, and May 11, 2078.
The last time America saw a coast-to-coast total eclipse was 99 years ago, on June 8, 1918.