Solar eclipse captivates sky watchers at Albuquerque museum

Apr. 8—When Michael Meyer walked into the New Mexico Museum of Natural History & Science with his 2-year-old daughter seated atop his shoulders, he knew he was about to experience a rare solar event.

His daughter, unaware of the gravity of the celestial spectacle, was simply excited to look at the sky with her father.

She looked around, eyes filled with wonder and curiosity, as visitors placed protective eyewear on, ready to watch the solar eclipse. Little did she know the next time she could experience an event like this, she would be in her 20s.

"My daughter will be about 23 or 24 when the next eclipse comes, so I really wanted to bring her to this event. I know very little about the eclipse, but that's why we decided to come to the museum. We live close by and heard the event would be fun, and we decided it would be a fun learning experience," Meyer said.

In Albuquerque, sky watchers flocked to the New Mexico Museum of Natural History and Science on Monday in hopes of observing the rare phenomenon.

More than 100 visitors gathered at the museum, ready to observe the eclipse at its peak. While New Mexico was not on the direct path of the eclipse, the region had a 70-90% chance of seeing the eclipse even though it was not in totality.

The museum opened its observatory deck to spectators and placed four different space viewing telescopes for visitors to observe the moon pass between the Earth and its sun.

Carmelo Marino was happy to be there with his family, eclipse glasses in his hands as he and they got settled at the event.

"I came to watch the solar eclipse because its not something you get to do very often. I have to give a huge thank you to the museum. My family and I chose to come here because we felt the museum had the best safety measures and equipment and the knowledge of experts. It's great to watch the event but I like getting to learn more, too," Marino said .

Although several telescopes were placed outside, many chose to wait in line to view the eclipse through the Meade Lx200, the largest viewing telescope available at the event.

In the observation room, museum employee Craig Jones explained the eclipse to every person waiting in line to use the telescope

Jones was tasked with adjusting the telescope inside the observation deck for better viewing and rotating the observation deck to follow the sun's movements. He would place a small ladder for children to look through the telescope and spouted out several fun facts about the museum, telescopes and the eclipse.

Elizabeth Burki, who regularly volunteers at the museum, was also among those helping.

"I love volunteering at the museum. It's fun to share my knowledge with the children. I think it's very exciting to get people to take a moment to just look up at the sky together and experience something as a group. I was disappointed to hear that the weather would be cloudy, but it isn't as bad as I thought," Burki said.

Although several in the crowd expressed disappointment with overcast skies blocking their view , the clouds seemed to respond to the crowd's distress, parting to give observers a window of opportunity to better view the eclipse.

By 11:30 a.m, the sun was slowly being overtaken by the moon. Viewers lined the observation deck on all sides to glimpse at the sun through protective eyewear. The museum also provided other equipment for viewing, including solar scopes, a device that provided a small shadow of the eclipse by reflecting the shadows off a small mirror, and boxes lined with protective liners to give more angles to the viewing experiment.

At noon, the eclipse had obscured half of the sun. The crowd began cheering as the clouds parted just in time for the eclipse's peak to hit in New Mexico. Half an hour later, museum workers announced the eclipse was at its totality in New Mexico, and participants took one last look before leaving the museum.

The next total eclipse that can be seen in the United States will not occur until Aug. 23, 2044.