A partial solar eclipse occurred at 2:30 p.m, viewed by students and teachers using telescopes from the Astronomy classes during seventh and eighth periods.

Because it is dangerous to look directly at the sun without a protective filter, even during an eclipse, students used safe solar filters on the telescopes.

“I thought it was fascinating to see the huge sun spots [with the telescopes],” Rishabh Jain (12) said. “It was the first time I’ve seen one in person.”

Solar eclipses usually occur when the moon’s orbit propels it in between the sun and the Earth, hiding the sun’s rays from the surface of the Earth.

According to the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA), in 2014 there have been two total lunar eclipses, one annual solar eclipse, and one partial solar eclipse.

NASA’s website stated that the eclipse lasted for two hours and gave people in the Central Time Zone (CT) the best view. People in Canada and the rest of the country were able to see a sliver of the sun, as the moon only partially obscured vision of the sun.

The eclipse was not viewable for citizens in New England and Hawaii.

For students at Harker, the solar eclipse’s effects were visible both by directly looking at the sun with a telescope and by the changing brightness of the sky.

“I’ve seen a few solar eclipses in the past. It was cool seeing how the whole school got much darker and you could see a sunspot on the surface,” Naman Jindal (11) said.

The next eclipse will occur next year on Mar. 20, and will be visible in Europe, North Africa, Northern Asia.

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Students at the Upper School were able to view a solar eclipse occurring during seventh and eight periods.