Sun and Moon Put on Big Show for Earth

The first full eclipse in just under 100 years to stretch across the United States is now over, and people all across the region got to see a nearly unobstructed view of the eclipse from beginning to end.

Thousands gathered across western Kentucky. The eclipse started at 11:56 am, Paducah time, and lasted about three hours, with eclipse totality lasting an average of about 2 minutes and 30 to 40 seconds across the area.

NASA Astronaut, Col. Terry Wilcut, emcee'd the eclipse at the WKCTC NASA event in Paducah through totality.  Wilcut is a native of Kentucky.  He was born in Bowling Green, and grew up in Louisville.

"It's really an honor and kind of a special event for me to be here and see it," says Wilcut.  

"I think to me an eclipse kind of reminds me of our place in the universe, you know...it's a dynamic universe, with the sun, the moon and the earth lining up together and getting to experience the total eclipse," Wilcut added in the news interview with members of the media.

The campus of WKCTC served as an official NASA viewing event, with hundreds showing up to watch the sky turn dark in the middle of the day.  NASA also released multiple balloons from the campus, equipped with cameras, transmitters, and multiple experiments about 10 to 15 minutes prior to totality.  The balloons were to travel around 19 miles into the atmosphere, before a lack of air would cause them to rupture and come crashing to the ground, slowed by a parachute. The GPS equipped balloons were to be recovered by crews from the campus, with the data sent to NASA.

Campus officials told West Kentucky Star they were happy the event came to the campus, a result of the Challenger Learning Center being located on the campus.

"It has been a great event," says Mellisa Duncan, Director of the Challenger Learning Center at WKCTC in Paducah. 

"The eclipse committee planned the event for over a year. We had vendors, an astronaut, DJ and kind of like a party atmosphere, that even included bouncies for the kids. The Challenger Learning Center is part of the network that was started by the families of the astronauts that were lost in the accident back in 1986.  And we all know onboard that shuttle was Christa McAuliffe a teacher and so education was very important to that crew," added Duncan.

The Challenger Learning Center is one of about 40 locations worldwide, dedicated to the space shuttle Challenger, which exploded shortly after taking off from Cape Canaveral, FL in 1986.

The area will be visited by another total eclipse, the last eclipse for most people's lifetimes in just seven years in 2024.  This time the path of totality will come from the southwest and intersect right over Carbondale, IL, with Monday's event.  Paducah is in the path of totality for that eclipse as well.