For the first time in 38 years, a social eclipse was visible in the U.S., on Monday, Aug. 21. It was also the first time in 99 years since a total solar eclipse crossed the country from coast to coast. Although Malibu did not fall within the eclipse’s path of totality, Pepperdine students and faculty members were still able to see a partial eclipse on campus.
Campus Minister for the University Church of Christ Dusty Breeding said he saw a crescent outline of the sun when he cut out a hole on a piece of paper and projected the shadow onto the ground outside his home at Baxter Drive.
“It was epic and life-altering,” Breeding said. “I think moments like that remind us of our smallness in the really big world of God. We got the gift of being in this unique moment of time in our enormous cosmos.”
Junior Zachary Nickles said he saw the sun’s crescent outline while looking through eclipse glasses in front of Stauffer Chapel.
“My friend spontaneously let me use his glasses, so I feel pretty grateful that I was in the right place at the right time to have been able to see something that is such an once in a lifetime opportunity,” Nickles said.
According to NASA, the next time a total solar eclipse will be visible in the U.S. will be on April 8, 2024.
However, the next total solar eclipse to move from coast to coast will not occur until August 12, 2045.
“I didn’t realize how rare [a total solar eclipse] was until my friends told me,” senior Jazmin Guardado said. “My friends were very excited, so even though I did not have the [eclipse] glasses, I glanced very quickly at the sun and saw the extremely bright crescent outline everyone was talking about. I didn’t understand why the eclipse was a big deal before that, so that was a special moment.”
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Follow Kayiu Wong on Twitter: @kayiu_wong
