Professors reflect on the solar eclipse
By Sarafina Madden ’26, Features Editor
Monday’s solar eclipse marks a significant moment in history. We will not see another eclipse in New York until 2079. On campus, around 3:00 p.m., KJ and the Science Center were completely deserted as students gathered to witness this astronomical moment. Students, faculty and families gathered on Burke Library’s front steps wearing the special eclipse glasses and eating eclipse inspired mooncakes. Others laid blankets down to watch with friends and teammates on Minor Field. This celestial moment naturally leads to both scientific and philosophical questions. Philosophy Professor, Russel Marcus and physics Professor Adam Lark offered their perspectives on this historical moment.
Lark detailed the planning process that went behind organizing the off-campus excursion to view Monday’s eclipse. He explained: “It was over a year of planning. I knew that I had to find a location in totality for the campus to attend, so there was a fair amount of scouting that had to be done. The hardest part about finding a spot in the Adirondacks is there are so few locations that aren’t all trees! Once I found the big open field that is the White Otter Fish and Game Club I knew that we were in business.” Beyond finding a location, Lark also described how difficult it was to manage transportation, equipping students with the proper eclipse-watching gear and more generally orchestrating the event. Lark reported that “There were about a dozen physics professors and students that were the “boots-on-the-ground” help for the event, and they helped move, set up, and run the entire event.”
Lark gave a brief scientific explanation of the eclipse in layman’s terms: “An eclipse occurs when the Earth enters the shadow of the Moon. In the sky, the Moon blocks out the Sun in the sky for a small portion of the Earth, causing darkness during the day.” He also noted that the Earth is unique, as it is the only planet in the solar system that gets total solar eclipses. In what he described as an “amazing coincidence,” Lark explained that “our moon is 400 times closer to the Sun, and 400 times smaller, so they appear the exact same size in the sky. This means that the moon can completely cover the sun in the sky and cast its shadow down onto earth. While the solar eclipse was a special moment for all of us to witness, Lark encouraged students to also look out for lunar eclipses. The next lunar eclipse is on March 13 in 2025, starting around midnight. He also expressed his excitement about viewing the 12P/Pons-Brooks comet, and explained he is installing a new telescope in the observatory so students will be able to observe this comet.
Lark reflected that “Everyone gets so wrapped up in their every-day lives. Tests to complete, deadlines, relationships. It is important to be able to step back and see things in a context that is bigger than yourself.” Lark articulated a sentiment many people attested to following the eclipse: “One thing that people mentioned at the eclipse is a feeling of being small. And I think that it is important to feel small every now and again.”
The eclipse viewing party in the Adirondacks turned out to be an incredible success. Lark reported that 800 people ended up coming to the event. He also commented on the communal feel of the event: “Students were playing games, going on hikes, throwing frisbees, and generally having a good time interacting with each other. Everyone was having a good time being outside with each other. That is one thing that I love about these big events in astronomy, it brings everyone together. The camaraderie was palpable.” Lark articulated that he is passionate about astronomy because it allows him to consider big questions about the universe: “Where did we come from, why are we here, are there other life out there?”
Russel Marcus, as a philosophy professor at Hamilton, is grappling with these same questions. Marcus believes that there is always an eclipse somewhere. He illustrated this with a simple hypothetical: “Imagine you had a jet pack and a space suit, so that you could fly anywhere in the solar system, even just anywhere pretty nearby. You could always position yourself so that the moon is located between you and the sun. By moving with the moon, you could be in the shadow of an eclipse at all times. You could also position yourself so that the Earth was always between you and the sun, and the same would be true for any other celestial body. It’s always an eclipse somewhere.” He noted: “That it fell on us this week is kind of a random accident.”
Questions about the nature of the universe have been plaguing philosophers since ancient times. For example, Marcus explained that “Galileo, in his wonderful little diary called Sidereus Nuncius (The Starry Messenger), describes how he learned to grind lenses to create a telescope that he then turned up to the moon to discover craters.” Ancient philosophers’ investigations of the universe forced them to recognize that they were not at the center of the universe. Anyone who watched the eclipse on Monday might have had that same epiphany. Marcus reflected: “People still struggle to see ourselves as the happy accidents of nature that we are, and to find meaning in what has none, intrinsically.” In his concluding remarks, Marcus affirmed that “An eclipse can be a useful and pleasant reminder to reflect on our place in the world and the good fortune we have to be in it.”
