Be informed about the upcoming total solar eclipse

Richmond, Indiana – There will shortly be a unique astronomical occurrence in Wayne County.

Soon after 3 p.m. on April 8, Dalton Township will be among the greatest places on Earth to witness the complete solar eclipse. However, local events related to the eclipse will take place over the weekend, as the county anticipates thousands of people to witness the roughly four minutes of darkness.

“We do want people to have fun with this,” said Mary Walker, the executive director of the Wayne County Convention and Tourism Bureau. “It’s an amazing thing to have in your own backyard.”

On April 8, the moon will be in alignment with Earth and the sun due to the Earth and moon’s orbits. At 1:52 p.m., the moon will start to block the sun. Over the next almost hour and a half, the sun will be hidden in more and more areas.

Because of its distance from Earth, the moon will be able to completely obscure the sun at 3:07 p.m., resulting in a total eclipse. After totality, it will take a further 1.5 hours until the sun is fully visible once more, at 4:24 p.m.

Wayne County will be completely within the “path of totality,” which is created when the moon’s umbra shadow crosses North America from Mexico to Canada. There will be times of darkness along the route, which essentially runs from Hamilton, Ohio, to Kokomo, such as at dusk. Nighttime animals will stir and automatic lights will come on.

Up to 121 miles broad, the shadow will begin its journey through Texas, New Mexico, Oklahoma, Arkansas, Missouri, Illinois, Kentucky, Indiana, Ohio, Pennsylvania, New York, Vermont, New Hampshire, and Maine before slanting northeast into Canada.

The middle of the shadow’s path has the greatest length of totality since the shadow of the moon is spherical in shape. That’s four minutes in Dalton Township, Wayne County. In other parts of Wayne County, the totality times for Hagerstown, Williamsburg, Greens Fork, Cambridge City, Fountain City, Centerville, and Richmond are 3:59.2, 3:58, 3:56.9, and 3:56.7, respectively.

The National Aeronautics and Space Administration states that the sun’s corona, or outer atmosphere, is visible when the moon entirely obscures the sun. Due to its solar maximum, it is anticipated that the sun will be active during this year’s eclipse. During that phase, streamers are produced by the sun’s magnetic field and travel across the corona. It’s also possible that prominences will be apparent. These are vivid pink loops or curls reflecting the sun.

When watching the eclipse, special eye protection is needed to prevent eye damage—more than simply sunglasses. Eclipse glasses or viewers need to be scratch-free and adhere to ISO 12312-2 requirements. To see through phones, cameras, binoculars, or telescopes, eclipse glasses are insufficient; these items need to have specific solar filters fastened to their fronts.

The eclipse can only be seen or photographed without the required special glasses and filters during totality.

Will Wayne County see 100,000 tourists in 2023? Western Wayne News wondered in an article published on February 22, 2023. above an eclipse-related tale.

It will not be until 2044 that the contiguous United States will see a total solar eclipse, and it is quite unlikely that Wayne County will be in the line of totality. It was described by Walker as “once in a lifetime.”

People flock to the path of totality even though there will be at least a partial eclipse in all 48 contiguous states. Since Wayne County is home to several important east-west and north-south thoroughfares, it makes sense for eclipse watchers to gather there. Inquiries have been received by the tourism office not just from persons traveling from surrounding states but also from Berlin, Germany, London, England, California, Florida, Texas, and Maine.

It’s still unclear how many eclipse enthusiasts come to Wayne County, but reservations that fill motels, campgrounds, AirBnBs, and pop-up campers ensure that people will be here.

The number of individuals that see the eclipse from Wayne County is also influenced by the weather. Tourists seeking to see the complete eclipse in Wayne County will depart if the morning prediction for April 8 is overcast and rainy and the afternoon forecast is no better. On the other hand, viewers from cloudy conditions may come in greater numbers if Wayne County experiences clear weather.

There will be a lot of demand at grocery stores, gas stations, and restaurants as a result of the inflow.
Emergency responders in Wayne County have been preparing for traffic and other emergencies for over a year now, working with state and local partners. They have benefited from after-action reports from other locations that had large crowds during eclipses, including from a 2017 total eclipse that flooded parts of Kentucky.

But eclipse tourists also present a chance. Over the past year, the tourism bureau, local governments, and organizations have also been quite busy organizing events for the weekend and providing entertainment for April 8 eclipse watch locations.

Online at WayneCountySolarEclipse.com, you can find all the information you need about the eclipse and its associated events. You can also pick up eclipse glasses and viewers, souvenirs, and other items at the Old National Road Welcome Center, located at 4701 National Road E., Richmond. For details, contact the eclipse hotline at 765-935-8687 and ask about the eclipse.

Any organization can visit the website and add themselves to the lists if it hosts an eclipse-related event or is located in an eclipse viewing area.

“Anyone who’s doing anything, we want to know about it and get it on the website,” said Angel Gray, the tourism bureau’s communications and social media specialist.