Eclipse coverage replay: North Central, Northeastern, Northwestern Ohio

The Daily Record
Updated ·6 min read

After more than a year of preparation as a prime national viewing location in the path of totality, North Central and Northwestern and Northeastern Ohio will greet thousands of visitors for the total solar eclipse Monday. Reporters from the Ohio USA TODAY Network are among the sky watchers in crowds at several viewing events.

This is the place for live updates from the path of totality near Wooster, Bucyrus, Ashland, Marion, Mansfield, Fremont and throughout the state, complete with photos and videos. return to this page frequently as the eclipse makes its way across the country and our region.

Wooster

By 2:30 p.m., hundreds of students, professors and staff were sitting and standing on the south quad in front of the College of Wooster’s iconic Kauke Hall, peering at the sun through their eclipse glasses.

The college’s astronomy club had been planning the gathering for six months under the supervisor of Laura DeGroot, a physics professor.

That Wooster is in the path of totality is exceedingly rare, DeGroot said as she watched students use a sun spotter set up on a table on the quad. They only happen about twice a year anywhere on earth because the moon’s orbit is on a 5 degree incline, the physicist explained.

Not only are they rare and cool to look at, throughout history they’ve provided great opportunities for scientists, DeGroot said, pointing to the 1919 eclipse expedition led by British physicist Arthur Eddington.

Einstein’s theory of general relativity, published just a few years earlier, predicted that massive objects, like the sun, would bend light around them, and that’s exactly what Eddington observed during the 1919 eclipse, DeGroot said.

“It provided great evidence for general relativity,” she said. The expedition may have included Wooster’s own Arthur Compton, a College of Wooster alum and physicist who won the Nobel Prize in Physics 1927, DeGroot said.

The students who lined up to take a gander through Megan Nieberding’s telescope on the other end of the quad probably didn’t make any observations that will lead to a Nobel, they were learning a lot.

“Have you ever looked through a telescope before,” Nieberding, a visiting physics professor, asked one student.

“Not one like this,” he said before peering through the viewfinder of Nieberding’s high-powered Celestron Nexstar 8SE telescope.

“Can you see the sunspots?” Nieberding asked.

“What are those?” the student replied.

“They’re slightly cooler areas of the sun’s surface,” she told him.

He confirmed he could indeed see the darker, cooler regions of the sun, which would be invisible to those only wearing eclipse glasses, through the telescope.

Nieberding traveled to Nashville to experience totality in 2017, but this one came to her.

“The last one gave me goosebumps, so I’m just so excited for this one,” she said as more students took their turns on the telescope and the moon hit the half-way mark in its march across the sun.

Connie Mayle and Robin Blakeman drove up from South Point, Ohio, near Huntington, West Virginia, on Sunday.

They had originally planned to view the eclipse in Akron, but this morning changed plan to come to Wooster as the forecast showed a lower likelihood of cloud cover, Mayle, a 54-year-old call center manager, explained.

By 1:45, the pair were comfortably seated in lawn chairs in the parking lot of the Wayne County Public Library Wooster branch glasses at the ready.

They saw the partial eclipse in 2017 and decided “we were going to do the whole thing in 2024,” said Blakeman, 59-year-old non-profit director.

They even bought solar viewers that magnify the sun so it appears larger than through the glasses alone.

“It’s almost a once-in-a-lifetime event to try to see, maybe twice if you’re lucky,” Blakeman said.

As the 1:58 p.m. onset of the eclipse began, Judi Costanza, from the Pittsburgh area, and Diep Nguyen, from Maryland, looked through their glasses from a bench outside the library.
As the 1:58 p.m. onset of the eclipse began, Judi Costanza, from the Pittsburgh area, and Diep Nguyen, from Maryland, looked through their glasses from a bench outside the library.

As the 1:58 p.m. onset of the eclipse began, Judi Costanza, from the Pittsburgh area, and Diep Nguyen, from Maryland, looked through their glasses from a bench outside the library.

Sammi, Costanza’s dog, was content to bask in the sun on the sidewalk.

About 2 p.m., Nguyen was the first to spot a dark bite out of the sun.

“It’s at about 5 o’clock,” she said.

“Oh my gosh, it’s so cool,” Costanza, seeing it.

Saber Ferguson, 13, of San Francisco, California, looks through an Orion telescope equipped with a solar filter about 1:30 p.m. Monday at the Lowe-Volk Nature Center in Crawford County, Ohio.
Saber Ferguson, 13, of San Francisco, California, looks through an Orion telescope equipped with a solar filter about 1:30 p.m. Monday at the Lowe-Volk Nature Center in Crawford County, Ohio.

Crawford County

Saber Ferguson leaned over a telescope and stared at the sun Monday afternoon, about 30 minutes before the start of the solar eclipse.

It was the first time the 13-year-old from San Francisco, California, had ever been in Crawford County.

His family had driven to the area in search of a clear place to watch the eclipse; they found the rural Lowe-Volk Nature Center between Galion and Crestline.

“It was a guess, really,” Ferguson said. “It looks like we hit the jackpot.”

The skies were mostly clear, and parking spaces were ample.

Awaiting them and the hundred other guests Monday afternoon were a half dozen state-of-the-art telescopes, all equipped with solar filters for safely viewing the sun.

Most of the pieces of equipment were worth about $5,000, according to Dan Everly, longtime member of the Crawford Park Astronomy Club, which owns and manages the scopes.

The turnout Monday was a pleasant affirmation after months of planning for the eclipse.

“We’ve had someone from Colorado today, and California and Washington State,” Everly said. “They’ve come from everywhere.”

The crowd was eager for the eclipse to begin at 1:59 p.m. Totality is expected about 3:11 p.m.

Aumiller Park in Bucyrus looks peaceful and serene with only a few cars in the parking lot and a few friends eating out as they wait for the eclipse to begin.
Aumiller Park in Bucyrus looks peaceful and serene with only a few cars in the parking lot and a few friends eating out as they wait for the eclipse to begin.
Logan Fletcher of Killbuck experiences a millipede at the United Titanium Bug Zoo at the Ohio State University Agricultural Technical Institute in Wooster, where pre-eclipse activities were held.
Logan Fletcher of Killbuck experiences a millipede at the United Titanium Bug Zoo at the Ohio State University Agricultural Technical Institute in Wooster, where pre-eclipse activities were held.

Ashland County

People from as far away as New Jersey and Virginia are at Freer Field in Ashland today, setting up to watch the eclipse.

Music is playing in the park and people are lining the sidewalk with folding chairs, watching children play in the field.

As the time drew nearer to the beginning of the eclipse, the area is getting more crowded.

Workers wait at Freer Field in Ashland before the crowds begin to arrive.
Workers wait at Freer Field in Ashland before the crowds begin to arrive.

Mansfield

It’s a party at Dan Lew Exchange in downtown Mansfield.

Owner Dan Lew opened the restaurant’s patio for the first time this season in honor of the eclipse.

It’s a party at Dan Lew Exchange in downtown Mansfield.
It’s a party at Dan Lew Exchange in downtown Mansfield.

The Jimi Vincent Band is jamming a few feet away from North Main Street, entertaining the lunch crowd.

Skies over downtown Mansfield are looking pretty clear.

Eclipse weather: Get updates for Monday's forecast

What time is the eclipse near you? How long will it last?

Scroll to your location to see the peak eclipse time, duration and more.

C.J. and Tori Tipton of Streetsboro look at a rock and bug display before heading outside to view the total solar eclipse at the Ohio Agricultural Research and Development Center.
C.J. and Tori Tipton of Streetsboro look at a rock and bug display before heading outside to view the total solar eclipse at the Ohio Agricultural Research and Development Center.

Enter your ZIP code to zero in on a single location.

About 1,000 tickets were sold at the Ohio State Reformatory in Mansfield, according to spokeswoman Ashleigh Ramey. She said about 600 people have taken tours Monday.
About 1,000 tickets were sold at the Ohio State Reformatory in Mansfield, according to spokeswoman Ashleigh Ramey. She said about 600 people have taken tours Monday.

The eclipse can affect behavior

Tammy Chiccarello, a fifth grade teacher in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, and Scott Miller of Morgantown, West Virginia, visit the Ohio State Reformatory in Mansfield for the first time on the day of the total solar eclipse.
Tammy Chiccarello, a fifth grade teacher in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, and Scott Miller of Morgantown, West Virginia, visit the Ohio State Reformatory in Mansfield for the first time on the day of the total solar eclipse.

How to watch the eclipse online

Want to follow the 2024 solar eclipse live on Monday afternoon? Watch the USA TODAY broadcast at the video below.

Choose your eclipse adventure: Ashland

Choose your eclipse adventure: Bucyrus

Choose your eclipse adventure: Fremont

Choose your eclipse adventure: Mansfield

Choose your eclipse adventure: Marion

Choose your eclipse adventure: Port Clinton

Put-in-Bay, other lakeside towns plan for eclipse crowds

Choose your eclipse adventure: Wooster

How to take photos with your phone

Be careful when taking photographs of a solar eclipse with your smartphone. Check out these tips and tricks.

This article originally appeared on The Daily Record: Total solar eclipse coverage from northeast, central, northwestern Ohio