Eyes on the sky: Thousands of Brooklynites turn out for the solar eclipse

Thousands of Brooklynites headed outside on Monday afternoon to take in the rare solar eclipse — the likes of which won’t be seen again in the U.S. until 2044.

Though New York City wasn’t in the “path of totality,” about 90% of the sun was blotted out at the eclipse’s peak just before 3:30 p.m. — and everyone, from space enthusiasts to students to regular ol’ Brooklynites — wanted to catch a glimpse.

A woman snapped a photo of the eclipse through her glasses in Prospect Park South. Photo by Camille Botello

The line for Green-Wood Cemetery’s viewing party stretched around the block as people filed in to watch the event from the graveyard. Equipped with their all-important eclipse glasses, viewers set up telescopes and stretched out on the grass as the moon slowly moved over the face of the sun.

Lillian Vargas, Carmen Sytco, and Moraima Suarez headed to Green-Wood together, excited to see the eclipse – especially, they said, since they might not be around for the next one in 2044. This is Sytco’s second time seeing a solar eclipse, she said.

Brooklynites sprawled on the grass at Green-Wood. Photo by Adam Daly

“It’s a nice day, it’s nice to see everybody going around to see what’s happening,” Vargas said.

“That’s not something ordinary,” Sytco added.

At Brooklyn Commons, students gathered at a viewing party hosted by NYU Tandon School of Engineering. The university ordered 5,000 pairs of eclipse glasses, said Lauren Ptak, chief marketing officer of NYU Tandon, and staff took bets on whether or not they would run out. The party drew a big crowd of students and judges who work at Brooklyn courts just blocks away — and they did in fact give away every single pair.

Aaron Kesser, a third year chemical and biomolecular engineering student, plopped down on the ground to watch the eclipse right before sitting for a big exam. He got his eclipse glasses ahead of time, he said, to skip the line at the event.

“Originally I wanted to go out to Buffalo for the totality, but I have an exam today,” Kesser said. “This is my reward.”

NYU student Aaron Kessler caught the eclipse before a big exam. Photo by Ben Brachfeld

Dozens of Brooklynites lined up for eclipse glasses at NYU Tandon. Photo by Ben Brachfeld

Adam Perlmutter, a judge in Brooklyn Criminal Court, wandered over to the campus from the courthouse. He had called the local Brooklyn Public Library branch in search of glasses, he said, but they were all out.

“Then I saw this line, I figured maybe I’d get lucky,” he said.

And lucky he was — Perlmutter nabbed a pair of eclipse glasses from NYU and settled in with his fellow observers for the main event.

“I remember a few years ago there was [an eclipse,] I did the thing where I put a hole in a piece of paper, it didn’t feel the same,” he said.

Judge Aaron Perlmutter was excited to grab a pair of glasses at Brooklyn Commons. Photo by Ben Brachfeld

The crowd at Green-Wood erupted in cheers as the eclipse reached its peak, enveloping the borough in semi-darkness.

“This was the perfect setting,” said Park Slope resident Sarah Gartner, who watched the event at Green-Wood. “I come here frequently – it’s just the people, the vibe, the cherry blossoms, it’s just gorgeous.”

The eclipse as seen through eclipse glasses in New York City. Photo by Kirstyn Brendlen

Gartner found the eclipse “very moving,” especially since it occurred just days after a rare earthquake rattled the borough.

“It kind of puts yourself in perspective, because it’s much more about the universe than what we think it’s about,” she said.

Sarah Gartner said Green-Wood Cemetery was the perfect setting to watch the celestial event. Photo by Adam Daly

Joan Levine and Jonah Berman, who traveled to the cemetery from Manhattan, also thought Green-Wood was the perfect place to watch the eclipse – but for a different reason.

“We were under the understanding that years ago, apparently, people perished during the eclipse because they were so frightened,” Levine said. “So here we are at Green-Wood Cemetery, it’s very convenient if there is an untimely mishap.”

Joan Levine and Jonah Berman traveled to Brooklyn from Manhattan. Photo by Adam Daly

As for the eclipse itself — it was “almost as celestial” as attending Woodstock back in the day, Levine said.

Green-Wood and Pioneer Works spent three months planning the eclipse event, said Harry Weil, Green-Wood’s director of public programs and special projects, and about 8,000 people showed up to enjoy it.

“This is a rare cosmological event, so we wanted to make sure that this was the viewing place for it,” Weil said. “We wanted to bring the community together, that was the important thing about this. No one should be viewing this alone, some of us may not be here in 20 years or 50 years or 100 years, so the ability to gather together and have this communal experience was what it was all about.”

Watching at Brooklyn Commons, Andre Taylor — a solar energy researcher and professor at NYU — said he had asked one of his grad students to grab a pair of eclipse glasses for him before the event. The professor said the size of the moon and the distance between the Earth, moon and sun make the Earth unique in the solar system.

NYU professor Andre Taylor said the Earth is uniquely positioned within the solar system to experience solar eclipses. Photo by Ben Brachfeld

“We’re unique in any other planet in our solar system,” he explained. “We’re the only one where the size of our moon is like 400 times smaller than the sun, and then the distance of the sun is like 400 times the distance of the moon from the Earth. That way when they both cross paths we have this total eclipse. And I didn’t realize we have the only moon that can do that.”

Additional reporting by Kirstyn Brendlen