UT Dallas will be in the path of totality during the April 8 solar eclipse. The eclipse will be visible from 12:23 p.m. to 3:03 p.m. on campus, with about 3 ½ minutes of totality beginning at 1:41 p.m.
The University of Texas at Dallas community will celebrate a celestial event almost 150 years in the making for North Texas with activities designed to bring Comets closer together and give them a better view of the science in the skies.
Dr. Mary Urquhart (left) and Centerville Elementary School fifth grade teacher Amy Angel practice safe viewing of the sun.
“No Comet Left Inside,” UTD’s campuswide celebration, will include giveaways, booths, music and telescopic projection viewing areas. The most recent total solar eclipse visible in North Texas was in 1878, and after this year’s eclipse, another one won’t be observable in the region until 2317.
Classes on April 8 are canceled between 1 p.m. and 2 p.m., and nonessential services will be suspended so that staff members, as well as faculty members and students, can enjoy the spectacle.
“For many viewers, this total solar eclipse will be a once-in-a-lifetime event,” said Dr. Mary Urquhart, planetary scientist and associate professor and department head of science/mathematics education in the School of Natural Sciences and Mathematics. Urquhart, who viewed the 2017 total solar eclipse from Tennessee, leads a campuswide eclipse committee.