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Solar eclipse dims the skies over Mesa Verde National Park

 A group of people observing the annual eclipse near Spruce Tree House in Mesa Verde.
Chris Clements / KSJD
A group of people observing the annual eclipse near Spruce Tree House in Mesa Verde.

A rare solar eclipse dimmed the skies above Colorado’s Mesa Verde National Park this weekend.

NASA scientists and park rangers were on hand during this celestial event as a resource for the public.

Mesa Verde National Park was close to the direct path of the eclipse as it wound its way across the Western Hemisphere on Saturday.

The eclipse’s ring of fire, when the moon covers the sun to its fullest extent, happened at 10:33 a.m. local time and lasted for more than three minutes.

Tim Livengood is an assistant research scientist at NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center.

“Seeing this variation in something that so totally governs our lives as the sun and briefly being covered up, is a substantial change in our experience of the universe," says Livengood.

The eclipse was also seen in other parts of the western U.S., including Texas and the Pacific Northwest, as well as Latin America.

 A display that NASA employees set up at the viewing event.
Chris Clements / KSJD
A display that NASA employees set up at the viewing event.

Copyright 2023 KSJD. To see more, visit KSJD.

This story was shared via Rocky Mountain Community Radio, a network of public media stations in Colorado, Wyoming, Utah and New Mexico including Aspen Public Radio.

Chris Clements