Clemson students and community members gathered in the courtyard behind the Kinard Laboratory of Physics on Monday afternoon as the University’s department of physics and astronomy hosted a solar eclipse viewing party.

The astronomical event marked the first time that a total solar eclipse has been visible in the United States since August 2017. While Clemson was outside the eclipse’s path of totality, more than 80% of the sun was obscured, noticeably affecting light levels and dramatically distorting shadows.

“We’re trying to get people engaged with physics and show them how fun it can be,” event organizer Sam Panzica said in an interview with The Tiger.

Volunteers manned tables throughout the courtyard, offering passersby the opportunity to view the eclipse through telescopes, create their own eclipse-viewing devices from cardboard and tinfoil, and try some ice cream made using liquid nitrogen.

Inside the Kinard laboratory’s planetarium, visitors could view a variety of presentations, including explanations of general relativity and eclipse science. As the sun disappeared behind the moon, viewers crowded into the planetarium to watch a live broadcast of the eclipse.