CONCORD, N.H. — On Monday afternoon, the sky darkened, the wind picked up, and all eyes turned to the sky. Hundreds of people gathered at the McAuliffe-Shepard Discovery Center for the eclipse, which reached 96 percent totality at 3:29 p.m.
Some came with lawn chairs, and one extra-prepared family even set up a tent to shield them from the sun’s rays. Children played gleefully in the crowd. Special glasses were ubiquitous – one attendee said that’s why they decided to come in the first place: free glasses.
Allan Scott, of Concord, and his family lounged in the afternoon sunlight, taking it in and trying to decipher exactly what they were witnessing. “So far all we can see is a tiny corner of what we think should be the moon at the bottom right-hand corner of the sun,” he said.
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Allan’s son Dev Scott, a college student studying wildlife ecology through a remote UMaine program, had hopes for the eclipse. “I want it to be something that surprises me,” he said. “Some sort of apocalyptic event” was what he had in mind, he said – but not a predicted apocalypse, that would be boring.
It lived up to the hype, in spite of the complete lack of apocalypse. “I loved it,” he said after the event. “I loved how weird and dark it got and still is.”
It turns out that awe-inspiring experiences, including witnessing an eclipse, can have an impact on human behavior. Paul Piff, a professor at University of California Irvine, has studied how eclipses shape human behaviors and found that it can promote kindness and even improve health outcomes.
Looking at the social and psychological impacts of the solar eclipse in 2000, he found that eclipses can actually promote kindness and improve health outcomes. He said that people in the path of totality “became less self-focused, less likely to talk about themselves.” Instead, they became more collective-minded, more keen on connecting to other people, and kinder.
“It connects us to things bigger than ourselves, motivates us to care for others, and the greater good,” Piff said of the solar eclipse.
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But the effects aren’t permanent. Piff said people typically return to their baseline behavior after about six weeks.
You can catch up with all of the Globe’s coverage of the 2024 total solar eclipse here, including some fantastic photos. Be sure to check out the amazing time-lapse video from the top of Mt. Washington!
This story first appeared in Globe NH | Morning Report, our free newsletter focused on the news you need to know about New Hampshire, including great coverage from the Boston Globe and links to interesting articles from other places. If you’d like to receive it via e-mail Monday through Friday, you can sign up here.
Amanda Gokee can be reached at amanda.gokee@globe.com. Follow her @amanda_gokee.