LITTLE ROCK, Ark. — As April 8 approaches, excitement for the Great North American Total Solar Eclipse is mounting with each passing day.
"It is very rare for that to happen," said Matthew Hankins, an astronomer at Arkansas Tech University.
The path of totality will cover the heart of the Natural State and draw millions of people from across the nation to watch it.
Officials have started preparing on a state and city level, and while planning hasn't been going on for long, increased efforts are underway to make sure the event goes off without any issues.
"When a total solar eclipse happens, the moon passes perfectly in front of the sun, and that casts a shadow on the earth," he explained.
According to Hankins, the entire eclipse will stretch roughly three hours from the moment it enters the state. However, this eclipse's biggest draw is its path of totality, which will only last 15 minutes throughout Arkansas.
“Where the moon starts to first go across the sun, then in the middle of it you get those four minutes of totality, it's complete darkness,” he described. “After that, there’s more than an hour roughly, of the moon leaving the surface of the sun.
Science and experience are what’s behind the massive interest in the eclipse.
“It takes a special geometry for the moon to cause this blockage and it becomes so dark, you can actually see things that you can't usually see in daytime, like stars and planets,” Hankins said.
In addition to that, viewing a total solar eclipse can be a once-in-a-lifetime event.
“There are places in the continental U.S. that will not see a total eclipse in hundreds of years,” Hankins added.
As for Arkansas, this phenomenon is 106 years in the making.
“The previous eclipse to pass through southern Arkansas was in 1918,” Hankins said.
With a large migration of people moving in and out of the state to view the historic event, the Arkansas Department of Emergency Management is on alert.
“We have a potential of 1.5 million visitors to be in the state, which is half the population of Arkansas,” said Erik Ekhoff, Operation Specialist with the Arkansas Department of Emergency Management. “We have to hit this on the mark as close as we can to get it right, get what we need, and keep everybody safe as well."
Making sure the entire state is prepared for the eclipse is a considerably large task, especially since multiple industries will be impacted.
“Roadways, parks and recreation areas, we're seeing high demands on hotel reservations, Airbnb type style, condos, those kinds of impacts,” Ekhoff said. “There’s infrastructure impacts, also we have to have an electric grid, we have to ask ourselves how is that going to hold up?”
As he explained it, completing their emergency response is extensive, but fortunately, they have all the pieces.
“So ARDOT, they created their working group, and Arkansas Division of Energy and Environment, created their working group,” Ekhoff said.
The state’s emergency response all starts with the Arkansas Department of Emergency Management. They lean on state agencies, who then create their own working groups. Ekhoff says these are their emergency support functions and their collaboration is key.
“We have a single contact now that we can get that information funneled in, and then try to address those issues,” Ekhoff said.
Emergency Management will also be monitoring eclipse hotspots across the state
“That's what we do,” Ekhoff said. “We track, we respond, we make sure we monitor, and have a good situational awareness of what's going on to keep people safe.
Russellville is home to Arkansas Tech University, and the city is one of those hotspots. Dozens of sites rank the city as one of the top ten places to view the eclipse worldwide.
The university’s eclipse chair Susan West said they’ve worked on their plan for two years.
“We're looking at over 100,000 people just here in Russellville,” said West.
With such a significant rise in the city's population expected, West said the team knew opening up the university was the right move.
“We'll be right outside of McKeever, there's going to be an area set up with telescopes and different viewing opportunities,” West said. “We have day parking, RV parking, and opportunities for food truck vendors to be here.”
As an astronomer at ATU, this couldn't be more perfect for Hankins and his team.
“The closer you are to the center of the path, the longer the eclipse shadow lasts,” Hankins said.
Russellville sits right in the middle, and that expected four minutes of darkness is the big draw to the city.
“Some of the folks are really into this, they care about having that extra minute,” Hankins said.
West said what people will see while in the path of totality is spectacular.
“This experience is supposed to be incredible because you're going to hear night animals and you're going to see stars,” West said. “When you experience something like that, you shouldn't just jump back in your car and take off, you need to absorb what you've just experienced.”
No matter the length of totality, Ekhoff urged everyone to have a plan everyone needs a plan.
“There’s a planning aspect that should go on in everybody else's daily lives because it's such a big event,” Ekhoff said.
The Arkansas Department of Emergency Management is planning on activating its emergency operations center on April 8.
The next eclipse the state can expect to see won't occur until 2045, according to Hankins.