With 4 days until the 2017 Solar Eclipse, we thought we’d share some of the cool information we have found.

First, please be assured that we have purchased legitimate eclipse glasses from a source TSE17, not a third party vendor, recommended by  the American Astronomical Society from a link on the NASA Eclipse viewing recommendations.  They have been verified by an accredited testing laboratory to meet the ISO 12312-2 international safety standard for such products.

Solar Eclipse Eye Safety, by B. Ralph Chou, BSc, MSc, OD, FAAO, Professor Emeritus, School of Optometry & Vision Science University of Waterloo, Ontario, Canada has some great information regarding safe viewing of the solar eclipse, as well as the American Academy of Ophthalmology.

In addition to having eclipse glasses, we will have alternative viewing stations such as as Sun Funnel, which some students will be building tomorrow, as well as the binocular viewer shown to left.  Students can easily build a pinhole viewer like the one on the below as well.  Here are some other ways to view the eclipse by Exploratorium.

 

We plan to have a temperature tracking station as well as students observing for changes in wildlife behavior.  TCPICS will also be here to take safe pictures of the eclipse.  We will also take pictures of the viewers during various phases of the eclipse and we plan to stream live on Facebook.   Students will NOT want to photograph the actual eclipse as it can potentially damage the image sensor if a proper filter is not used.  If they photograph other things, and the crowd, they should NOT USE A FLASH as it will ruin the dark adaptation of people’s eyes and spoil the show.  (see info below)

We hope to have a very memorable day where the students experience an amazing celestial phenomena.

Below are some eclipse related links sorted by topic:

Photography resources:

Nikon:  http://www.nikonusa.com/en/learn-and-explore/a/tips-and-techniques/how-to-photograph-a-solar-eclipse.html
NASA:  https://www.nasa.gov/feature/goddard/2017/five-tips-from-nasa-for-photographing-the-total-solar-eclipse-on-aug-21
Meade Instruments:  http://www.eclipse2017.org/2017/photographing.HTM

General Eclipse Information:
http://www.starnetlibraries.org/wp-content/uploads/2017/03/2017-Eclipe-Guide-WEB-033117.pdf

History of Eclipses:
https://eclipse.gsfc.nasa.gov/SEhistory/SEhistory.html
https://www.timeanddate.com/eclipse/solar-eclipse-history.html

Intersection of 2017 and 2024 Eclipses:
http://eclipse.siu.edu/about/carbondale-and-the-solar-eclipse/

Eclipse Maps from 1651 to 2150:
http://eclipse-maps.com/Eclipse-Maps/Gallery/Gallery.html

NASA JPL Eclipse Simulator:
https://eyes.jpl.nasa.gov/eyes-on-eclipse.html

Time & Date Eclipse Simulator:
https://www.timeanddate.com/eclipse/in/@z-us-30101

Eclipse Calculator (enter GPS Coordinates and Altitude)
https://www.eclipse-chasers.com/php/tseCalculator.php
GPS calculator: http://www.latlong.net/convert-address-to-lat-long.html
Altitude calculator: http://veloroutes.org/elevation/