Path of Totality
COLUMBIA, MO
A SPECIAL SUPPLEMENT TO THE COLUMBIA DAILY TRIBUNE
Sunday, August 20, 2017
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Sunday, August 20, 2017
Path of Totality
During eclipse, ‘shadow snakes’ may slither By Rudi Keller Columbia Daily Tribune Part of the experience during Monday’s total solar eclipse will involve looking down, not up. If the right circumstances come together, streaks of light and shadow will writhe across the ground, a phenomenon sometimes called shadow snakes or shadow bands. Scientists aren’t sure what causes them and NASA is asking people to take video recordings and submit them for study. In an online article, NASA reported on the first mention of shadow bands in literature, found in the written version of Icelandic oral histories from the 9th century, and in the observations of astronomer George Airy in 1842 “As the totality approached, a strange fluctuation of light was seen upon the walls and the ground, so striking that in some places children ran after it and tried to catch it with their hands,” Airy wrote. Angela Speck, director of astronomy at the University of Missouri, said she thinks the phenomenon is caused by the jagged edge of the moon. As the disc of the moon and the sun come into conjunction, the sun peeks between the mountains of the moon, creating bright spots known as Bailey’s Beads. The same effect is visible on the surface of the earth, Speck said. “The edge of the moon is not smooth,” she said. “As you are getting to totality, the levels of light changes. Where the
sun is behind a mountain, there is less light, and as come through the gaps the light overlaps, creating an interference patter. I think that is what you are actually seeing.” The NASA article is not as certain. Shadow bands don’t appear with every eclipse and the phenomenon, when it does occur, is variable. “Instead, the intensity, motion and direction of these bands seems to be related to the same phenomenon that makes stars twinkle,” the article states. Turbulent air in the upper atmosphere refracts the beams of light, the article states, which causes the light to be focused and unfocused in a random, rapidly changing pattern. “The movement of these atmospheric cells is random between each eclipse and each viewing location, so the appearance and movement of shadow bands cannot be predicted beforehand,” NASA stated. Speck said refraction may play a part in the display but she doesn’t think it is a complete explanation. To help NASA study the shadow bands, the space agency is asking individuals to set up a simple recording. It requires a piece of white paper or cardboard, 1 meter square, marked with a line pointing to the direction of the sun and another set of markings showing the directions north, south, east and west. Place a meter stick on the white surface to show the size of the bands. Set up a smart phone, video camera or still camera to take a continuous set
Total solar eclipse Aug. 21 2017 Eclipse start times All times local
COLUMBIA, MO
of images and put a time stamp on the photography. The bands will appear for about a minute before and a minute after the eclipse moves to totality, if they appear at all. Getting the video or the images to NASA is easy, said Laurie Castillo, spokeswoman for the space agency. “Post it on social media and tweet at NASA and we would be happy to take a look at it,” she said. NASA has a number of other ideas for individuals to help gather data about
By Lake Sun Staff In this celestial event, the moon passes between the sun and Earth and blocks all or part of the sun for up to about three hours, from beginning to end, as viewed from a given location. For this eclipse, the longest period when the moon completely blocks the sun from any given location along the path will be about two minutes and 40 seconds. Anyone within the path of totality can see the total solar eclipse, one of nature’s most awe-inspiring sights. This path - where the moon will completely cover the sun and the sun’s tenuous atmosphere (the corona) can be seen will stretch from Lincoln Beach, Ore. to Charleston, S.C. Observers outside this path will still see a partial solar eclipse where the moon covers part of the sun’s disk. In fact, everyone in the contiguous United States, and even everyone in North America plus parts of South America, Africa and Europe will see the partial solar eclipse.
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Information courtesy of NASA
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As we in Missouri have probably all heard by now, the path of totality runs right through mid-Missouri as well as portions of 13 other states. A relatively thin ribbon, around 70 miles wide, the path of totality will cross the U.S. from west to east. The first point of contact will be at Lincoln Beach, Ore. at 9:05 a.m. PDT. Totality begins there at 10:16 a.m. PDT. Over the next hour and a half, it will cross through Oregon, Idaho, Wyoming, Montana, Nebraska, Iowa, Kansas, Missouri, Illinois, Kentucky, Tennessee, Georgia, and North and South Carolina. The total eclipse will end near Charleston, S.C. at 2:48 p.m. EDT. From there the lunar shadow leaves the United States at 4:09 EDT. Its longest duration will be near Carbondale, Ill., where the sun will be completely covered for two minutes and 40 seconds.
Arc shows the path of a total solar eclipse. As long as you stay within several miles of that central line you are almost certain to enjoy a view. Choose a cloud-free location.
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rkeller@columbiatribune.com 573-815-1709
Eclipse Basics
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the eclipse for future study. In addition to video of shadow bands, the agency is asking people to record temperature changes during the eclipse, she said. A phone application called the Global Observer is available to record the data, Castillo said. “In some reports during eclipses, temperatures have dropped as much as 15 degrees,” she said.
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Path of Totality
COLUMBIA, MO
Sunday, August 20, 2017
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Battle High School senior Jordan Bavlnka, left, and Sean Baldridge, a University of Missouri doctoral candidate in physics, kneel with their equipment for the Citizen CATE Experiment. The experiment, will gather images of the sun’s corona during the total solar eclipse through a network of more than 60 telescopes set up by volunteers across the country. [TIM TAI/TRIBUNE]
Columbia team to study sun’s inner atmosphere during eclipse By Rudi Keller Columbia Daily Tribune Timing, technology and terrain will line up like the Earth, moon and sun on Aug. 21 for one of the biggest efforts ever to find out how to protect communications, electrical grids and astronauts. While millions enjoy the spectacle of the total solar eclipse, 68 teams with identical equipment will capture 1,000 images each of the sun’s inner atmosphere, called the corona. The Citizen CATE, or Continental-America Telescopic Eclipse, project enlisted volunteers all along the path of totality and gave them a telescope and motorized mount, camera and laptop computer. The Columbia team of Sean Baldridge, a graduate assistant in astronomy at the University of Missouri, and three high school students, Jordan Bavlnka, Lucy Kegley and Thomas Ballew, will set up at the driving range of A.L. Gustin Golf Course. “It is not a public location, so we are not so worried about crowds,” Baldridge said. “The most important reason is it has a nice open view of the sun without any buildings or concrete.” The timing of the eclipse is optimal because it is summer, allowing teams and equipment to be outside in relative comfort. The technology works because computer advances and the internet allow real-time relay of the recording from one site to another and display on the project’s website. And the 2,500-mile path of totality across the United States allows for the longest continuous look ever at the origin point of solar radiation storms. Just because they have a job to do doesn’t mean the team won’t have time to be spectators, Baldridge said. “I have never seen a total solar eclipse, so I am looking forward to the spectacle,” he said. “That is part of our instruction. Once it starts, we hit play on the device and enjoy.” The corona is only visible during a total eclipse and the total portion of an eclipse is the only time it is safe to look at the sun with unprotected eyes. Once the
moon completely obliterates the sun’s disc, the corona will spread out on either side, shining in reflected light from the sun’s surface. The 80mm telescopes were donated by Daystar Filters, a Warrensburg company, and the mounts with tracking motors were donated by Celestron, a California company. “Once we get aligned, more or less, once it gets going, as long as no one bumps the telescope, it should stay there,” Baldridge said. There are six teams in Missouri. The Columbia team will take a handoff from Marshall and send the relay to Hermann on the path through the state. Joseph Wright, operations manager of the Warkoczewski Public Observatory at University of Missouri-Kansas City, is the state coordinator. He said he will be with a team near his home in Lawson, on the Ray and Clay county lines. “I am pretty excited,” Wright said. “My home is basically under it. I only lose seconds, I don’t have to go anywhere. I am also charged up about being in the science part of it.” The science is intended to unlock the secrets of the corona, one of the least understood parts of the solar system. The surface of the sun is 6,000 degrees Fahrenheit. The corona is 2 million degrees. Exactly how the scattered particles, held in place by the sun’s magnetic field in space that is a more perfect vacuum than can be achieved on earth, get that hot is a mystery, said Matt Penn, National Solar Observatory, Citizen CATE project leader. “It is certainly the most difficult region to study in the corona,” he said. “The missions in the NASA fleet are able to study parts of the corona really well, but near the surface to half a million miles above the surface, just because of the way they have to build instruments, it is impossible.” The sun is a fluid mass of mainly hydrogen, with helium and other materials, and different points on the surface rotate at different speeds. It is constantly
throwing off material and radiation, sometimes in vast quantities known as coronal mass ejections and solar flares. “The earth is directly linked to the sun through the stream of particles called solar wind,” Penn said. “Storms in the solar wind can disrupt satellites and communication on the ground.” It also can cause power blackouts. Astronauts traveling outside the magnetic field for long periods will need to be shielded from the effects. But harnessing the solar wind also has been studied as a means of powering extended space travel. The particles travel at different speeds; some protons leaving the sun accelerate to one-third the speed of light; lower energy particles move slower but all are accelerated faster than any spaceships yet constructed. “How the sun imparts energy into the solar wind and accelerates it from the surface, we have theories about that,” Penn said. “We have ideas about what the rocket engines are, but we don’t have measurements.” The quality of the data that will be gathered during the eclipse is hard to underestimate, Penn said. A 4-meter telescope is being built on Maui to study the corona. The 80mm telescopes in the path of the total eclipse are the equivalent of a 1.3-meter telescope — more than 200 times the area of the optics — using blockers to reveal the corona, he said. Papers written based on the data will credit all of the researchers by name. The public will get its first look at the project’s results a few hours after the eclipse ends, with a movie of the corona on the project’s website. “It has never been done like this before,” Wright said. “Imagine trying to get this many telescopes to a third world country?” rkeller@columbiatribune.com 573-815-1709
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Sunday, August 20, 2017
Path of Totality
COLUMBIA, MO
Solar eclipse elicits plenty of crackpot claims By Rudi Keller Columbia Daily Tribune The Aug. 21 total solar eclipse will cause stock market disruptions, national security calamities and power failures, some have predicted. Others claim it will usher in a new era in human perception. Or wipe out humanity, when a planet no observatory has seen crashes into the earth 33 days after the eclipse. All of those predictions are absurd, baseless and deserve other, earthier terms denoting how thoroughly wrong a notion is, University of Missouri director of astronomy Angela Speck said. “I got in a big argument on Facebook because someone told me it is such a coincidence the moon is exactly the right size to block out the sun,” Speck said. “Well, most of the time it is not big enough. People like to see the hand of God in this. If you want to see the hand of God in it, that is fine. But we don’t need to invoke God to understand it.” Eclipses are a regular part of the celestial revolutions and the exact time and location of ancient and future eclipses can be plotted for as long a period as anyone cares to do the calculations. The dates of ancient eclipses have been used to precisely date events as wars or dynasties. Before mathematical precision brought predictability to eclipses — and for a long time afterward in many instances — they were believed to be omens of doom or displeasure of the gods. Joseph Wright, operations manager of the Warkoczewski Public Observatory at University of Missouri-Kansas City, said he is alarmed by “the crap that radio stations have on at night” that
discuss doomsday predictions related to the Aug. 21 eclipse. “We have shows like that that are feeding this frenzy of non-science, when it is so easy to go to an observatory and look through some really nice instruments and see what is out there,” Wright said. The most widely circulated prediction that is wrong is that a planet variously called Nibiru or Planet X will crash into the earth 33 days after the eclipse. The catastrophe has been predicted before — most recently in 2012 in association with the supposed relation of the Mayan calendar to the end of time — but this time an author named David Meade claims he’s found biblical clues that this is, indeed, the correct time. NASA responded to the notion in an article called “Beyond 2012: Why the World didn’t end.” “If Nibiru or Planet X were real and headed for an encounter with the Earth in 2012, astronomers would have been tracking it for at least the past decade, and it would be visible by now to the naked eye,” NASA reported. “Obviously, it does not exist.” A planet-sized body close enough to hit earth in 33 days would be close to crossing the orbit of Mars if it was moving as fast as earth revolves around the sun, about 1.6 million miles a day. It would appear as a large star and grow noticeably larger each night. Smaller objects, which can potentially do a lot of damage but not a global catastrophe, are harder to track, Speck said. “Things smaller than a car, those are hard to see, that is where we get a meteor like the one in Russia,” she said. “Anything larger than, say, a bus, we will see it.”
Once a large object is located, determining its orbital path around the sun is determined by long-set mathematical rules. “Because of the way gravity works, it is really not hard,” Speck said. “If it is moving fast, very quickly we would know its trajectory.” Less dire predictions include a discussion on coast to coast AM radio about stock market disruptions and blackouts. On Ground Zero, an article foretold a change in the world. “The world is not ending, but the eclipse may once again signify that the times of the universe are about to go through significant changes; many of these changes will be subtle while some may affect a lot of people as the fore structuring process of a New Aeon or philosophy of mind will most definitely change the way we perceive time.” Speck laughed when she heard that read. “I love things like that because it is vague enough that you can claim that it is true — how we perceive time is very personal,” Speck said. “I have no doubt it will have an impact on people on a personal level. It is very emotional experience.” Some government agencies have made fun of the doom-and-gloom and some have been made fun of because of the serious nature of their preparedness warnings. The Massac County, Ill., Emergency Management Agency was one of the latter. It had to clarify what it meant after issuing a preparedness alert calling on people to fill their cars with gas and buy food by Friday, check on the elderly to make sure they are supplied, check medications and have a backup communication plan.
“There was no intent to paint a picture of ‘gloom and doom’, for lack of a better phrase, by its posting,” the agency wrote on Facebook. Oconee County, Ga., Sheriff Scott Berry announced Aug. 3 that an eclipse would occur “as celestial forces no one understands will blot out the sun. It is very likely this is the end of life on this planet as we know it. As your Sheriff I expect each of you to begin panicking today.” Berry jokingly encouraged people to rush to grocery stores and pregnant women to smoke cigarettes and drink liquor to “prevent radioactive waves from making your ankles swell and being grouchy most of the time.” Missouri’s emergency management center will be activated during the eclipse but mainly because the extremely heavy volumes of traffic expected into and out of the path of totality, said Mike O’Connell, spokesman for the Department of Public Safety. “If you review our page, our page is very measured compared to other information that is being put out,” O’Connell said. In a recent article published by Space. com, Speck tried to explain the eclipse as a social phenomenon. “There are so many ways in which eclipse day is going to resemble a zombie apocalypse,” Speck told the space news website. So far, Speck said, the internet echo chamber hasn’t morphed that comment into a claim that the eclipse will cause a zombie apocalypse. “I don’t think so, but you never know,” she said. rkeller@columbiatribune.com 573-815-1709
Path of Totality
COLUMBIA, MO
Sunday, August 20, 2017
Total solar eclipse could give Columbia, region a big economic boost Monday’s total solar eclipse could have a signiicant economic impact on Columbia, if the weather is clear that day By Megan Favignano Columbia Daily Tribune The Columbia Convention and Visitor’s Bureau is estimating the city’s population of about 120,000 could double during the eclipse on Aug. 21. Columbia is one of Missouri’s cities in the path of totality and therefore a prime viewing spot for visitors from afar. Amy Schneider, director of the Columbia Convention and Visitor’s Bureau, said she’s hesitant to predict the exact economic boost the eclipse could bring to the city until seeing what the weather does that day. If it’s cloudy, travelers currently heading to Columbia may attempt to travel elsewhere to view the eclipse. “This is such an anomaly ... everything is weather depending. We do know our hotels are sitting at almost 100 percent right now for Sunday night,” Schneider said. “The numbers will be equivalent to a really heavy home football game if not more.” The CVB did not have an estimate of the economic impact that a football game at the University of Missouri has on Columbia for one weekend. A 2013 study found out of town guests spent about $93 on average during football game days and another $30 at other events. The total solar eclipse will begin at about 1:12 p.m. and last up to 2 minutes and 40 seconds. However, the moon will start moving in front of the sun at around 11:45 a.m. and the eclipse will end around 2:40 p.m. If the forecast for Monday remains clear of clouds, Schneider said the rare event will have a significant boost to the local economy, with guests staying in hotels and dining in the city. “Things look good right now but things can change in seven days or 24 hours,” Schneider said of the weather. Columbia Mall General Manager Rusty Strodtman said the mall typically sees increased traffic the weekend before school starts at the city’s higher education institutions.
“We hope that it’s a large amount of traffic or extra traffic than we would normally see on that Monday,” he said. “Obviously the weekend is going to be busy. People will be doing back to school shopping” The mall has worked with the city’s parks and recreation department to establish a shuttle service from the mall parking lot, just north of Target, to Cosmo Park, where the city’s eclipse festivities and viewing will be held. Cosmo Park and Gans Creek Recreation Area will open at 8 a.m. Monday for the solar eclipse viewing event and there will be a music festival there on both Sunday and Monday. The mall also is preparing its own outdoor viewing area and indoor area. Strodtman said the mall will have a large television screen set up in the food court area for those who want to watch the festivities from inside if the weather is too hot. He added that many stores in the mall will have extra staff and special deals that day. Many retailers downtown have been selling eclipse merchandise, including tote bags, t shirts and posters. Liz Tucker, manager at Poppy on East Broadway, said the store had to order more eclipse postcards and prints. “We sold out of the print and the postcard. We had them for maybe two or three days and sold out,” she said. Poppy and Muse also have locally designed and printed tshirts and tote bags made just for the eclipse. An employee at Muse said the store is including total solar eclipse viewing glasses with some of its merchandise. The CVB was giving out glasses for free. Megan McConachie, CVB spokeswoman, said there will be a small amount of glasses available at the park during the city’s event on Monday. mfavignano@columbiatribune.com 573-815-1719
The Tiger Spirit store at 111 S. Ninth St. are selling a variety of solar eclipse merchandise that includes t-shirts, hats and glasses to watch the eclipse. [DON SHRUBSHELL/TRIBUNE] Nickie Davis, owner of Muse Clothing at 22 S. Ninth St., displays some of the solar eclipse t-shirts that are for sell at her store. [DON SHRUBSHELL/TRIBUNE]
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Path of Totality
COLUMBIA, MO
A good view of the eclipse is easy to ind By Rudi Keller Columbia Daily Tribune On Aug. 21, Columbia can expect a lot of visitors coming in for a few hours to observe the total solar eclipse. The Convention and Visitors Bureau doesn’t know exactly what to expect, spokeswoman Megan McConachie said, but estimates that the city’s population of about 120,000 will double during the eclipse. “That is the hardest thing to pin down, but I think if the weather is good it will not be out of the question,” she said. But for the people who already live within the path of totality, there are plenty of choices for finding the best spot to view it. One thing to remember is that almost anywhere with a clear view of the southern sky will do, University of Missouri Director of Astronomy Angela Speck said. “You can be on the north side of Broadway and see that sun,” Speck said. “Anywhere you can look to the south, basically you will get to see it. The advice I have been trying to give is if you don’t need to go anywhere, don’t.” The eclipse will begin in Columbia when the moon starts moving in front of the sun about 11:45 a.m. and ends about 2:40 p.m. The total eclipse will begin about 1:12 p.m. and last up to 2 minutes
and 40 seconds. For people with time to spend most of the day on eclipse events, the menu of selections runs from parties in Columbia and Rocheport to invitations to University of Missouri research farms where scientists will be studying the impact on plants and animals. The main city event will be at Cosmo Park and it will start the day before the eclipse. A beer garden with music starting at 12:30 p.m. will be a big draw on Aug. 20. The park will open at 9 a.m. Aug. 21. There are 3,000 parking spaces in the park available first-come, firstserved, McConachie said, but visitors are being urged to use shuttles running between Columbia Mall and the park. Dedicated parking will be available for people with handicaps, she said. The path of the total eclipses includes 42 state parks and many have special events planned. While a planned ride for 500 from Rocheport to Jefferson City is full, Katy Trail State Park will have great viewing, said Eugene Vale of the Missouri Department of Natural Resources. “I am the guy who started yelling there is an eclipse two years ago; they started believing me about last month,” Vale joked. Because of the large planned ride, Vale suggested trail-bound viewers use
the sections west of Rocheport and east of Jefferson City to avoid congestion. Rock Bridge Memorial State Park, which is just north of the center line of the eclipse, will be open for visitors to use its parking lots and roadways to find a place to view the eclipse. A planned hike of four miles through the Gans Creek area has 40 of its 80 slots available. “The eclipse itself lasts for about three hours,” Vale said. “One of the advantages of having events going on is you can watch the eclipse, but you don’t have to stare at the sun for an hour and a half.” MU’s Bradford and South Farm research centers have limited parking but will be doing some interesting science during the eclipse, said Tim Reinbott, assistant director. Bradford will have an indoor area for a live video stream of the eclipse as it crosses the country, he said. At Bradford, scientists will be observing how plants react to the change in light. Many plants close their leaves at dusk and open them at dawn, Reinbott said. Plants also have a 24-hour clock. “What it helps us understand is how plants work, what makes plants tick,” he said. “You never know when this could be very important to understand
how plants respond to the environment.” Animals at South Farm, the university’s equine facility, will be observed to see if they behave as though the day was ending, he said. One of the places where eclipse viewers are not welcome is Columbia Regional Airport. The centerline of the eclipse passes over the airport but it will be in full operation with arriving and departing flights scheduled within an hour of the total eclipse. “Just for security reasons, we won’t allow anyone inside the fence,” said Mike Parks, airport manager. Parents hoping to watch the eclipse with their children at school should sign up as volunteers for the day, said Michelle Baumstark, district spokeswoman. Each school has enough eclipse viewing glasses for every student, teacher and staff member plus 50 for parent volunteers, she said. “We are not public viewing places,” Baumstark said. Each school will determine how many parent volunteers it can take, she said. Information will be sent to parents with details, she said. rkeller@columbiatribune.com 573-815-1709
COSMO PARK
BIG MUDDY WILDLIFE REFUGE
KATY TRAIL STATE PARK
GANS CREEK RECREATION AREA
ROCK BRIDGE STATE PARK
BRADFORD RESEARCH CENTER
Path of Totality
Tips for buying glasses for the solar eclipse
COLUMBIA, MO
Sunday, August 20, 2017
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SHUTTER SHOCK: Photographing eclipse poses hazards
By Darla Carter The Courier-Journal LOUISVILLE, Ky. — Eclipse glasses are a hot item right now as the United States prepares to be dazzled by a coast-to-coast eclipse Aug. 21. But some companies are skirting safety regulations and hawking unsafe wares to an unsuspecting public. As a result, the American Astronomical Society has issued a word of caution about eye protection, following reports of “potentially unsafe eclipse viewers flooding the market.”
HERE ARE SOME TIPS FROM THE AMERICAN ASTRONOMICAL SOCIETY: • Don’t search for eclipse glasses on the internet and then buy whatever pops up in the ads or search results. Check the society’s list of reputable vendors before buying: eclipse.aas. org/resources/solar-filters. • Check to see what you can see through the glasses. You shouldn’t be able to see anything through a safe solar filter except the sun itself or something comparably bright, such as a bright halogen light bulb. If you can see lights of more ordinary brightness, and you’re not sure the product came from a reputable vendor, it’s no good. • If you glance at the sun through your solar filter and find it uncomfortably bright, out of focus, and/or surrounded by a bright haze, it’s no good. • If you get your glasses from a friend who happens to be an amateur or professional astronomer, they’re probably compliant. That’s also usually the case with products from professional astronomical organizations, such as college and university physics and astronomy departments, and amateur-astronomy clubs. • If you suspect that you got bad glasses, ask the seller for a refund or credit and replace them with a product from a reputable vendor. • Before using your glasses, inspect them. If scratched, punctured, torn, or otherwise damaged, discard them. • Read and follow any instructions printed on or packaged with the filter. • Supervise children using solar filters.
Amateur astronomer Mike Conley practices with the telescope he will use to document this month’s total solar eclipse at his home in Salem, Oregon. [GILLIAN FLACCUS/AP]
By Rudi Keller Columbia Daily Tribune The smartphone era means almost everybody is carrying a video and still camera with them at all times. But without proper precautions during the total solar eclipse on Monday, a lot of those people could be shopping for a new phone on Tuesday. Trying to photograph the sun as the disc of the moon moves into place requires precision, precautions and practice, University of Missouri assistant professor of photojournalism Brian Kratzer said. The easiest way to obtain precision is to mount your camera or phone on a tripod, Kratzer said. “One nice thing about the tripod for either a cell phone or a big camera is it will stay there and you won’t have to keep raising the camera up and checking the focus,” Kratzer said. Precautions are necessary because the optics on a camera can be damaged by sunlight. Just like a person can be blinded by looking at the sun, so can a camera, Kratzer said. Don’t take chances, he said. “I have, at times, taken photos of the sun with a cell phone and it was fine,” Kratzer said. “I was either dumb or lucky or both.” There are three types of filters that will work to photograph the eclipse on a digital camera, Kratzer said. A neutral density filter will give the photos a yellow or gold tint, welder’s glass will impart a green hue and filter sheets cut to cover the lens will create a bluish photograph. One option for a cell phone would be to protect the lens with eclipse glasses like those used to protect eyes during totality. Joe Johnson, an associate professor in the MU Art Department, will be taking time-lapse landscape photos as the eclipse darkens the sun. It is part of Overshadowed, a project that has enlisted a photographer in each state along the path of totality to collect images that will be merged into a single image for an
exhibit to be displayed in Louisville, Ky. In an email, Johnson directed photographers to an article published by B&H Photo on its website. It includes several precautionary notes — including a warning not to look through the viewfinder or rangefinder without a filter because the optics can magnify the light and cause quick eye damage. The article mentions another precaution — don’t get so caught up in photography that there’s no time to enjoy the eclipse. “What you DO NOT want to do is spend an entire eclipse event messing around with your camera gear, or viewing it entirely through a camera’s viewfinder or on an LCD screen,” the article states. With a tripod and proper filter, it is good to practice getting the sun to the right place and the right size on the image, Kratzer said. Because a good photo of the eclipse will require a long lens, it is best to turn off autofocus and check the quality of the image on the camera’s screen, he said. For other images, such as friends watching the eclipse, remember the light is going to be fading as totality approaches. “It is going to be like photographing on a partly cloudy day as far as taking pictures of your environment,” Kratzer said. “It will be just constantly changing exposures.” Getting a good image with a phone will be hard, Kratzer, said. Using a digital zoom will only result in a fuzzy picture, while an add-on zoom lens will only make it appear slightly closer, he said. “If you are really trying to get that tight mugshot of totality with a smartphone, it might be a little more difficult and possibly disappointing,” he said. rkeller@columbiatribune.com 573-815-1709
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Sunday, August 20, 2017
Path of Totality
COLUMBIA, MO
More than spectacle: Eclipses create science, and so can its viewers By Seth Borenstein The Associated Press WASHINGTON — The sun is about to spill some of its secrets, maybe even reveal a few hidden truths of the cosmos. And you can get in on the act next week if you are in the right place for the best solar eclipse in the U.S. in nearly a century. Astronomers are going full blast to pry even more science from the mysterious ball of gas that’s vital to Earth. They’ll look from the ground, using telescopes, cameras, binoculars and whatever else works. They’ll look from the International Space Station and a fleet of 11 satellites in space. And in between, they’ll fly three planes and launch more than 70 high-altitude balloons. “We expect a boatload of science from this one,” said Jay Pasachoff, a Williams College astronomer who has traveled to 65 eclipses of all kinds. Scientists will focus on the sun, but they will also examine what happens to Earth’s weather, to space weather, and to animals and plants on Earth as the moon totally blocks out the sun. The moon’s shadow will sweep along a narrow path, from Oregon to South Carolina. Between NASA and the National Science Foundation, the federal government is spending about $7.7 million on next Monday’s eclipse. One of the NASA projects has students launching the high-altitude balloons to provide “live footage from the edge of space” during the eclipse. But it’s not just the professionals or students. NASA has a list of various experiments everyday people can do. “Millions of people can walk out on their porch in their slippers and collect world-class data,” said Matt Penn, an astronomer at the National Solar Observatory in Tucson, Arizona. Penn is chief scientist for a National Science Foundation-funded movie project nicknamed Citizen CATE. More than 200 volunteers have been trained and given special small telescopes and tripods to observe the sun at 68 locations in the exact same way. The thousands of images from the citizen-scientists will be combined for a movie of the usually hard-to-see sun’s edge. Mike Conley, a Salem, Oregon, stock trader whose backyard is studded with telescopes, jumped at the chance to be part of the science team. “Who knows? Maybe a great secret will come of this, the mysteries of the sun will be revealed, because we’re doing something that’s never been done before and we’re getting data that’s never been seen before,” he said. “A big discovery will come and everybody will say, ‘Hey, we were part of that!’” You don’t need to have telescopes to help out. You
can use the iNaturalist app via the California Academy of Sciences and note the reaction of animals and plants around you. You can go to a zoo, like the Nashville Zoo, where they are asking people to keep track of what the animals are doing. The University of California, Berkeley, is seeking photos and video for its Eclipse Megamovie 2017, hoping to get more than 1,000 volunteers. Even with all the high-tech, high-flying instruments now available, when it comes to understanding much of the sun’s mysteries, nothing beats an eclipse, said Williams College’s Pasachoff. That’s because the sun is so bright that even satellites and special probes can’t gaze straight at the sun just to glimpse the outer crown, or corona. Satellites create artificial eclipses to blot out the sun, but they can’t do it as well as the moon, he said. The corona is what astronomers really focus on during an eclipse. It’s the sun’s outer atmosphere where space weather originates, where jutting loops of red glowing plasma lash out and where the magnetic field shows fluctuations. The temperature in the outer atmosphere is more than 1 million degrees hotter than it is on the surface of the sun and scientists want to figure out why. “It’s ironic that we’ve learned most about the sun when its disk is hidden from view,” said Fred “Mr. Eclipse “ Espenak, a retired NASA astronomer who specialized in eclipses for the space agency. And they learn other things, too. Helium — the second most abundant element in the universe — wasn’t discovered on Earth until its chemical spectrum was spotted during an eclipse in 1868, Espenak said. But that discovery is eclipsed by what an eclipse did for Albert Einstein and physics. Einstein was a little known scientist in 1915 when he proposed his general theory of relativity, a milestone in physics that says what we perceive as the force of gravity is actually from the curvature of space and time. It explains the motion of planets, black holes and the bending of light from distant galaxies. Einstein couldn’t prove it but said one way to do so was to show that light from a distant star bends during an eclipse. During a 1919 eclipse, Arthur Eddington observed the right amount of bending, something that couldn’t be done without the moon’s shadow eclipsing the sun. “It marked a complete change in the understanding of the universe,” said Mark Littmann of the University of Tennessee, a former planetarium director. “Bang. Right there.” Associated Press writer Gillian Flaccus in Oregon contributed to this report.
An 8-foot camera-carrying balloon rises into the sky during a test launch at the University of Hartford in West Hartford, Conn. on Aug. 9,2017. A team from the University of Bridgeport and the University of Hartford conducted the test as part a project that will send cameras into the stratosphere to photograph this month’s solar eclipse. [PAT EATON-ROBB/AP]
Path of Totality
COLUMBIA, MO
Sunday, August 20, 2017
9
Totality awesome: Plan ahead for the solar eclipse By Mike Szydlowski CPS Science Coordinator Certainly, you know that there will be a total solar eclipse on Aug. 21. It has been talked about extensively for well over a year but now the date is quickly sneaking up on us. While it may seem like something you can just go outside and see, the best experience will require just a little bit of planning. Here is your solar eclipse primer!
TINY MOON, BIG SUN How can a relative tiny moon (with a diameter of 2,600 miles across) block out the huge sun (with a diameter of 864,000 miles across)? It’s all about the positioning and a little fortunate coincidence. Our sun is about 400 times larger than our moon but the moon is about 400 times closer to us than our sun. This means that if things line up just right, the moon can completely block out the sun. This happens in the same way as how you can use a quarter to block out the view of a car across the street. However, the car is only blocked from your view. A person standing next to you sees the car just fine. For this same reason, the full shadow of the moon (called the umbra) only hits a very small part of the Earth. Columbia is in this special
area this time. Those outside of the most special area will still have some of the sun blocked out and this shadow is called the prenumbra.
WHAT WILL WE SEE? Well, if it is cloudy, not much — although things will still darken. So, let’s hope for clear August skies! On a clear day you will be in for a solar show that lasts about 2 ½ hours. Beginning at about 11:40 am the sun will start to become partially blocked by the moon. The sun will become more and more blocked over time until about 1:10pm when the entire sun will be blocked from view. Once the sun becomes 95 percent or more blocked, the sky will darken into a 360-degree sunset, the temperature will get cooler, and it is said that many organisms will start getting ready for bed. Just as the moon covers 100% of the sun, you will see a white ring form. This is the corona, the hot gases coming off the sun that we usually can’t see because the sun is so bright. You may also see a very bright diamond shape sparkle as the last of the sun goes away. The entire process will then reverse as the sun starts to reappear bit by bit from the other side. Totality only lasts about 2½ minutes so you need to be
ready. The totality 2½ minutes is also the only time you can view the eclipse without wearing special glasses. During all other parts of the eclipse, the only way to look directly at the sun is with solar eclipse viewing glasses, which are quite cheap and available from CPS Science, Mizzou, and many other places. All students and staff in Columbia Public Schools will receive a pair of these glasses on eclipse day.
SOLAR ECLIPSE MYTHS AND TRADITIONS • Viewing a solar eclipse these days is far more enjoyable than it used to be. In ancient times, the blocking out of the sun was scary because people did not understand what was happening. They thought the world was ending so they had all sorts of rituals to save the world. It always seemed to work — the sun came back. • Even today, some parts of the world do not allow pregnant women to view the eclipse as they believe it will harm the babies. Some others do not eat during a solar eclipse as they believe the eclipse poisons their food. The truth: All should enjoy the eclipse and feel free to enjoy a snack ... Sun Chips, Moon Pies, Sunkist soda, Capri Sun, Sunny Delight or
Eclipse gum perhaps! • The moon will appear to move to the east as it takes over the sun. The moon never moves to the east. Both the sun and our moon move West (remember, the sun really doesn’t move...it’s our spinning that make it look like that). However, on Eclipse Day, the sun’s faster movement across the sky catches up and goes behind the slower moon. This makes it look like the moon is traveling east ... but it is really traveling west but slower than the sun. • Solar eclipse viewing is fantastic, unless it makes you go blind! It is always damaging to look at the sun even when there is only a sliver of it remaining. You must use eclipse glasses during all but the 2 ½ minutes of totality. You may also use different methods for viewing just the shadow using pinhole camera devices. Sunglasses and old film negatives are not safe viewing methods — despite what you may have seen online. Whatever you do, make sure you enjoy this once in a lifetime event! Spend as much of the day outside as you can. If your job won’t allow it — you just might have to be sick that day!
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Sunday, August 20, 2017
Path of Totality
COLUMBIA, MO
How ancient cultures explained eclipses
A 1765 painting of Helios, the personification of the sun in Greek mythology. [COURTESY WIKIMEDIA COMMONS]
By Roger Culver Colorado State University As the Earth and moon sweep through space in their annual journey around the sun, the three bodies align in such a way that the Earth passes into the shadow of the moon. Observers then witness a sun that is gradually covered and uncovered by the moon’s disk – a spectacular celestial event. But until astronomers were able to explain this phenomenon, a solar eclipse could be a terrifying event. In many cultures throughout human history, the sun was seen as an entity of supreme importance, crucial to their very existence. It was regularly worshipped as a god – Amun-Ra to the Egyptians and Helios to the Greeks – or as a goddess, such as Amaterasu for the Japanese and Saule for many Baltic cultures. One reason the sun served as a god or goddess in so many cultures was its awesome power: Looking directly at it would severely damages the eyes, a sign of the sun diety’s wrath. So the idea that the sun deity could be temporarily extinguished in a total eclipse inspired a number of imaginative explanations. Most involve some sort of evil entity trying to devour the sun. Such myths undoubtedly arose from the
fact that during the early stages of a solar eclipse, the sun appears to have a bite taken out of it. The various creatures include the Vikings’ sky wolves Skoll and Hati, a Chinese dragon, a Vietnamese frog and assorted Roman demons. In many cultures, it was believed that such creatures could be driven off by creating as much loud noise as possible: yelling, ringing bells, and banging pots and pans. Perhaps the most creative version of this strand of mythologies comes from certain branches of Hindu culture. In that version, the mortal Rahu is said to have attempted to attain immortality. The sun and moon told the god Visnu of Rahu’s transgression. As punishment, Visnu decapitated Rahu. Ever since, Rahu has sought to exact vengeance on the sun and the moon by pursuing them across the sky to eat them. Once in a while – at the time of an eclipse – Rahu actually catches the sun or the moon. In the case of a solar eclipse, Rahu slowly devours the sun, and it gradually disappears into Rahu’s throat – only to reappear from his severed neck. In other branches of Hindu culture, the “sun eater” took the more traditional form of a dragon. To fight this beast, certain Hindu sects in India immersed
themselves up to the neck in water in an act of worship, believing that the adulation would aid the sun in fighting off the dragon. Other cultures had equally ingenious explanations for – and defenses against – a total solar eclipse. Eskimos thought an eclipse meant that the sun and moon had become temporarily diseased. In response, they’d cover up everything of importance – themselves included – lest they be infected by the “diseased” rays of the eclipsed sun. For the Ojabawa tribe of the Great Lakes, the onset of total eclipse represented an extinguished sun. To prevent permanent darkness, they proceeded to fire flaming arrows at the darkened sun in an attempt to rekindkle it. Amidst the plethora of the myths and legends and interpretations of this strange event, there are seeds of understanding about their true nature. For example, the famed total solar eclipse of May 28, 585 B.C., occurred in the middle of a battle between the Medes and the Lydians in what is now the northeast region of modern-day Turkey. The eclipse actually ended the conflict on the spot, with both sides interpreting the event as a sign of the displeasure from the gods. But based on the writings of
the ancient Greek historian Heroditus, it’s thought that the great Greek philosopher-mathematician Thales of Miletus had, coincidentally, predicted its occurrence. Chinese, Alexandrian and Babylonian astronomers were also said to be sophisticated enough to not only understand the true nature of solar eclipses, but also to roughly predict when the “dragon” would come to devour the sun. (As with much knowledge back then, however, astronomical and astrological findings were relayed only to the ruling elites, while myths and legends continued to percolate among the general population.) Advances in modern astronomy have given us detailed explanations for solar eclipses, to the extent that their time and location can be predicted centuries into the future and reconstructed from centuries ago. Of course, mythologies surrounding total solar eclipses still exist today. Some conspiracy theorists say this year’s eclipse will cause the end of the world – perhaps a testament to the endurance of the superstitious side of the human psyche. This article was originally published on The Conversation.
Path of Totality
COLUMBIA, MO
Sunday, August 20, 2017
11
Pioneering woman astronomer observed 1878 eclipse By John Kostrzewa More Content Now PROVIDENCE, R.I — The curious filled the seats, boxes and balcony in Low’s Opera House in downtown Providence. Scientists, intellectuals, educators and others interested in celestial mysteries sat alongside women’s rights advocates and students who had been let out of class to attend the lecture by Prof. Maria Mitchell. Mitchell, the first female astronomer in the United States, had three months earlier led an all-woman team to Denver to observe a total solar eclipse. In mid-afternoon, it had cast a dark shadow that crept from the Montana territories to Texas. Her lecture in October, 1878 promised to explain what she had learned, and to satisfy the country’s growing interest in the secrets in the sky. “... the day of fairy tales had passed and the days of seeing with our eyes had come,” the moderator of the event told the crowd, according to a front-page report in the Providence Daily Journal. Mitchell had other goals, too. She wanted to change attitudes about women in science and other professions, and debunk theories by prominent doctors, educators and religious leaders that higher education, especially in the sciences, would sicken girls and cause them to lose their femininity. Mitchell, a suffragette, also hoped to make a bigger point: If women could do the same work as men in medicine, journalism and astronomy, why shouldn’t they get equal pay, and why couldn’t they vote? Some 139 years later, on the eve of another total eclipse, Mitchell’s lecture serves as a benchmark in the evolution of the study of science in the U.S. and of the early days of the women’s rights movement. It also marked a time in the country’s history when all things seemed possible. “Miss Mitchell’s Comet” Mitchell’s lecture in Providence came in the latter stages of a unique life and career that began on Nantucket in 1818. Her father, a Quaker and a bank cashier, also worked as a part-time astronomer who taught Mitchell a love of the skies, according to “Sweeper in the Sky,” a bi-
lege opened, Mitchell was hired in 1865 as the first professor of astronomy. She later founded and was elected the first president of the Association for the Advancement of Women, which held annual conferences.
Maria Mitchell, left, in the Vassar observatory circa 1877, with Mary W. Whitney, a student and assistant to Mitchell, a professor, and eventually head of the Astronomy Department. [COURTESY ARCHIVES AND SPECIAL COLLECTIONS, VASSAR COLLEGE LIBRARY]
ography of Mitchell by Helen Wright. In her youth, Mitchell, whose first name was pronounced “muh-rye-uh,” assisted her father in his observatory on the rooftop of the building where they lived. At age 12, she saw her first eclipse, counting off the seconds as the moon crossed in front of the sun while her father made calculations. Mitchell later became the first librarian at the Nantucket Atheneum, where she read voraciously and studied the skies at night. In 1847, at age 29, she discovered with her small telescope what became known as “Miss Mitchell’s Comet.” Her work won her international recognition, including a gold medal from the King of Denmark. As her reputation grew, the U.S. Coastal Survey hired her to work at the male-dominated government agency. Mitchell charted the stars and planets and computed distances to calculate coordinates on Earth. Her work was used in weather forecasts, and to create navigational guides and maps for the U.S. Navy and commercial ship captains. When the all-woman Vassar Col-
A new planet? The AAW’s Women’s Congress in 1878 was held in Providence, one of a number of growing East Coast cities at the dawn of the Gilded Age, when the country was expanding westward and Americans hoped to prove their intellectual prowess, especially in the sciences, to Europeans. Mitchell was familiar with the city and had visited often. She was a friend of Alexis Caswell, president of Brown University, who recommended her for the professorship at Vassar. In 1870 in Providence, she gave a lecture for a fee of $50 on “The Seven Stars of the Great Bear” to a professional association of architects, according to “Maria Mitchell, a Life in Journals and Letters,” edited by Henry Albers. Mitchell was the featured speaker on the third and final day of the Women’s Congress, held in the seven-month-old opera house (later renamed the Empire Theater) on Union Street. More than 1,000 tickets had been sold to the conference. She began her lecture by crossing the stage to a chalkboard and drawing three circles: one for the sun; one for the earth; and one in between for the moon. She explained that for two minutes and 40 seconds, the moon had passed in front of and fully blotted out the sun. She drew lines from the sun and moon to show the path of the shadow. “The dark shadow was said to be narrow but the movement of the moon caused a black band to girdle the earth,”” The Providence Daily Journal reported. The darkened sky also had allowed her team to search for usually hidden stars, planets and other celestial objects. Mitchell reported no new discoveries and said more study was needed to validate the assertion of another astronomer, James Craig Watson, who claimed to have found during the eclipse a new planet, called Vulcan. (It later turned out not to exist.) Mitchell told the crowd her team had
recorded precise positions of known objects in the sky and described the shape, color and intensity of the brilliant corona that radiated from a ring around the sun. Not ‘sexless Amazons’ Besides explaining the science of an eclipse, Mitchell told stories about her adventure. She described her trip from Boston to the Wild West as one of the few unescorted women on the railroad. Porters lost her luggage with the lenses to her telescopes. After a frantic search they were found with little time to spare before the eclipse. Also, rain and hail pelted Denver for several days. But the day before the event, the skies cleared. Mitchell understood the value of the images and descriptions of her expedition, widely covered in the country’s newspapers, to women’s rights causes. “During the eclipse, the Vassar expedition served as a kind of political theater, promoting social change,” wrote David Baron in his book “American Eclipse.” “... viewing the eclipse was arguably less important than being viewed,” Baron wrote. “The Vassar women, far from being the sexless Amazons that Dr. Edward H. Clarke, a Boston physician had warned would result from female higher education, presented irrefutable, concrete evidence that science and femininity could coexist.” Mitchell’s team of Vassar students and graduates set up an observation post on the edge of the city with a tent and three tripods for their telescopes, including the one Mitchell had used to discover her comet. While waiting, they sat demurely near their telescopes, wearing full-length pleated dresses, and bonnets and widebrimmed leghorn hats. At one point, Mitchell invited the Sisters of Mercy from a nearby hospital to serve them tea and freshly made bread. “This party adds peculiarity to the work of observing this eclipse for it is here that women are making a heroic struggle for equal rights,” according to a report in the New York Sun. As the eclipse approached, however, it was back to science.
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Sunday, August 20, 2017
Path of Totality
COLUMBIA, MO
CPS uses solar eclipse as teachable moment Nebraska scientists look at animal behavior during total solar eclipse
Blue Ridge Elementary School first graders from left, Nancy Caudillo, Jacobi Shephard, Kyla Dozi and Eric Tadlock practice using solar eclipse glasses to get ready for the total solar eclipse. [DON SHRUBSHELL/TRIBUNE]
By Megan Favignano Columbia Daily Tribune Blue Ridge Elementary School students walked outside Thursday morning, with solar eclipse glasses in hand. Students went to assigned spots and put on their glasses as part of preparations for Monday’s total solar eclipse. Columbia Public Schools spokeswoman Michelle Baumstark said each school has been holding eclipse test runs this week — mostly are to ensure younger students know when to wear the glasses to protect their eyes. CPS Science Coordinator Mike Szydlowski said the practice runs operate similarly to a fire drill. “We don’t want any student coming to school Monday not knowing what to expect,” he said. “We want them coming to school already knowing how and when to wear the glasses.” The school district already has begun making the solar eclipse a learning opportunity for students. Szydlowski said the district’s internal learning management system, Schoology, was packed with eclipse-related lessons for every subject area in time for the first day of classes earlier this week. “We’re going to take full education advantage, too,” Szydlowski said. “We’re leaving it up to the teacher for what’s
best.” NASA, he added, has made a variety of educational materials available and has continued to add new items all week. CPS Superintendent Peter Stiepleman said teachers throughout the district have incorporated eclipse-related lessons into curriculum all week long. The materials available for CPS teachers this week, Szydlowski said, included math lessons that allow students to predict when the next total solar eclipse will be visible from the United States, information on what scientists look for during an eclipse, history lessons and art projects. Another lesson plan available was directions for students to make a pinhole projector by cutting a small hole through a piece of paper. On a normal day, the sunlight shining through the small hole will appear as a circle on the ground. But, as the moon slowly moves in front of the sun, the sunlight instead will appear as a crescent shape which matches the phase of the eclipse, Szydlowski said. Students in first grade through high school started the school year Tuesday and kindergarten students went back Thursday. The total solar eclipse will occur on Monday afternoon and Columbia falls in the area of greatest duration for the eclipse. That means the city is one of
several locations in the state designated as a prime viewing spot. The city is anticipating a boost in visitors and hotels are reporting being nearly booked for Sunday night. Baumstark said the district will have volunteers at schools that day. Preschool doesn’t start until Aug. 22 so those teachers will be helping out at other schools on Monday. CPS is, for the most part, keeping its students at school for the viewing, in an effort to reduce traffic on the road. Grant Elementary students, however, will be taken via bus to the district’s administration building to view the eclipse because of construction outside the school, Baumstark said. Stiepleman said the district purchased glasses two years in advance to get a better price because the glasses weren’t yet in high demand. He said each school has enough pairs of solar eclipse glasses for every student and district employee. Additionally, he said the district has 50 extra pairs at each school for parent volunteers who help on Monday. He said Monday will be an “all hands on deck” time for the district. mfavignano@columbiatribune.com 573-815-1719
By The Associated Press KEARNEY, Neb. — Some animals wearing GPS equipment for existing research may help the University of Nebraska at Kearney shine a light on the effects of a solar eclipse. Researchers Dustin Ranglack and Nate Bickford are collecting information about six red-tail hawks wearing GPS devices for a long-term university research project, the Kearney Hub reported. The data is being collected this week ahead of Monday’s eclipse and during the week after the eclipse. One question the researchers hope to answer is whether some animals can sense the approaching alignment of the Earth, moon and sun hours before the eclipse is visible. Other questions include whether nocturnal hunters such as owls will wake up in the middle of the day, or if other birds will go to their roosts when conditions simulate dusk and return to daytime routines after the eclipse. “And once you have an answer to a question, it leads to four others,” Ranglack said. Ranglack said a benefit of using GPS equipment over observation research is that the animals aren’t at risk of being disturbed. “So, if we see changes, we are more able to determine it’s because of the eclipse,” he said. Ranglack said the challenge behind the research is having so many animals and so much data that must be properly labeled and put into computer models before he and Bickford can begin looking for eclipse effects. He said researchers will publish the project’s findings even if they can’t link animal behaviors to the eclipse. Bickford said the project will provide more information about how eclipses affect wildlife for the next generation since not much is known about it.