Workshop Offered to Prepare for Eclipse

In preparation for the total solar eclipse set to occur Aug. 21, 2017, Truman will host a free eclipse workshop, April 1.

Faculty members and students from the Stargazers astronomy club will provide an overview of planned events for the community and invite ideas and suggestions to implement them. The workshop will include hands-on experience with safely using solar telescopes and solar binoculars, as well as an overview of freely available resources on the internet. A discussion of the geometry of the Sun-Earth-Moon system, which leads to several interesting phenomena such as tidal locking, phases of the moon and lunar and solar eclipses will also be discussed.

The workshop will take place from 9 a.m.-3:30 p.m. April 1 in Magruder Hall 2005. There will be a break for lunch provided from 11:30 a.m.-12:45 p.m. Those interested in attending should RSVP to Vayujeet Gokhale, associate professor of physics, by March 31.  

The path of the solar eclipse cuts diagonally across Missouri. Kirksville will witness about 98.5 percent obscuration of the sun by the moon. Truman, in collaboration with Moberly Area Community College, the Kirksville R-III School District, the city of Kirksville, the Kirksville Tourism board and the Adair County Public Library, is organizing a series of events leading up to the eclipse, and on the day of the eclipse itself.

For updates on astronomy-related activities at Truman, including those surrounding the solar eclipse, visit observatory.truman.edu and stargazers.truman.edu.