Next year’s solar eclipse is the focus of a conference at SIU Carbondale Friday and Saturday, as the region prepares for the event.
Charles Fulco is an astronomy teacher from New York, who is now helping to train other educators on what they can do with their students. He says there are lots of things to watch for:
“Sometimes you might catch the shadow coming at you silently, but very scarily coming at you at a very high rate of speed, until it sweeps over you – at which point totality begins. Venus, if it’s above the horizon, will show itself before totality.”
And while August 21st, 2017 offers a unique opportunity, Fulco says a total solar eclipse is not all that unusual:
“They’re not rare. They happen every year, except the earth is 75% water or ocean, so a lot of times the shadow does fall across the ocean – making it rather inaccessible.”
Scientists, teachers, and eclipse watchers are expected to converge on Carbondale and the surrounding area next summer to watch the total eclipse – you can find more information at www.eclipse.siu.edu.
