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The Department of Physics will host the viewing event, and will have 1,500 pairs of solar glasses for safe viewing of the sun, binoculars set up with solar filters, and a solar telescope set up to provide safe viewing opportunities. The event will take place in the field behind the Science Center from approximately noon until 4 p.m. (maximum eclipse around 2:30 p.m.).

There will also be an inflatable solar system for demonstrations of what an eclipse actually is.

At the same time, a NASA live stream of totality will be displayed in the Williams Center Multipurpose Room, which will also serve as the backup location in case of rains. Local viewing won't be possible in this case, but there will be a live stream from other locations where it is not cloudy or raining.

For this eclipse, the path of totality will move across the country from west to east, first entering the country in Oregon and leaving from South Carolina, continuing over the Atlantic Ocean until the eclipse ends.  While the actual path of totality is a narrow strip of land only a few dozen miles wide, a partial solar eclipse will be visible from the entire United States.  This is a truly remarkable event – the last time a total solar eclipse was visible from any part of the United States was in 1991 (in Hawaii); the last time a total solar eclipse was visible from the continental United States was in 1979 (5 states only in the Pacific Northwest); the last time a total solar eclipse crossed the continental United States from coast to coast was in 1918; and the last time a total solar eclipse was visible exclusively from land within the United States was in 1257, well before the United States existed!  For these reasons, this eclipse is being billed as The Great American Eclipse.

While the path of totality does not include Fredonia, the eclipse will still be a remarkable event to witness.  At 1:11:09 pm on the first day of classes, a tiny sliver of the Sun will be obscured by the Moon.  Over the next 80 minutes this sliver will grow until 2:33:49 pm, at which point 74% of the Sun will be eclipsed.  After another 80 minutes the Sun will return to its normal, full appearance at 3:51:51 pm.  

This event is open to all members of the campus, as well as the general public, and you are encouraged to share this announcement widely.  It is funded through support provided by the Fredonia College Foundation's Carnahan Jackson Humanities Fund.

Event Details