PSI scientists and educators checked out the April 8 solar eclipse as the area of totality made its way across the United States. In addition to observing, some participated in education and outreach events as part of the eclipse.
Pamela Gay worked as an expert commentator for The Weather Channel from the stadium at Southern Illinois University Carbondale in Illinois where 15,000 people gathered to witness the eclipse at totality.
Emilie Royer ran a successful eclipse event at Cal State Los Angles with colleague Margaret Lazzarini. They organized an eclipse viewing party on campus. The eclipse was only partial in Los Angeles, but they had more than 500 people attending! Royer I was also interviewed by the Los Angeles Time ahead of the event — https://www.latimes.com/lifestyle/list/best-places-to-watch-eclipse-los-angeles.
Elisabeth Adams with her family and friends observed the 92% eclipse in Somerville, MA.
Aster Cowart traveled from Washington D.C. to her old hometown of Alto Pass, IL to view the eclipse. She spent time talking about solar astronomy and different aspects of the Sun’s atmosphere with some of the people present. One thing discussed were pinhole cameras, and how we could use those to look at the partial phases of the eclipse without looking up at the Sun.
Ben Boatright and his wife Breanne attended an eclipse event at The Alchemist brewery in Stowe, VT.
Grace Wolf-Chase and her husband Dennis flew their 1954 Cessna 310 from Bolingbrook, IL to Perryville, MO to view the total solar eclipse.
Xiao-Duan Zou and family went to Lake Erie where they got together with a Taiwan friend family and had a super fun picnic while viewing the eclipse there.
Amanda Hendrix and Jianqing Feng attended an eclipse event hosted by Matt Siegler at his home.
Kirby Runyon and his girlfriend and friend were in Walnut Ridge, AR for totality.
Sanlyn Buxner and husband Rob Bovill were at the W.M. Brook Park in Lampases, TX with two telescopes, where they handed out three-Hole PUNCH Pinhole projectors and glasses and celebrated more than 4 minutes of totality with visitors and locals.
Larry Lebofsky was at a ranch site outside of Lampasas, TX. He had two telescopes and several pairs of solar safe binoculars. He also had demo scale models of the Earth–Moon–Sun system. He also brought meteorites as a backup for the period of time it was cloudy.
Tucson office staff viewed the 75% eclipse from PSI World Headquarters.
PSI’s Pamela Gay and Mike Bettes from The Weather Channel exult at the stadium at Southern Illinois University Carbondale in Illinois where 15,000 people gathered to witness the eclipse at totality.
Ben Boatright and his wife Breanne attended an eclipse event at The Alchemist brewery in Stowe, VT.
A colander acts as a pinhole projector on Aster Cowart during the eclipse at Alto Pass, IL.