Eclipse: Moon’s shadow will cross state on Monday

Posted 8/15/17

The Aug. 21 eclipse will only cover approximately 98 percent of the sun in Park County. For those left behind while friends and family migrate elsewhere, the maximum coverage will be brief, with the crescendo just before 11:40 a.m.

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Eclipse: Moon’s shadow will cross state on Monday

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After months and, in some cases, years of planning and anticipation, a total solar eclipse will arrive in Wyoming on Monday.

The Aug. 21 eclipse will only cover approximately 98 percent of the sun in Park County. For those left behind while friends and family migrate elsewhere, the maximum coverage will be brief, with the crescendo just before 11:40 a.m.

If you’re traveling to Casper — one of the best places on the planet to view this full solar eclipse — you should’ve made reservations months ago.

As an indication of the excitement building to the event, the Buffalo Bill Center of the West’s Coe Auditorium was packed last week with an audience eager to hear noted Colorado astronomy educator Larry Sessions talk about the solar eclipse.

Sessions traveled to view the last full solar eclipse to cross through American borders. If you want to watch this upcoming spectacle from within the path of totality, he suggests arriving early and staying late to ensure you’re not caught in a horrible traffic jam. For your efforts, you will be rewarded with just over two minutes of a glorious, full-coverage eclipse. The next to cross this way will be hundreds of years.

Sessions said to look for the eclipse to begin in this area at 10:19 a.m.; the entire event will be over by 1:03 p.m.

Around 500,000 people are expected to visit Wyoming during Monday’s “Great American Eclipse” — perhaps doubling the state’s population for the day.

Although Park County is north of the area that will be completely thrown into shadow, local authorities still expect to see more visitors than normal. Law enforcement and other emergency responders have held a series of meetings to prepare.

“I think before and after we’ll have definitely increased traffic — people going into that zone or coming out of the zone [of totality] — but we’re not going to see it like Casper and ... Riverton,” said Park County Office of Homeland Security Coordinator Mart Knapp. He did say that, by June, Cody’s largest hotels had already filled up for the time around the eclipse.

Knapp expects that the impact on infrastructure like the electrical grid will be no more problematic than the Fourth of July, which also draws many people to Cody.

“The biggest thing is the health, as far as people’s eyes, and traffic, stopping along the roads and things like that,” Knapp said.

Looking at the sun, even a glance, can damage your eyes. Prolonged periods of time staring at the sun can lead to blindness.

“No eclipse is worth blinding yourself,” said Sessions, an astronomy educator and adjunct professor at Metropolitan State University of Denver and the Community College of Aurora, Colorado.

Sessions offered four ways to view the sun, all safe for the eyes.

The first suggestion is to use a pinhole lens. Those readers who are older might remember making these rudimentary devises in school to view previous eclipses.

For a pinhole lens viewer, you’ll need two pieces of white card stock and a sharp pen. Take one piece of card stock and make a small hole near the center using the pen. Make sure the small hole is round and smooth. Then, stand with your back towards the sun, holding card stock with the hole up — allowing the sun to shine on the card stock and through the hole. Hold the second piece of card stock at a distance, and the image of the eclipse is projected on the second piece of card stock.

“Pinhole lenses are more artistic than useful,” Sessions said. But you won’t go blind and it’s a cheap way to see an eclipse.

Another useful way to view the eclipse is with a telescope or pair of binoculars, with the lenses covered with solar filter sheets. These sheets come in a variety of sizes and are the same material used to make solar eclipse glasses that were handed out by the library or sold at National Park visitor’s centers. But like the glasses at the library — of which they’ve run out — many stores are selling out of solar sheeting. And what is still available is not cheap.

Sessions’ favorite way to safely view the eclipse is mirror projection. For this, you’ll need a small mirror covered with paper with a hole (0.1 to 0.2 of an inch) in the center and angled to project through an open door or window into a darkened room. A mirror in a makeup compact works well because it’s on a hinged base. The smaller the hole in the paper, the sharper the image will be projected into the room.

“This is the best way to view it for a party,” Sessions said.

If all else fails, Sessions suggests watching the eclipse live online.

“It’s better than not seeing it,” he said.

If you plan to photograph the eclipse, you’ll need a solar filter on your lens and solar glasses to protect your eyes.

Some photographers suggest the use of neutral density filters, but solar filters will protect both you and the camera from non-visible IR and UV radiation. The sun is bright, but that light will intensify as it comes through a lens and can damage your sensor and permanently damage your eyes. Cameras are cheap compared to eyes, but both are worth saving.

Why do you also need the glasses if you have protection over the lens? Because you’ll want to watch the event as well as capturing an image. A tripod is handy if you plan to photograph the eclipse — not because it will be dark, but because you’ll get tired of pointing your camera at the sun through all the stages of the eclipse.

For more information about the eclipse, visit www.mreclipse.com. To watch a live feed of the event, visit nasa.gov/eclipselive.

(CJ Baker contributed reporting.)

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