The Great American Eclipse
Note: Special programming on observing the upcoming eclipse will precede the May and June Pinnacle Mtn. star parties, the July Wooley Hollow star party, the July Club Meeting, & a Special Eclipse Primer dedicated to the eclipse at the Innovation Hub in North Little Rock, June 3rd.
On August 21, 2017 a total solar eclipse will pass over the United States. We will not experience 100% totality in Arkansas. However, it will still be a dramatic event. You will need to use one of the solar filter materials listed in the red box below for viewing the sun during any part of the event.
CAAS no longer has eclipse glasses for sale, so you will have to find suitable materials elsewhere online, perhaps Amazon, but be careful and make sure any glasses you buy are properly ISO certified.
- Solar Eclipse Glasses
- Certified solar filter material
- #14 arc welder’s glass.
The event will begin near noon and maximum coverage will occur in the early afternoon, so office groups and school groups should plan ahead.
Below is a table listing Arkansas cities and times. Some phenomena to witness is first contact, when the moon’s edge starts covering the sun. Last contact is when the moon’s disk leaves our view of the sun. If there are any sunspots that day, they can be seen in a magnified projected view. Pinhole images will be too small for you to view sunspots. However, near time of maximum coverage, nature’s shadows will produce pinhole images of the partial eclipse. Look in the shadows of hedges or shrubs, under trees, or make your own pinholes by lacing your fingers crossways and looking at their shadow. A white sheet of paper may be useful as a screen for the shadow to land on.
Another activity would be to record the temperature before, during, and after the eclipse to see the effect of the moon’s shadow. Start thirty minutes prior to first contact and continue thirty minutes after last contact. Graph your results temperature versus time.