Eclipse & Move-In Day? It’s a party on the Main Line
RADNOR » What do you get when you combine a rare total eclipse of the sun and move-in day on a college campus? A party on the Main Line. The moon and sun converged in the heavens and move-in day for upper classmen converged on Earth to make Villanova University an epicenter of activity during this week’s solar eclipse.
Four hundred people registered for an eclipse viewing open house for faculty, students, staff and family at the Mendel Science Center on the Villanova campus. Traffic was snarled all the way around the huge campus as hundreds of students were in the process of moving in while guests began arriving to view the beginning of the eclipse. The sun could be seen through the rooftop observatory’s telescope, livestreamed on side-screen TVs inside the Mendel Science Center, through telescopes in Mendel Plaza or with special eclipse viewing glasses that were handed out.
“We live for this kind of event,” said Edward L. Fitzpatrick, Ph.D., chairperson and professor of Astronomy and Astrophysics of the coming partial eclipse. He stood outside of the observatory and explained to guests lining up what they would see through the 14-inch Celestron.. The scope had a 4-inch televue refractor attached through which, as early as 1:30 p.m., viewers could see the moon’s shadow began to encroach into the orb of the sun. Even the sun’s flares were visible as tiny dots on the sun’s surface.
“The sun will become a crescent sun at 2:40 p.m.,” said Fitzpatrick, who has taught in the Astronomy and Astrophysics department for 20 years. “The moon’s shadow moves at thousands of miles an hour” which is how an eclipse that began in Oregon takes just 90 minutes to reach the East Coast.
Dr. Frank Maloney, associate professor of Astrophysics and Planetary Science, put the travel of the moon’s shadow at 1,700 mph. “It’s really tooling along,” he said
In a booklet, “Get Eclipsed,” distributed to guests, the Aug. 21, 2017 solar eclipse is explained for nonscientists: “The Sun is 100 times bigger than Earth and Earth is 4 times bigger than the Moon. Even though the Sun is 400 times bigger than the Moon, it also is 400 times farther away from Earth than the Moon. That means the Sun and the Moon appear the same size to us here on Earth. That incredible coincidence is why we have total solar eclipses.
“Every year or two, the Moon’s orbit lines up perfectly and the Moon passes directly in front of the Sun, revealing its faint corona, the halo of plasma that surrounds the sun. That’s when a total solar eclipse occurs somewhere on earth. …The total eclipse is only visible from inside the path of the Moon’s umbral shadow, the shadow in which the Moon blocks the entire Sun, as it sweeps across our plant. This is called the Path of Totality.”
Monday’s eclipse was a partial one, just 75-80 percent of the sun was covered by the moon’s shadow. In a path that stretched across the continent, places in Totality experienced complete darkness, day turned to night in minutes.
At Villanova, several seniors in the Astronomy and Astrophysics department were greeting guests and handing out viewing glasses. When asked if she’d ever seen an eclipse, Elizabeth Johnson said she hadn’t but, “I’m just so glad that this is getting people excited about astronomy – especially children. It brings science to everyone.”
Seniors Mary Erickson and Lucas Marchioni agreed. Neither had seen eclipses and were thrilled to be part of one that was hitting the entire continental United States.
“It’s just a great experience and we’re really glad we’re here to see it,” Erickson said.
With all that’s going on in the country and the world, the students agreed that “this is a happy event” that everyone could share.
Outside in the Mendel Courtyard, the statue of Gregor Johan Mendel, scientist and Augustinian, had the timely addition of solar eclipse glasses placed on his face. Below his base, swarms of students and faculty peered through their own glasses at the sun or through several telescopes.
Adjunct Professor Edward Deviney, Ph.D., stood by his telescope and helped viewers properly view the moon’s shadow. “Five,” he answered when asked if he’d seen any solar eclipses. Then he rattled off every year and place: 1963 atop Cadillac Mountain in Maine where the entire mountain was shrouded in fog except for the summit which afforded a clear view and a perfect experience.
“There was ’65 in the South Pacific,’66 in Southern Brazil,’ 70 in Oaxaca, Mexico, and ’90 in the Caribbean,” he said
Still, he admitted, the record in the department for viewing total solar eclipses goes to Villanova University Astronomy Professor Edward Guinan who is known internationally as an astrophysics expert in solar activity and flares. Guinan was in Nebraska in the Path of Totality for this total eclipse, his fifth.
By 2:44 time p.m., the estimated of the height of the partial eclipse, clouds had begun to cover the sun, making it less easy to distinguish whether the day had turned slightly darker because of the cloud cover or from the eclipse itself.
By 3 p.m., guests began to leave the area and head for their cars. Nearby, beneath the partial eclipse, students continued what they’d been doing all day moving into dorms.