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Eclipse 2017

Rare total solar eclipse a chance to see ‘pure science’

8/18/2017, 2:05 p.m.
The last time Carroll Ellis, a geoscience educator at the MathScience Innovation Center in Henrico County, saw a total solar ...
This photo captures the total solar eclipse in Indonesia in 2016. It was provided by Bob Baer and Sarah Kovac, participants in the Citizen CATE Experiment. More than 200 volunteers with the National Science Foundation-funded project have been given small telescopes and tripods to observe the Aug. 21 eclipse from 68 locations across the United States. The images will be combined for a movie.

By Holly Rodriguez

This photo captures the total solar eclipse in Indonesia in 2016. It was provided by Bob Baer and Sarah Kovac, participants in the Citizen CATE Experiment. More than 200 volunteers with the National Science Foundation-funded project have been given small telescopes and tripods to observe the Aug. 21 eclipse from 68 locations across the United States. The images will be combined for a movie.

Photo by Associated Press

This photo captures the total solar eclipse in Indonesia in 2016. It was provided by Bob Baer and Sarah Kovac, participants in the Citizen CATE Experiment. More than 200 volunteers with the National Science Foundation-funded project have been given small telescopes and tripods to observe the Aug. 21 eclipse from 68 locations across the United States. The images will be combined for a movie.

During Monday’s solar eclipse, the moon will come between the sun and the Earth, fully or partially blocking the sun. The sky will start to get dark around 1:18 p.m., with the maximum coverage of the sun around 2:44 p.m. The sun will fully come out of the moon’s shadow at 4:03 p.m.

During Monday’s solar eclipse, the moon will come between the sun and the Earth, fully or partially blocking the sun. The sky will start to get dark around 1:18 p.m., with the maximum coverage of the sun around 2:44 p.m. The sun will fully come out of the moon’s shadow at 4:03 p.m.

The last time Carroll Ellis, a geoscience educator at the MathScience Innovation Center in Henrico County, saw a total solar eclipse, the price of a loaf of bread was less than a quarter, the average price of a home was $24,000 and he was learning how to use a microscope, a gift from his parents.

The year was 1970.

He and his father traveled with the Thomas Jefferson High School Science Club to Virginia Beach to watch the eclipse. He said the experience was life-changing.

“I said to myself, ‘I’ll go to the next one,’ and I didn’t realize at first that I’d have to wait nearly 50 years to do it,” Mr. Ellis said with a laugh. “I later calculated what my age would be, and realized that I’d be an old man. I wondered whether or not I’d be able to make it.”

On Monday, Aug. 21, he will fulfill that promise to himself when he, a colleague and their families view the total eclipse in Casper, Wyo.

Viewers in South Carolina and along the western edge of North Carolina will be in the path of totality for the eclipse, meaning 100 percent of the sun will be blocked by the moon. In Richmond, up to 86 percent of the sun will be blocked during the eclipse.

Viewers in South Carolina and along the western edge of North Carolina will be in the path of totality for the eclipse, meaning 100 percent of the sun will be blocked by the moon. In Richmond, up to 86 percent of the sun will be blocked during the eclipse.

The red line shows the path of totality through the United States, while the yellow orbs show how much of the sun will be visible as the eclipse progresses.

The red line shows the path of totality through the United States, while the yellow orbs show how much of the sun will be visible as the eclipse progresses.

While some leaders of ancient cultures used events like a solar eclipse to prove their connection to the gods to strike fear in the masses, he said the rare occurrence of a solar eclipse today is an opportunity for youths to see “pure science.”

“The tech we see and use every day … young people don’t see it as science, particularly urban students who have limited access to see and interact with the natural world,” he said.

The eclipse is “an opportunity to witness a rare phenomenon, and it hopefully will generate interest in the natural sciences, particularly for African-American youths.”