On Monday, April 8th, a solar eclipse will take place. Weedsport will be hosting people back to school around 2:00 and 4:00 pm. Monday will be a half day for students due to the eclipse. The reason is that when students go on buses it will get pitch black, causing obvious safety concerns. The solar eclipse celebration will also have activities to do for community members and students.
What is an eclipse? How does it happen? The earth and the sun have to be in a particular position. You can see phases of the moon through the way the moon orbits earth so when we look up at the night sky depending on where the moon’s position is we can only see a certain part of the moon that’s illuminated. Both lunar eclipse and solar eclipse moons orbit is tilted so it is not a perfect flat orbit around earth. Because the moon is so small compared to the earth and the sun it’s hard to cover that particular location and it only crosses that path once every so often which is the difference between lunar and solar eclipses.
The eclipse can be seen through Mexico, various states in the US, Ontario, and some of the Eastern Provinces. Weedsport plans for this eclipse to be important for students and community members as the last time this eclipse was seen was in Western Oregon the year of 2013.
Mr. Querns, a science teacher at Weedsport, provided The Johnny Green with information on the plans for the solar eclipse.
Mr. Querns first explains how he is making the solar eclipse day a learning experience for not only the middle schoolers, but for elementary students as well. “For the sixth graders we’re planning a project based on learning. They’re going to have to come up with their own research questions and then they’re going to have to create some sort of interactive exhibit that we are going to bring over to the elementary school for the sixth graders to teach the third through fifth graders all about their research. In addition to that we want to use their exhibits and their research and put that on display for when the community comes back to the turf to watch the eclipse in the afternoon.”
The benefits to seeing the solar eclipse later in the afternoon is that being such a small community Mr. Querns feels that bringing everyone together and being able to have his students teach the younger kids and community members will be a “once-in-a-lifetime experience”. This experience only happens every 70-90 years in a particular spot. “We fortunately are in the path of totality and have the maximum amount of time on the path of totality so there are going to be hundreds of thousands of people traveling into the area from out of state and various locations to be able to see this once-in-a-lifetime event in this location,” explains Querns.
If you are going to be attending the solar eclipse sighting you need your protective glasses. Weedsport has ordered enough for the community to have and for students to take home. If not wearing these glasses you can damage your eyes. Mr. Querns also suggests researching the times where it will be okay to look at the sky if there are people who won’t be coming back to school.
