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JACOB SANTOS
Special to The Leader
While Aug. 21 initiated the Fall 2017 semester, millions of people across the country eagerly w aited to witness a solar eclipse visible throughout the contiguous United States. A band spanning between the states of Oregon and South Carolina provided the most totality. At Fredonia, the moon was expected to cover approximately 72 percent of the sun’s rays.
Outside of the new Science Center, students and members of the community had the opportunity to receive a pair of eclipse glasses to safely view the sun. Telescopes and binoculars with special lenses were set up allowing attendees to get a close up view.
Much of the planning for this event was put together by Dr. Michael Dunham of the physics department. Dunham has a research background in Astronomy and knew ahead of time about the “Great American eclipse.”
“The eclipse glasses and other equipment such as the tripods and binoculars were bought from a grant by the Carnahan Jackson Humanities Fund,” said Dunham. “The deadline for [the grant] was last fall, so that’s when we started thinking about this.”
With an expectation that prices for eclipse glasses would soar weeks before the eclipse’s date, the department was encouraged to order 1,500 glasses in March when they cost about one dollar each. Just days prior to Aug . 21, glasses were selling on Ebay for over 100 dollars.
The event beginning in the early afternoon was well attended with an estimate of m ore than 3,000 students and members of the Chautauqua county community. A handful of students, primarily majoring in physics, assisted by adjusting the telescopes and binoculars during the event as well as handing out the eclipse glasses.
“It was amazing that 1,500 glasses were handed out in a half an hour,” said Dr. Justin Conroy, t he chair for the physics department. “On one end you think that’s too bad, but seeing people on campus sharing their glasses with others made it a community experience. People were interacting and generous,” he added.
“The turnout was incredible,” said Dunham. “I really didn’t know what to expect. We hoped it would be popular.”
While Fredonia was too north to experience a total eclipse, other regions in the country such as Charleston, South Carolina and Kansas City, Missouri were in the eclipse’s path to experience darkness like an early evening.
In 2024 a total solar eclipse is expected to be visible from Western New York, which is something physics professors and current students are already looking forward to.