Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: MONDAY, May 9, 1994 TAG: 9405100032
SECTION: EXTRA PAGE: 1 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: By BETH MACY STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: LENGTH: Long
``The president of Swarthmore College was all upset in the '60s, so he made up this story that a bunch of Swarthmore students took LSD, went outside, stared at the sun and went totally blind.''
The story proved false, and eventually the president checked into a mental hospital, says astronomer John Broderick. But the lesson still applies, particularly on the eve of tomorrow's partial eclipse.
Don't take LSD. And definitely don't stare straight into the sun between the hours of 11:30 a.m. and 3:10 p.m. Tuesday.
``Unless you want a nice dog you can take on airplanes and buses, don't do it,'' Broderick says.
``Besides, it's kind of a crummy eclipse as eclipses go.''
Tomorrow's is an annular eclipse, which happens when a solar eclipse occurs while the moon is at the point in orbit farthest from the earth. The sun's edge will extend beyond the moon's, with about 83 percent of the sun's disc obscured.
The best places to view this particular eclipse run along a diagonal extending from Las Cruces, N.M., to Toledo, Ohio, to Bangor, Maine.
Asked if the university would be flying Broderick to Toledo to observe the eclipse at its finest, Broderick said, ``not with the budget cuts. But they might . . . send some newspaper reporters who keep taking us to task for making too much money.''
Tech will be setting up its own projection system and telescope on the plaza between the Newman Library and the University Bookstore for public viewing, as will the Science Museum of Western Virginia's Hopkins Planetarium, which is hosting a safe-viewing eclipse party on Market Square called ``Tour duEclipse.''
The science museum has sold a record-breaking 15,000 eclipse-viewing shades, many to Botetourt County school teachers who will allow students to view both the eclipse and the Tour DuPont race. The elementary schools have called in extra chaperones - to make sure the kiddies keep their protective glasses on.
But in order to view the cyclists, the students will have to remove the glasses, which block out 1/1000th of 1 percent of the light. "They should be standing still" to avoid bumping into each other, says Britt Rossie of the Hopkins Planetarium.
Tech will also be taking advantage of the Tour DuPont excitement with its own ``Tour du Tech,'' Broderick says, featuring several physics-related exhibits near the viewing station.
If you're lucky enough to be at Tech tomorrow, you might catch Broderick trying out his series of Stupid Human Eclipse Tricks, which include:
Tree shadows, which are kind of a distant cousin to hand shadows: Find a budding tree with sunlight shafts coming down through it and look on the ground, where you should see tons of little crescent shapes.
Fun with mirrors: Find a small mirror or dentist's mirror and use it to project the sun onto something 100 to 300 feet away, where more crescents should appear. ``But don't shine it in someone's eyes and say it's my fault,'' Broderick says.
Make a pinhole camera: Find a tall cardboard box with top, bottom and three sides intact. Cut out a fist-sized hole on the top and cover it with aluminum foil. Punch a small hole in the foil with a needle, then tape a white piece of paper on the inside bottom of the box. Use the system by projecting the image of the sun through the pinhole to the paper screen.
Join the elementary schoolers and buy some ultra-cool eclipse-viewing shades for $1 from the Science Museum. Or find some No. 14 welder's glasses.
Observe the eerieness of it: Stars and planets may become visible. Birds stop singing and bees fly back to their hives. Crickets begin to chirp, some flowers close their petals, and the temperature may suddenly drop.
See if the changes in the atmosphere throw the Tour DuPont cyclists off: "It should be enough to change things to an evening twilight," Rossie says. "They may actually enjoy the cooler change of temperature."
``Stay inside and watch it on TV,'' Broderick jokes. ``Once in the '70s, there was an eclipse going across the Northeast, and my sister was afraid to step outside for fear that she'd inadvertently look up and go blind.''
But seriously, because this eclipse will be less than stellar, people may be tempted to look up at it without protection.
``With an annular eclipse, the threshold where you feel the sun is too bright is not reached,'' Broderick explains. ``Meanwhile, it's burning little circular holes in your retina that will cause you to go blind in the region where you have the highest visual acuity.
``Basically, don't stare at the sun in a partial eclipse for any longer than you'd stare at it on a bright, sunny day.''
Quoting a scientific journal, Broderick said a half-Million people could be at risk for permanent damage, ``and think about what that would do to Clinton's health plan.''
Asked how a physics professor got to be so wacky, Broderick said, ``I'm to other astronomers what Kramer on `Seinfeld' is to other people.''
by CNB