Image courtesy National Weather Service in Morristown
Oak Ridge Schools will transport students and provide eclipse glasses for the solar eclipse on Monday, August 21. It will be a once-in-a-lifetime experience for many people.
The path of totality for the solar eclipse cuts through Oak Ridge, according to information provided to the Oak Ridge Board of Education for a meeting on Monday, August 7.
Because the path of totality cuts through Oak Ridge, half of the city’s schools are in the path of totality and half are not, the information said.
“We believe that every Oak Ridge student should have the opportunity to learn about the eclipse and to experience the total eclipse,” the information said. “Therefore, we will be transporting students from the east side of Oak Ridge to the west side, with parental permission.”
The solar eclipse of 2017 is a once-in-a-lifetime experience for many people, the information said.
“On Monday, August 21, 2017, there will be a path of totality in which the moon will completely cover the sun,” the information said. “The path of totality is in a narrow band that crosses North America. The total solar eclipse has remarkable attributes that cannot be experienced during the partial eclipse, such as the sudden appearance of stars and planets, the solar corona becoming visible, and a temperature drop. Experiencing the solar eclipse is an incredible learning experience for students and adults alike.”
The partial eclipse will generally start in Oak Ridge at 1:04 p.m. August 21, and totality will take place at 2:33 p.m. It has been estimated that the total solar eclipse in Oak Ridge will last 27 to 31 seconds.
“For safety reasons, Oak Ridge Schools will be providing eclipse glasses to all students and staff,” the school board information said. “The only safe ways to view the partial eclipses are through eclipse viewing glasses or using an indirect viewing method such as projecting the partially eclipsed sun through a pinhole. This is similar to looking at the Sun on any day of the year; it is not safe on most days to look directly at the Sun. During the brief totality, it is safe to look and see the otherwise hidden solar corona and stars that will become visible…We are excited to experience this incredible event right here in Oak Ridge with our students!”
The Monday night school board meeting starts at 6 p.m. August 7 in the Robert J. Smallridge School Administration Building at 304 New York Avenue. See the agenda here.
You can learn more about eye safety and other solar eclipse topics by visiting these websites: http://eclipse2017.nasa.gov and http://goseetheeclipse.com.
You can see our other stories on the solar eclipse here. Those stories include information on viewing sites that include the American Museum of Science and Energy, East Tennessee Technology Park, and University of Tennessee Arboretum.
More information will be added as it becomes available.
Diagram showing the Earth-sun-moon geometry of a total solar eclipse. Not to scale: If drawn to scale, the Moon would be 30 Earth diameters away. The sun would be 400 times that distance. (Image courtesy NASA)
A map of the United States showing the path of totality for the total solar eclipse on Aug. 21, 2017. (Image courtesy NASA)
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David Allred says
20 seconds when you could have a full 2+ minutes just 30 minutes away… I am going to pass and take my kids out myself I think, especially if the weather holds.
Terry Copeland Pfeiffer says
That’s good to share that time with your family, especially since it’s once in a lifetime, but remember that the schools are using this in the curriculum as well. There are a lot of lesson plans being used by these teachers in conjunction with the event. And I think parents are invited.
Win-win!
MIKE STEVENS says
I think that west Oak Ridge is in the green zone which will give students 2+ minutes to observe the eclipse.