“Edutainment” was the result for a crowd of about about 100 on the grounds of the OU branch campus Monday afternoon in a “solar eclipse viewing event.”
Physics Professor Michael Koop emceed the event, explaining what was happening as the moon almost blocked the sun for this area.
Chillicothe was a little south of totality, in a band from Cincinnati to Cleveland. Our area saw about a 98% eclipse, which was dramatic – but Koop said a 100% is described as “like someone broke the sky.”
The school had a small display with globes of the sun and moon, and a couple of devices to safely see the sun projected onto a flat surface. Of course, everyone had inexpensive eclipse glasses to shade their eyes from the small but intense light of the occluded sun.
I brought my family’s telescope and welcomed children (and older kids) to peek through the lens. A solar filter darkened the image enough to view the crescent sun safely.
Hear Koop in his own words, as well as see my crude snapshots of the eclipse, in the videos and photos in the article on the Scioto Post.
Koop also has a few videos on Youtube explaining science.
Kevin Coleman covers local government and culture for the Scioto Post and iHeart Media Southern Ohio. For stories or questions, contact Kevin Coleman or the iHeart Southern Ohio Newsroom.