Leon HighEclipse Day

MoonStruck shows an excellent graphic demonstrating the eclipse. Click on Tallahassee on the map for statistics on the eclipse in our area. A partial eclipse occurred in Tallahassee. Students at Leon High School were privileged to have 2 distinguished guests who set up telescopes to view images of the eclipse. The special telescopes were pointed toward the sun. These were the images projected onto paper.

The first guest, Scott Howard, set up his telescope. He is a member of the Tallahassee Astronomical Society, (for further information on eclipses, visit their list of related Astronomy sites.) Mr. Howard made sure that the image of the sun fit into preprinted circles.The shadow of the eclipse was drawn with pencil at 15 minute intervals. Mr. Howard explained eclipses, sunspots and how the telescope works. Click HERE to see the pictures and eclipse images.

Dr. Harrison Prosper, an Astronomy professor from Florida State University set up a second telescope. Visit his website "Astronomy Today". His telescope was extra sturdy especially helpful against the strong gusts of wind that occurred that afternoon. He explained how students can use the pictures to calculate how fast the moon is moving. We hope to have those results at a later date. Click HERE to see his telescope and images.

Students took measurements of temperature, wind speed, and light intensity. Jim W. brought his camera, set it up on a tripod so that it pointed to a backboard. The aperture readings were taken every 15 minutes. Click HERE to see the camera setup. Here are the other data collected.

From 11 AM (16:00 Universal Time) to 2PM (19:00 Universal Time), students asked questions of the guests and watched the image of the moon pass across the paper. Look at these pictures to see the students seeing science in action.

A special thanks to Mr. Brian McClain, Leon County Science Curriculum Specialist, and Dr. Kevin Kloesel, (his web site) Dept. of Meteorology and Florida Explores program, Florida State University, for lending me mearurement equipment and giving me technical help.

 

After results were in from several schools, Jessica W. created a spreadsheet with the temperatures from several cities and graphed them. View the results and decide what conclusions can be drawn from the graph. The students at Gates Intermediate School in Massachussetts compiled data received from various schools around the country. Compare their results with ours.

Thanks to all of the students and adults who helped make Eclipse Day a success. I would appreciate feedback by visitors on our project. Send comments to Mrs. Cathy McQuone: Teacher

 

Special student projects:

The Solar Eclipse by Becca

Eclipsar de sol en Matt

Connecticut Yankee in King Arthur's Court by Karen M.

(Solar Eclipse in Literature)

Graph of temperature data by Jessica W.