There are plenty of other trees on campus, however, where eclipse watchers can stand to experience the event. The white oak that Perkowitz stood beneath 33 years ago was struck by lightning in 2016 and is no longer there. The projection of the image of the sun through the leaves was evidence that it does, although the principles behind it would remained unresolved for nearly 2,000 years. The Greeks were debating at the time whether light moves in straight lines. “It’s spectacular because you see dozens and dozens of the images, filtered through the leaves.”Īristotle observed this same phenomenon beneath a tree during a solar eclipse in the fourth century BC. “As the ambient light gets reduced, you begin to see multiple images of the crescent sun on the ground below,” Perkowitz says, explaining that each tiny space between the leaves acted as a pinhole-like opening, similar to a camera. Perkowitz watched the light as it passed through the leaves of the tree. “It didn’t feel exactly like twilight, it felt like something weirder was going on. The darkening effect as the moon began to cover the sun was “eerie,” he says. “I remember a lot of people came out on the Quad, particularly around this tree,” he says. He stood outside near the old physics building, now Callaway Hall, beneath a large white oak on the Quad. Sidney Perkowitz, Emory emeritus professor of physics, was on campus that day in 1984. Psychology lab and plans to take a break to witness the celestial event. The neuroscience andīehavioral biology major is on campus this summer working in a Tests out a pair of solar eclipse glasses. The New York Times described what happened as the skies began to darken about 20 minutes after noon: “The temperature dropped six degrees, flowers closed their petals, dogs howled, pigeons tucked their heads under their wings as if to sleep and the whole city was bathed in a kind of diffused light, not unlike that accompanying the approach of a severe storm.” The last time the sun over Atlanta was nearly obscured by the moon was on May 31, 1984, when it was 99.7 percent covered. Even though Atlanta lies just beyond the path of totality, if the weather is clear the near-total eclipse will be worth pausing from work or school to go outside and experience. All students, faculty and staff are welcome to attend these events.Ītlanta Science Tavern has also compiled this list of solar eclipse events in and around Atlanta.Ī total solar eclipse will sweep across a 70-mile-wide area of the United States, starting on the Pacific coast of Oregon and continuing all the way to South Carolina and the Atlantic Ocean. The Emory Police Department will also host group eclipse viewing on the field of the Student Activity and Academic Center at the Clairmont Campus. At the Oxford campus, first-year students will gather in front of the Oxford Science Building starting at 2 pm where there will be music, a solar telescope and sun-themed snacks and drinks. But a pair of certified solar eclipse glasses, a simple pinhole camera - or even the leaves of a tree - will also make it possible to safely view the eclipse anywhere on campus where the sun is visible.Įmory first-year students plan to gather on the Quad between 2:15 and 3 pm for eclipse watching. From about 2:38 to 2:41 pm on Monday, August 21, the moon will cover 97.7 percent of the sun over Atlanta.Ī couple of solar telescopes will be set up on the roof of the Mathematics and Science Building between 1 and 4 pm for staff, faculty, students and their family members who want to observe the sun through them - weather permitting. The Emory University class of 2021 already has a unique distinction: The campus orientation day for the first-year students will occur beneath a nearly total solar eclipse. “It makes you stop and wonder - is it just aĬoincidence? Some people call an eclipse a religious experience. “It’s a strange coincidence that the moon at its distanceĪnd size almost perfectly covers the sun at its distance and size,”
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