LATROBE, PA — The Saint Vincent College physics department will prepare for the upcoming “Great North American Eclipse” by presenting an informative program and four planetarium shows.
Dr. Daniel Vanden Berk, associate physics progressor in the Herbert W. Boyer School of Natural Sciences, Mathematics and Computing, will host the program at 6 p.m. March 27 at Adams Memorial Library in Latrobe. He will be assisted by SVC sophomore physics majors Adrianna Battaglia, Liam Dicken, Daniel Hough and Andrew Joyce. The presentation will be appropriate for all ages and is free and open to the public.
The planetarium shows will begin at 1 p.m. and 2 p.m. Saturday, March 23; and 1 p.m. and 7 p.m. Saturday, April 6. The shows will be held in the Taiani Planetarium, located within the Sis and Herman Dupré Science Pavilion on the College’s campus.
The planetarium shows are open to the public and appropriate for all ages. Admission is free, but seating is limited. For reservations or questions regarding the planetarium shows, contact Erin Black at 724-805-2631 or erin.black@stvincent.edu.
The eclipse will happen April 8, beginning over the South Pacific Ocean and passing over parts of Mexico, the United States, and Canada. Mexico’s Pacific coast will be the first location in North America to experience totality at 2:07 p.m. EDT.
Pittsburgh is not in the path of the total solar eclipse, which will pass over Erie around 3:15 p.m. Skygazers in Allegheny and Westmoreland counties will experience a partial eclipse.
The presentation at Adams Memorial Library will explain an eclipse, as well as when and where people can safely view the “Great North American Eclipse.” Eclipse glasses will be distributed to those in attendance. “Outside of totality, when the moon is completely covering the sun, you shouldn’t look directly at it [with the naked eye],” Vanden Berk said.
-Madison Kozera, English major, of Abingdon, MD