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Experts Explain the Dos and Don’ts For Monday’s Eclipse

We are just days away from the Great American Eclipse, so we brought in the experts to tell us what we can expect on Monday, August 21st. Jeff Struve and Dr. Ro...

We are just days away from the Great American Eclipse, so we brought in the experts to tell us what we can expect on Monday, August 21st.

Jeff Struve and Dr. Robert Mitchell from the Quad Cities Astronomical Society were our Guests on Good Morning Quad Cities today. They told us why this eclipse is so special and scientifically, how this happens:

"The moon is passing directly between the earth and the sun," explained Dr. Mitchell, who is a Professor at St. Ambrose University. "Most of the time, it doesn’t pass exactly between, but when it does, the moon’s shadow falls directly on the earth and if the moon is close enough to the earth at the time, it will completely cover the sun – leaving just the corona surrounding the moon’s shadow."

The best question right now is - how can you watch it? Struve said no one is passing out glasses in the Quad Cities anymore, but there is an easy way you can watch it using items around you house. Click the link above to see a demonstration from Dr. Mitchell.

As far as where to go, Struve and Dr. Mitchell are doing the hard work for you:

"We’ll be traveling to Nebraska, east of Grand Island and we’ll be leaving Sunday morning early and we’ll be scoping out the area," he said. "We’ll make the decision that afternoon whether we have to travel further northwest, so we’ve got a few spots in mind that are kind of reserved for us and we will be doing a live broadcast back to the Putnam and a number of other observatories and colleges and libraries and places will be picking it up."

You can learn more about the QCAS here as well as events taking place at the Putnam Museum, Family Museum, the Moline Public Library, and the Niabi Zoo.

For more coverage of the Great American Eclipse, click here.

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