I trust everyone that has one will be flying their Eclipse this weekend for the occasion.

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Just completed: Estes Cherokee-E, Estes Multi-Roc.

Current project: Painting the roll pattern on my new Ventris build, gifted me by the estimable Dr. Houchin.

I never had one...but I like the idea--its color is perfect "umbrage" (a much-compressed contraction for "umbra camouflage)! Also:

The 15 Meade EclipseView "solar filter cards" that I'd ordered for a church group (whose members are having an outdoor breakfast at my apartment building tomorrow morning) and for myself finally arrived this week, so I'm ready to see a good partial eclipse--*if* the week-long cloudy and/or rainy weather clears up by tomorrow morning... But if not (and even if our skies ^do^ relent), the viewing cards can be used on any clear day to observe sunspots on the solar disc.

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Black Shire--Draft horse in human form, model rocketeer, occasional mystic, and writer, see:
http://www.lulu.com/content/paperba...an-form/8075185
http://www.lulu.com/product/cd/what...of-2%29/6122050
http://www.lulu.com/product/cd/what...of-2%29/6126511
All of my book proceeds go to the Northcote Heavy Horse Centre www.northcotehorses.com.
NAR #54895 SR

We changed plans at last minute. We were going to take state roads to Alliance Nebraska from Northern Colorado but most of the Midwest is listed as Partly Cloudy, and rain also, at least for Alliance. Now heading north to near Casper, Wyoming, but definitely not via the interstate. State highways and back roads instead. Leaving about 1 am but better to arrive early and sit. A two-minute eclipse window does not allow much room for error!

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Lee Reep
NAR 55948

Projects: Semroc Saturn 1B, Ken Foss Designs Mini Satellite Interceptor
In the Paint Shop: Nothing! Too cold!
Launch-Ready: Farside-X, Maxi Honest John, Super Scamp

I have one...forgot all about it until seeing the post. It's in the attic with a bunch of cosmetically damaged rockets that I've never bothered to refresh.

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I love sanding.

I almost brought out my 10" SCT to take to school but decided that I didn't want to get sued for eye damage when the kids looked at the sun without their eclipse glasses. I would be blamed. We are only at 98% totality, so there's no reason to use it anyway. No corona for us. I doubt there is any significant sunspot activity so it will just look like a cookie that Cookie Monster has got hold of. Besides, it's buried in the back of the closet right now.

A lot of schools have decided to cancel and make the day up Labor Day or some other day. I think that's one of the smartest decisions ever made in this day and age of litigation, litigation, litigation. I wish our system would have made the same decision.

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I love sanding.

If you have the proper solar viewing filter (it goes over the objective, to reduce the light flux there), there's no reason you couldn't use it for direct viewing of the eclipse (at the Miami Space Transit Planetarium, we had several Schmidt-Cassegrain telescopes set up that way for public viewing of the 1991 eclipse, which was partial from there). Also:

If you have a lot of kids for your one telescope (or if you don't have a solar viewing filter for it--they are rather pricey), you could use it to project an image of the Sun onto a white screen, which everyone could view in complete safety. If necessary, to prevent over-heating of the optics (particularly of the eyepiece, if it contains multiple lenses that are cemented together), you can reduce the amount of light passing through the optics by "stopping down" the objective's aperture. This is done by placing (and taping it in place) a piece of cardboard over the objective, with a smaller-diameter hole (3" or so in diameter) cut in its center. The telescope's manual and/or its manufacturer could give you the particulars, and:

Another alternative (which would also make a good, quick class project) would be to have the kids make a number of sunboxes (pinhole camera lucida viewers), which can be made in just a few minutes using only--for each one--a cardboard box, a piece of white paper, and a piece of aluminum foil. There are several variants of the basic sunbox design (here are plans for them: http://www.google.com/search?source.....0.qwu-PpYno98 [or just Google "pinhole projector"]), all of which enable viewing of the eclipse--or of the Sun itself, on any clear day--in complete safety.

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Black Shire--Draft horse in human form, model rocketeer, occasional mystic, and writer, see:
http://www.lulu.com/content/paperba...an-form/8075185
http://www.lulu.com/product/cd/what...of-2%29/6122050
http://www.lulu.com/product/cd/what...of-2%29/6126511
All of my book proceeds go to the Northcote Heavy Horse Centre www.northcotehorses.com.
NAR #54895 SR

I do have a solar filter that I constructed several years ago using Baadar Astrosolar film, IIRC. I don't have an attorney. All of our students have been provided with solar eclipse glasses and abundant time outside today to do something stupid. If you have a large enough group of kids, somebody will eventually do something stupid, guaranteed. I will not let them look safely through my scope and have their parents file suit against me because their kid looked at the sun without his glasses on and damaged his retinas. I guarantee within 6 months, somewhere there will be a lawsuit filed against a school and/or a teacher over damaged retinas from today's event. It may not get national publicity, but it will happen.

There is no reason to do a projection with the scope because they have been provided glasses for direct viewing. I have provided the classes with info on making projection boxes, and the trees will also provide projections. Unless one has an expensive hydrogen alpha filter, there will be no surface detail through a scope unless there are sunspots, and the Baadar filter has more detail than any projection. The negatives far, far outweigh the benefits of taking my scope to school.

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I love sanding.

I understand your reasons, but...*SIGH*...I'm glad I grew up in a (more) sensible country, society, and time... (And they wonder why so relatively few American kids are interested in becoming engineers and scientists--it's no wonder at all, because today's prevalent "bubble wrap safety/helicopter parenting/sue-happy" attitudes preclude kids from having the sort of interest-sparking, hands-on experiences that encouraged earlier generations of children to enjoy and pursue such interests.)

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Black Shire--Draft horse in human form, model rocketeer, occasional mystic, and writer, see:
http://www.lulu.com/content/paperba...an-form/8075185
http://www.lulu.com/product/cd/what...of-2%29/6122050
http://www.lulu.com/product/cd/what...of-2%29/6126511
All of my book proceeds go to the Northcote Heavy Horse Centre www.northcotehorses.com.
NAR #54895 SR

I am doing a presentation for the school this morning. We have a bunch of kids that didn't get permission slips signed to view it. I am setting up a live video feed for them to watch in the gym. In other words, I won't get to watch the eclipse myself. I will have to watch it on video. It sucks to be a former science teacher.

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I love sanding.

Our director of schools has been sending emails out since early July, effectively placing all liability on teachers and off the school system. If something happens the school will still get sued, but the teachers will be the ones thrown to the wolves. The school will settle and the teacher or teachers will be left to fend for themselves. The teacher's union will not defend. They make claims of providing legal council, but when it is all said and done, they don't except for certain employment/dismissal issues.

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I love sanding.