Monday, April 8, 2024, marked a “once in a lifetime” opportunity for North America to witness a solar eclipse. But what if I told you that our work wasn’t done yet? We have an opportunity to work together to create maps that describe our experiences of this event, and contribute to a citizen science project. By sharing our observations, we can better understand the eclipse’s impact across different regions. This collaborative effort not only enriches our understanding of celestial phenomena but also empowers us to actively participate in social science research.
This project is still collecting data! If you would like to contribute, please complete this short 10 question survey: Great North American Eclipse Survey.
Its too early to process all the data and make all the final maps, but one question on the survey was about cloud cover. Yes! I really do want to know if you tried to watch the eclipse, and had nothing but clouds! The map shown in Figure 2 is a quick analysis of the cloud coverage during the Eclipse window, and it looks like many people who have participated were in the range of totality (the dark blue area) had clear skies or only light clouds.
I had the pleasure of watching the eclipse with elementary students at my son’s school. I took a telescople (with proper filter!) to the building and just let everyone look who wanted to try it out. It was an amazing memory to see it with my kids (I was able to see the eclipse in 2017 with my students, but not my own children), and be able to share the experience with my son’s classmates and teachers.
More updates will be coming as data is still coming in…
Christina O'Malley, PhD 