2 News
By Ethan Nahté
THE POLK COUNTY
Pulse
October 11, 2023
Annular eclipse should be visible Saturday
On a projector screen at the front of the Spencer Lecture Hall and on a television screen off to one side, the presentation entitled Eclipse 101, complete with an image of an eclipse, took up a lot of space along the walls. Yet, what dominated the attention of most attendees was the animated man with a sense of humor and relaxed mien gesturing between screens and a lighted model of the Earth, sun and moon that emulated how various types of eclipses work. Chemistry and physical science instructor Gaumani Gyanwali, Ph.D., presented information about the upcoming eclipse that will cross North America to a nearly packed lecture hall on the UARM campus Oct. 6. The ages ranged from young children to seniors and included quite a few students from Mena, Acorn, Oden, and Cossatot schools who are part of the UARM Career Center.
NASA approved solar eclipse viewing glasses provided by STAR Net before a model of the Earth, moon and sun for the Eclipse 101 presentation. (Ethan Nahté/Pulse)
Ouachita Mountains Regional Library (OMRL) received NASA approved solar eclipse viewing glasses from STAR Net, and in conjunction with UARM’s Lifelong Learning, OMRL was helping residents prepare for the annular eclipse happening on Saturday, Oct. 14. Dr. G, as most of the staff and students call Gyanwali, discussed and demonstrated the difference between the various types of lunar and solar eclipses: partial, annular, penumbral and total. Dr. G felt the turnout for the program was great. “Everyone was enthusiastic about what they wanted to learn and see in the coming days. It was great participation by everyone. I got question from the audience, too. I got to interact with several of the questions. It was a diverse age group. There were small kids, young people and older people.” The annular eclipse begins in Oregon at 9:13 a.m. PDT and ends in Texas at 12:03 p.m. CDT. It will be visible in in western Arkansas between 11:57 a.m. and 1:32 p.m. Also known as a ring of fire eclipse, an annular solar eclipse happens when the moon is at or near its farthest point from Earth. Because the moon is farther away than it is during a total solar eclipse, the moon appears smaller and doesn’t block out the entire sun when it passes in front of our star. Instead, the moon leaves a bright ring of sun visible at the eclipse’s peak, creating the ring of fire effect. It will not have the same impact as April’s total eclipse but is expected to have approximately 65-70% coverage in Polk County. Since the sun is never completely blocked by the moon during an annular eclipse, it is not safe to look at the sun without specialized eye protection. Therefore, everyone in attendance received solar eclipse viewing glasses courtesy of STAR Net. “The backside of the human eye has the retina that’s very light sensitive. This
is how the retina works: When the light comes in, the pupil will let the light in for a little bit of time. That’s when it gets the image of the outside, when it is bright – it fixes the amount of light that goes in. The pupil will not be aware of the situation that the bright light is coming from somewhere at that instant of time. The pupil takes time to get dilated or contract. The reflex of the pupil is so low that it will not take care of the intense light that is coming instantly to fall into the retina, and it will probably damage that because the pupil will not know when to stop. Like the negative of the camera [film] it’s exactly like that and will be damaged in a very short time by high-intensity light. That’s the main reason we need to be protecting our eyes.”
With the exception of the brief moment of totality during a total eclipse, not an annular eclipse, it is never safe to directly look at the sun without proper eye protection. Regular sunglasses are
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