If you are on or near the centerline of the path of totality during the solar eclipse on August 21, 2017,
you are able to participate in an activity to observe and record the
faintest stars visible as a means of measuring how dark the daytime sky
gets. By noticing which major stars and planets are visible during the
solar eclipse, comparing them to stars on stellar or
“magnitude” charts, and submitting that measurement to the
online database, your “measurement” will document darkness levels of a
daytime sky during a total solar eclipse, a simple question scientists
are still pondering. To participate, visit www.globeatnight.org/ eclipse-2017/. Link to the report page (“webapp”) to take measurements or to a downloadable activity guide which include instructions, a paper version of the report page and magnitude charts.
To help research more, you can also take regular “Globe at Night” measurements of the night sky brightness on August 20 and/or August 21
for comparison with the eclipse measurements. For the last 11 years,
reaching 180 countries, Globe at Night has been a monthly
citizen-science campaign that asks people to easily rate the brightness
of their night sky. To take the nighttime Globe at Night measurements,
go to www.globeatnight.org/ webapp/. The steps are similar to the ones described here under “Easy Steps to Do This Activity”.
For more information on the total solar eclipse (e.g., locations for the eclipse path and the local times for totality), visit www. greatamericaneclipse.com.