6 June 2022

Education-Related Activities of the AAS Solar Eclipse Task Force

AAS Education Committee

We are now within two years of two major solar eclipses crossing North America. We want to make sure that all education-minded members of the AAS know what they can do to get ready!

This image from the AAS Solar Eclipse Task Force website illustrates the dates and paths of the two solar eclipses that will cross North America during the next two years. Are you ready?
This image from the AAS Solar Eclipse Task Force website illustrates the dates and paths of the two solar eclipses that will cross North America during the next two years. Are you ready?

 

Eclipse event preparation is organized within the AAS in an Eclipse Task Force. The purpose of the AAS Solar Eclipse Task Force is to help prepare citizens of, and visitors to, the US, Canada, and Mexico to safely experience and enjoy the upcoming North American solar eclipses. The task force is organized into a variety of working groups covering all aspects of eclipse planning.

AAS members are invited to join as many of these working groups as makes sense for their plans. Joining a working group does not commit you to any work, but it gives you access to conversations about the national planning process as well as a community of other people working to plan eclipse-related events. Readers of this blog may be particularly interested to join one of these two education-related working groups:

  • Formal Education Working Group
  • Informal Education & Public Engagement Working Group

To indicate your interest in joining one or more of these groups, you are invited to fill out this form.

The AAS Solar Eclipse Task Force is convening planning workshops each fall and spring from now through 2023. The most recent workshop was held virtually; you can view recordings of the sessions — including sessions on both formal and informal education — on the workshop’s web page. The next workshop will be held in Rochester, New York, 21–22 October 2022. To make sure you don’t miss any announcements about it, join the task force’s email list.

If you will be attending AAS 240, there will be an Informational Splinter Meeting at lunchtime on Wednesday, 15 June. See the meeting program for details.

Finally, there is a plan and funding from the Moore Foundation to distribute eclipse glasses and information to 10,000 public libraries across the US (similar to the program for the 2017 eclipse), and the program seeks astronomers to partner with their local libraries. If you are interested in registering to help your local library in this way, either stay tuned for more details or send your name, institution, and email address to Andrew Fraknoi.