Events set to highlight coming eclipses

Southeast Missourian archive

The Missouri Solar Eclipse Expo will kickoff with a panel discussion on Friday evening, July 21, and an all-day event on Saturday, July 22, in Cape Girardeau.

According to the Expo's website, semoeclipseexpo.org, the Expo was created to inspire and educate Missourians about the 2023 and 2024 solar eclipses.

There will be a partial eclipse Saturday, Oct. 14, 2023, and a total eclipse Monday, April 8, 2024, portions of Southeast Missouri will experience more than four minutes of "totality", nearly double the length of totality during the 2017 total solar eclipse.

In a total solar eclipse, the Expo's website states, the moon moves between Earth and the sun and casts its shadow on Earth. Along the path of totality, darkness will fall in the middle of the day, planets and stars may appear, and the temperature could drop up to 5 degrees Fahrenheit, the website stated.

Friday evening's panel discussion will be held from 6:30 p.m. to 8 p.m. at Southeast Missouri State University in the University Center Ballroom located at 388 Henderson Ave. in Cape Girardeau. Tickets are free, but seating is limited. The website stated a virtual participation option will be available for those unable to attend in person.

The all-day Expo will be held at the Show Me Center located at 1333 N. Sprigg St. Doors open at 10 a.m. and close at 5 p.m. Tickets are free with pre-registration at the Expo's website, or $3 at the door.

Fred Espenak, a retired astrophysicist from NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center, also known as "Mr. Eclipse," will be a featured speaker at Friday's panel discussion and the Saturday Expo.

The Expo will host two theaters of speakers from 11 a.m. to 4 p.m. Saturday. Open seating will be available on first-come, first-served basis.

Expo speakers include AJ Christensen, a senior data visualization designer for the NASA Scientific Visualization Studio; Charles Fulco, an "eclipse chaser" and national eclipse educator for NASA; and Denise Hill, NASA's Communications, Outreach and Media Relations lead and co-lead of diversity and inclusion efforts for NASA's Heliophysics Division.

Expo attendees will receive a "goodie bag", including free eclipse glasses. Attendees may explore over 40 exhibits, including a children's activity center with a planetarium dome, educational talks about why the solar eclipse is important and tables where children can build their own sunspotters.

Weather permitting, telescopes will be set up at the entrance to the Show Me Center for solar viewing. Demonstrations of equipment and other activities are also planned.

On Friday night, after the panel discussion, SEMO's department of Chemistry and Physics invites the public to a night sky viewing with their Portable Astronomical Observatory, starting at 9 p.m.