STARGAZERS FIND ECLIPSE ILLUMINATING

Janet Brase found a source of illumination in Thursday's eclipse, though it snuffed out the sun from Hawaii to South America.

Now, the Jackson resident can put her experience in viewing the eclipse to use after she graduates from college and becomes a teacher possibly a junior high school science teacher.

"I feel ... more confident," said the Southeast Missouri State University senior. "If a child asked me, `What is an eclipse?' I feel I could tell them. I feel I could tell them exactly what was going on."

Brase, a non-traditional student majoring in elementary education and working towards a certification in junior high science, watched the eclipse along with other students and area residents through the use of a 6-inch reflective telescope at the university. About 40 people stopped by to see the event, only partially visible here.

Elsewhere, at the Trail of Tears State Park Visitors Center, between 100 and 150 people showed up to watch the solar event with the help of the park's 10-inch telescope, said park Naturalist Greg Henson. Even a woman driving on Interstate 55 to St. Louis decided to veer from her route and stop by the park, he said.

Henson said the woman had heard the park's radio advertisement about the public being able to watch the event from the visitors center.

"She just didn't want to miss the opportunity to see the eclipse. It was kind of a rare event, especially one this good," he said.

The university's telescope was set up in the courtyard beside Rhodes Hall of Science. Set up by Craig Joseph, an assistant professor of physics at the university, the telescope projected the image of the eclipse onto white cardboard. Some observers Brase included also used a Mylar solar filter to view the event.

Joseph erected the telescope following a class he had from 11 a.m. to 1 p.m. Some students in the class, "Exploring the Universe," stayed behind to watch, he said. One of them was Brase.

The eclipse began at 1:18 p.m., peaking at 2:16 p.m. The solar eclipse ended at 3:12 p.m., Joseph said.

Both Henson and Joseph said the viewings went well. Though Henson said he had worried about the cloud cover, the eclipse at Trail of Tears watched by observers with lenses from 32 to 400 power never was obscured.

"We were very fortunate," he said, "because this is the best eclipse we're going to have for a long time. The next really good eclipse we're going to have will be well into the next century."

Joseph said an occasional cloud obscured the view at the university, but the weather was favorable. He said he believed everyone had a good look at the eclipse.

From the campus observation point, the moon covered between 35 and 40 percent of the sun, said Joseph.

Joseph said he believed most of the university group, which included a group of schoolchildren and a number of elderly adults, found the show pretty interesting. Some others, though, didn't seem impressed. But Joseph said that's typical with events like Thursday's, when some people come expecting more than what they see.

Nonetheless, the eclipse sparked a wide range of responses, from "Oohs and Ahs" to "That's neat," he said.

"I guess I was pleased that people were really interested in what was going on up there in the sky, above their heads," he said.

Brase said the eclipse was the first she had seen with the benefit of some background knowledge about the event. Any other eclipses that occurred, such as when she was a child, didn't have any impact on her because she didn't know much about them, she said.

When the next eclipse comes, Brase said, she'll already be retired from teaching. "This, in that respect, is actually giving (my students) a physical model where I can show them the process of what's going on, and relate my experience as far as what I saw."

The next total eclipse visible from the United States will occur in 2017, according to the university.

Brase said teaching kids about science is a major thing with her. Science, she said, is a big part of the world now and a lot of kids are missing out on it.

"The way I look at it is if you can understand science, you can understand our world better," she said.