View the Solar Eclipse with BCCC | Eastern North Carolina Now

Press Release:

    WASHINGTON, N.C.     In its 50 years, the campus of Beaufort County Community College has never experienced a total solar eclipse. On August 21, the college will treat students, employees and the public to a viewing party to celebrate this once-in-a-lifetime opportunity.

    While the path of complete totality will travel further west, residents of Beaufort County should still be able to see quite an astronomical treat. The college will have four telescopes on hand, eclipse viewing glasses and employees available to explain the phenomenon. Men of Success, BCCC's minority male mentoring group, will be cooking up hot dogs. Other snacks and drinks will be available to students through the Student Government Association. The college will also beam video from a telescope into a classroom to accommodate more people.

    The festivities will begin at 1:30 p.m. behind Building 1, though the near-total-eclipse will not be visible until 2:45 p.m. The faculty from the science department will guide people using the telescopes and answer their questions about eclipses. Anyone who has purchased eclipse-viewing glasses is encouraged to bring them along. Looking directly at the eclipse without protective equipment can be dangerous.

    Solar eclipses occur when the moon lines up in between the sun and the earth. The variation in the moon's orbit means that while the moon passes between the earth and the sun every 29.5 days, it does not always align to create an eclipse. The small size of the moon in comparison to the sun also restricts the size of the umbra- the shadow of the moon- to just a small area. The umbra does not always occur on land or near populated areas, and totality- when the moon blocks the sun completely- lasts only for minutes. In this case, the path of totality will travel through only seven of North Carolina's westernmost counties.

    Not only will the eclipse create unusual light and shadow effects, it is the best time to view the corona and the chromosphere-the atmosphere of the sun. While totality is brief, a partial eclipse will be visible before and after that brief window of time.

    "We are close enough that what we see in Beaufort County will still be a phenomenal opportunity unlike anything our students have ever seen," said Dr. Jay Sullivan, vice president of research and institutional effectiveness. Sullivan also taught astronomy at BCCC. "We want to give our students a unique experience, and we want to invite the public to feed their curiosity with us."

    Beaufort County Community College strives to be a resource not just for the students attending classes, but to the community at large where it hopes to spark curiosity, deepen scientific conversation and foster the next generation of innovators and explorers.

    Members of the public who plan to attend with organized groups of more than ten should contact Theresa Edwards, student activities coordinator, at 252-940-6217.

• Contact: Attila Nemecz
•     Attila.Nemecz@beaufortccc.edu