{"id":598372,"date":"2024-03-18T14:57:43","date_gmt":"2024-03-18T18:57:43","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.rochester.edu\/newscenter\/?p=598372"},"modified":"2025-12-01T13:45:24","modified_gmt":"2025-12-01T18:45:24","slug":"old-school-tips-for-viewing-the-solar-eclipse-598372","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.rochester.edu\/newscenter\/old-school-tips-for-viewing-the-solar-eclipse-598372\/","title":{"rendered":"3 old-school tips for viewing the solar eclipse"},"content":{"rendered":"

We dug into the campus newspaper archives to trace the evolution of eclipse knowledge\u2014and etiquette\u2014over the last century.<\/strong><\/h2>\n

There\u2019s no shortage of advice on how to safely view the total solar eclipse on April 8, 2024. From guides on eyewear to telescope filters and vantage points to pinhole projectors, modern media has every angle covered.<\/p>\n

So, what advice were people given about how to look at a solar eclipse the last time such an event plunged Rochester into darkness? Before the internet. Before smartphones. Before television. Before eclipse glasses were mass produced.<\/p>\n

It was 1925 and Calvin Coolidge became the first president to have his inauguration broadcast on radio, F. Scott Fitzgerald published The Great Gatsby<\/em>, and the National Spelling Bee debuted.<\/p>\n

Here\u2019s a look back at how The Campus<\/em><\/a>, the student newspaper that preceded The Campus Times<\/em><\/a>, advised the University community to view the total solar eclipse of January 24, 1925.<\/p>\n

\"Crop
NEWS YOU CAN USE:<\/strong> Detail of the article about the 1925 eclipse by physics professor Floyd Cooper Fairbanks, which appeared in the January 16, 1925, edition of The Campus<\/em><\/a>. Note: The illustration accompanying the article has likely been misattributed to \u201cDr. Fairchild.\u201d<\/em>\u00a0(Image courtesy of River Campus Libraries Digital Collections).<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

1. Make sure your timepiece is accurate.<\/strong><\/h3>\n

Before the clocks on our computers and smartphones were synced up to atomic clocks embedded in GPS satellites orbiting the globe, no one really knew precisely what time it was.<\/p>\n

People set clocks in rough approximation. They might have asked someone, \u201cWhat time do you have?\u201d and that person, looking at their wristwatch or pocket watch, might have replied, \u201cOh, about quarter to 3.\u201d And, so, the time became 2:45.<\/p>\n

During the last total solar eclipse in Rochester, wristwatches had just come into vogue, having been a holdover from soldiers in World War I<\/a>, who affixed their pocket watches to their wrists in combat.<\/p>\n

University physics professor Floyd Cooper Fairbanks was a stickler for time in his column in The Campus<\/em> on how to view the eclipse. \u201cIf you have an accurate timepiece, recently checked, it will be worthwhile to record the exact time (of the total solar eclipse),\u201d he wrote. \u201c. . . If you have an accurate timepiece, the exact time of the beginning and ending of the totality should be observed.\u201d<\/p>\n

He suggested watching from a high hilltop and to look to the west for the path of totality\u2014a shadow roughly 110 miles wide\u2014fast approaching. \u201c(T)he black shadow may be seen approaching at the tremendous speed of 1,300 miles an hour,\u201d he wrote.<\/p>\n

That\u2019s a shadow about the size of Connecticut.<\/p>\n

2. Enjoy the spectacular solar corona\u2014but don\u2019t ask what it is.<\/strong><\/h3>\n
\"Rendering
HERE COMES THE SUN\u2019S CORONA:<\/strong> The total solar eclipse and the solar corona of August 7, 1869, as documented by University of Rochester alumnus William Harkness. (Courtesy of the University of Rochester Department of Rare Books, Special Collections, and Preservation)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

The last time Rochester was engulfed in a total solar eclipse, scientists had yet to settle on what made the solar corona so spectacular.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe most striking object to be observed during totality is the corona,\u201d Fairbanks wrote. \u201c. . . There is no satisfactory explanation of the corona. The spectroscope gives evidence that its light is due to solid and liquid particles and luminous gases.\u201d<\/p>\n

Thanks to a landmark discovery by Rochester alumnus and astronomer William Harkness in 1869<\/a>, scientists knew the corona comprised something other than the gases that made up the sun. They dubbed that something coronium.<\/p>\n

But it wouldn\u2019t be until observations made during eclipses in the 1930s that scientists realized what they thought was coronium was, in fact, iron<\/a>\u2014albeit with half of its 26 electrons missing. That indicated the corona was many times hotter than the sun itself. Today, scientists are still trying to figure out why.<\/p>\n

3. Don\u2019t use your opera glasses to view the eclipse.<\/strong><\/h3>\n

There is no telling how many everyday people in Rochester had opera glasses at their disposal in 1925.<\/p>\n

What we do know, though, is that the University\u2019s Eastman School of Music<\/a> and its Eastman Opera Theatre began in 1921, and that Eastman Theatre on Gibbs Street quickly became Rochester\u2019s preeminent performance space upon opening in 1922.<\/p>\n

\"Vintage
LIGHT UP THE NIGHT:<\/strong> The Eastman Theatre\u2014home to the Eastman Theatre Opera\u2014on Gibbs Street in 1926. \u201cThe sun should not be looked at through an opera glass,\u201d warned physics professor Floyd Cooper Fairbanks. (University of Rochester photo \/ Department of Rare Books, Special Collections, and Preservation)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Apparently, opera glasses were ubiquitous enough around campus that Fairbanks saw fit to warn in his column, \u201cThe sun should not be looked at through an opera glass or telescope while any portion of it is shining, unless the eyepiece is covered by smoked glass.\u201d<\/p>\n

But that bit about \u201csmoked glass\u201d is outdated. Using smoked glass to view solar eclipses had been popular since King Louis XIV of France covered his telescope with a piece of smoked glass to observe an eclipse in 1706. It reportedly fell out of favor in the mid-20th century<\/a>, when doctors began documenting eye problems in children who used smoked glass to view eclipses.<\/p>\n

How to look at a solar eclipse today<\/strong><\/h3>\n

Do not attempt to view the upcoming eclipse with any eyewear that are not certified ISO 12312-2 compliant, the international safety standard for solar eclipse glasses. So, if you haven\u2019t already, it\u2019s time to put away the opera glasses, smoked glass, and even that older pair of solar eclipse glasses (here\u2019s why<\/a>).<\/p>\n

Need a fresh pair? The University has you covered. Get yours here<\/a>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

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