Attendance swells for Mt. Lebanon library’s eclipse event
Ava Willan, 5, gets a good, safe look at the eclipse during Monday afternoon’s program at Mt. Lebanon Public LIbrary.
Josie Dougherty stands next to her display at Mt. Lebanon Public Library.
Wayne Moran gets a good, safe look.
Lynne Walsh stands next to a projection of the eclipse by way of a telescope brought to the library by Glenn Walsh, her brother.
In eclipse-viewing mode are Aleah and Jack Blomshield.
Madelyn Yaremcho take a look through a homemade viewer.
Eli Lasus, 6, holds a homemade pinhole projector for safe viewing of the solar eclipse.
Alex Eberhart makes sure to shield his eyes.
Charlotte Nielsen is ready to view the eclipse safely.
Getting ready for the eclipse’s peak are, from left, Chihiro Brentzel, Charlotte Nielsen and Celena Brentzel.
Kelli Moran gets a good, safe look.
Getting ready to view the eclipse are Madelyn McGeary, left, and Marion Vujevich.
Madelyn, left, and Olivia Yaremcho take a look through homemade viewers.
When it came to taking a safe look at Monday’s solar eclipse, Lukas Jesso had a good reason.
“My mom saw one when she was like 3, and she doesn’t remember it,” the Mt. Lebanon youngster said. “So I want to see this and have it stick in my head.”
Lukas joined brother Nick, sister Caroline and dozens of others for a considerably well-attended Great American Solar Eclipse program at Mt. Lebanon Public Library. Those who attended were able to learn more about the occasion of the moon’s shadow obscuring the sun while catching glimpses of the occurrence using specially manufactured glasses and various homemade “pinhole projector” devices.
And Glenn Walsh, founder of the astronomy-promoting Pittsburgh organization Friends of the Zeiss, had his telescope aimed at the proper spot and the image projected onto a screen for all to see.
They were treated to the sight of the United States’ first coast-to-coast total solar eclipse in almost a century, although peak coverage above Western Pennsylvania registered at just 81 percent, shortly after 2:30 p.m. Still, everyone noticed the amount of light dissipate as the path of the moon progressed across the face of the sun.
“I thought it was very interesting that it happens only so often, and we actually get to see it,” Madelyn McGeary, who is going into sixth grade at Jefferson Middle School, observed.
Mt. Lebanon resident Rebecca Lasus brought her 6-year-old son, Eli, to the event.
“We wanted to share it together, and we’re happy that the Mt. Lebanon library had the opportunity to see it through both the glasses and the telescope,” she said about Walsh’s setup. “We like looking at space, and this is a great way to get to do that.”
Another parent, Regan Blomfield, homeschools her children – Aleah, 6, and Jack, 8 – and considered the event to be a prime educational opportunity.
“We were studying all about astronomical phenomena, and with the eclipse, we’ve been knowing it’s going to happen for a number of years now,” Regan said. “So we prepared well in advance, and it’s something we don’t get to see every day.”
Along with providing opportunities to the sun safely, the library program featured indoor activities for children, along with a feed of nationally televised coverage. Also, Josie Dougherty, who attended Space Camp this summer in Huntsville, Ala., set up a display chronicling her time there and including further information about the eclipse.
“It was almost like a real NASA setting. We had all of the jobs that NASA has,” Josie said, such as a flight director, mission specialists and scientists.
The soon-to-be Mellon Middle School eighth-grader went through the weeklong program as part of the Girl Scouts Destinations program, which provides a wide variety of travel and participatory experiences.
“The thing I really like about space is that I think it’s a new frontier we haven’t explored yet. We’re the Mars generation,” she said about the potential to venture to the red planet, “so I want to either be one of the astronauts who’s going to go up to Mars or help us get there.”