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Through a child's eyes: Southeast Missouri schoolchildren offer their perceptions after witnessing Monday’s total solar eclipse (8/24/17)Students from around the area were able to experience the total solar eclipse Monday. Some, such as the fourth-grade class of Rhonda Young at Alma Schrader School, watched with their classmates at school. Others, such as the third-grade class of Amanda Ruhmann at Trinity Lutheran School, watched at Southeast Missouri State University, which hosted 17 school districts...
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Heat bigger health issue than eye injuries on eclipse day (8/23/17)After hand-wringing over possible eclipse-related eye injuries, hot weather during the event may have been more of an issue, local health-care providers said. “We anticipated some (eye injuries),” Regional Eyecare Center office manager Mary McBride said Tuesday. “But [the eclipse] didn’t really generate any.”...
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Eclipse glasses: Throw them out? Keep until '24? Or donate them? (8/23/17)Don’t throw out Monday’s eclipse glasses, said Peggy Hill, physics professor at Southeast Missouri State University. As long as the glasses are rated to ISO requirement 12312-2, adopted in 2015, the glasses will not expire after three years, as some glasses state in their instructions...
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Eclipse arrives: Region plunged into darkness in 'once-in-a-lifetime' event (8/22/17)They came into Cape Girardeau by the thousands to view Monday's solar eclipse. They traveled to the city's SportsPlex and Southeast Missouri State University's Houck Field and the River Campus. Crowds also showed up in Perryville, Missouri, and elsewhere around the region, enduring hot summer weather, for what many called a "once-in-a-lifetime" event...
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Scientist, author Michio Kaku predicts a future of digitization (8/22/17)Well-known author and scientist Michio Kaku spoke Monday night at Southeast Missouri State University's Show Me Center to a crowd of over 1,000 people, speaking of what the next 20 years will hold. In introducing Kaku, university president Carlos Vargas-Aburto said during the eclipse viewing at Southeast on Monday afternoon, over 25,000 pairs of safety glasses were distributed, 3,000 students from grades kindergarten through senior year were on campus and over 500 volunteers from Southeast and the surrounding community helped pull the event off.. ...
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Eclipse eve: Millions converge across U.S. to see sun go dark (8/21/17)Millions of Americans have converged on a narrow corridor stretching from Oregon to South Carolina to watch the moon blot out the midday sun today for a couple of minutes in the first total solar eclipse to sweep coast to coast in 99 years. Veteran eclipse watchers warned the uninitiated to get ready to be blown away...
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Perryville welcomes eclipse tourists with Solarfest (8/20/17)PERRYVILLE, Mo. — For a 2 minutes and 34 seconds, darkness will fall upon Perryville during Monday’s total solar eclipse. With help from the city’s tourism department, the Perryville Area Chamber of Commerce welcomed an influx of tourists wanting to see the eclipse by holding Solarfest in Perryville’s downtown square during the weekend...
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Cape PD not expecting outbreak in crime during midday darkness (8/20/17)On the eve of the solar eclipse, Cape Girardeau police have a message for worried residents: It's an eclipse, and not the end of the world. "I think the unknown is making people's brain go into overload," public-information officer Rich McCall said Friday. "I think it's the human factor that's spun it into something it's not."...
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Drury Plaza Hotel open for eclipse business; conference center set to open soon (8/20/17)Cape Girardeau's newest hotel held a soft opening late last month. But there's nothing soft about it now. Every room in the Drury Plaza Hotel Cape Girardeau Conference Center is booked Sunday as people flock to Cape Girardeau to view Monday's total solar eclipse...
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Schools see eclipse as educational opportunity with some risk; focusing on safety (8/18/17)Educators across the region are viewing Monday’s eclipse as an excellent educational opportunity, but not without some risk, according to district officials. The partial eclipse will begin at about 11:52 a.m. Monday and end around 2:49 p.m. with totality at 1:20 p.m. in the Cape Girardeau area...
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Area solar-eclipse events (8/18/17)Hemman Winery's newest wine, Totality, will be released this weekend in honor of Monday's total solar eclipse. Beginning at 1 p.m. Friday, 25 bottles will be released to the first 25 buyers. More will be released during the rest of the weekend to the day of totality on Monday. For more information, visit www.hemmanwinery.com or call (573) 450-2685...
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Chasing eclipses across the globe is a way of life for some (8/18/17)WASHINGTON -- While Monday's total solar eclipse in the U.S. will be a once-in-a-lifetime sky show for millions, there's a small group of people who have experienced it all before, and they can't get enough of it. Glenn Schneider has seen 33. Fred Espenak has watched 28. Donald Liebenberg has logged 26. For newbie Kate Russo, it's 10 and counting...
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Booked up: Area's campgrounds, hotels slated to be filled by eclipse tourists (8/17/17)While a major boon to the local economy, Monday's eclipse also is posing unprecedented challenges to tourism-industry professionals. "At this point, everything is sold out," Cape Girardeau Convention and Visitors Bureau executive director Brenda Newbern said. "And campgrounds are filled; RV camps are filled. Our hotels have been full for several months."...
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Can't see the solar eclipse? Tune in online or on TV (8/17/17)LOS ANGELES -- Ronald Dantowitz has been looking forward to Monday's solar eclipse for nearly 40 years. An astronomer who specializes in solar imaging, he's been photographing eclipses for more than three decades, and will be using 14 cameras to capture the Aug. 21 celestial event...
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More than spectacle: Eclipses create science and so can you (8/16/17)WASHINGTON -- The sun is about to spill some of its secrets, maybe even reveal a few hidden truths of the cosmos. And you can get in on the act next week if you are in the right place for the best solar eclipse in the U.S. in nearly a century. Astronomers are going full blast to pry even more science from the mysterious ball of gas that's vital to Earth. ...
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Gas shortages not likely during eclipse, though traffic should spike (8/16/17)While the upcoming eclipse is expected to bring heavy traffic, industry professionals said rumors or warnings of gasoline shortages are unlikely. "I've seen some of that stuff," said Mike Right, AAA vice president of public affairs, referring to rumors of gas shortages. ...
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Local astronomer will bring telescopes to Houck Field during eclipse (8/14/17)Cape Girardeau amateur astronomer Dennis Vollink plans to take his mechanized telescopes to Houck Field on Aug. 21, where more than 3,000 spectators are expected to view the total eclipse. Vollink's telescopes typically are used for astrophotography, or the process of photographing objects in space...
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Optometrists, others advise eclipse viewers to protect eyes (8/13/17)Area residents and visitors who turn their eyes to the sky Aug. 21 to view a total solar eclipse could severely injure their eyes if they don't wear special glasses, local optometrists warn. Dr. Ryne Wood, an optometrist with Leet EyeCare in Cape Girardeau, said looking at the sun can cause solar retinopathy...
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Southeast professor explains eclipse phenomena at Marble Hill museum (8/6/17)MARBLE HILL, Mo. — The Bollinger County Museum of Natural History hosted Solar Eclipse Day, featuring a presentation Saturday by Southeast Missouri State University physics professor Peggy Hill. Focusing on the scientific elements of an eclipse, Hill taught children and parents about eclipses and the characteristics of one...