About Us

The AAS Solar Eclipse Task Force

The coast-to-coast solar eclipse of August 21, 2017, will give tens of millions of people in a narrow path from Oregon to South Carolina a chance to see the solar corona and experience “darkness at midday.” Outside this path of totality, all of North America (and parts of northern South America) will experience a partial eclipse. This event, the first total solar eclipse to touch the US mainland since 1979 and the first to span the continent since 1918, presents a unique opportunity to excite people about science and connect them personally to the cosmos. Yet it also presents a unique challenge: 500 million residents and visitors need to learn how to view the eclipse safely. To help address this opportunity and challenge, the American Astronomical Society — the major organization of professional astronomers in North America — has established the AAS Solar Eclipse Task Force to function as a think tank, coordinating body, and communication gateway/hub.

Responsibilities of the Solar Eclipse Task Force include (but are not limited to) the following:

  • Identify and involve appropriate astronomy- and eclipse-related organizations, groups, and individuals, and coordinate their efforts to maximize reach/impact and minimize redundancy;
  • Collect existing ideas and generate new ones for eclipse-related education, public outreach, and public engagement, as well as for eclipse-related scientific research, including citizen-science projects;
  • Support/encourage frequent and effective communication and idea sharing among participants;
  • Support/encourage the creation and widespread distribution of good/reliable information about partial and total solar eclipses, including how to experience and record them safely;
  • Support/encourage the creation and widespread distribution of good/reliable information about weather prospects, eclipse circumstances, logistics, and other factors relevant to choosing a site from which to view the eclipse;
  • Support/encourage the debunking and quashing of bad/unreliable (mis)information;
  • Enlist the cooperation and assistance of the medical and optometric communities;
  • Enlist the cooperation and assistance of the media, formal and informal educators, artists, musicians, and other messengers/communicators;
  • Enlist the cooperation and assistance of local, state, and federal government officials and funding agencies;
  • Enlist the cooperation and assistance of the corporate sector, including (but not limited to) astronomy-related businesses and industries, as well as foundations;
  • Encourage as many people as possible to get themselves into the path of totality on August 21, 2017.

Task Force Members

  • Shadia Habbal (Institute for Astronomy, University of Hawaii), co-chair
  • Angela Speck (University of Missouri, Columbia), co-chair
  • Michael Bakich (Astronomy Magazine)
  • Andrew Fraknoi (Foothill College)
  • Charles Fulco (New York State Science Education)
  • Pamela Gay (Southern Illinois University Edwardsville)
  • Lika Guhathakurta (NASA Headquarters)
  • Lou Mayo (NASA Goddard Space Flight Center)
  • Mario Motta (American Association of Variable Star Observers)
  • Tyler Nordgren (National Park Service & University of Redlands)
  • Matt Penn (National Solar Observatory)
  • Henry "Trae" Winter (Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics)
  • Michael Zeiler (GreatAmericanEclipse.com)

AAS Solar Eclipse Project Manager

  • Mike Kentrianakis (Amateur Astronomers Association of New York)

AAS Staff Liaisons

  • Kelly Clark (AAS Chief Financial & Operating Officer)
  • Rick Fienberg (AAS Press Officer)

AAS Council Liaison

  • James Lowenthal (Smith College)

International Astronomical Union (IAU) Liaison

  • Jay Pasachoff (Williams College & IAU Working Group on Solar Eclipses)

Astronomical Society of the Pacific (ASP) Liaisons

  • Greg Schultz (ASP Senior Scientist and Educator)
  • Linda Shore (ASP Executive Director)