The Eclipse Megamovie Tour: building awareness of the eclipse and gathering public support for the Megamovie Project
Abstract
The "Eclipse Megamovie" project aimed to gather scientifically useful photographs of the corona from the public at large during the Aug 21, 2017 total solar eclipse. The project used many different mechanisms for gathering 3 types of volunteers: the over 1,000 trained photographers positioned along the path of totality, members of the public along the path of totality using the Megamovie App, and members of the public who took photographs on their own and then uploaded photographs. In order to interest the public in becoming volunteers to provide photographs for this scientific effort, we drove across the path of totality providing presentations in a town hall fashion. We drove through nine states in week-long trips with a total of six trips. The first week took place in August, 2016 through Oregon. The remaining trips took place February-June, 2017. The tour gained press in each town seeded our recruitment efforts, which then gained momentum via articles and press releases in the Spring and Summer, 2017. By Aug 2, 2017 over 1,000 photographers had signed up to be trained volunteers. This presentation will present information on the tours and their impact in seeding the overall recruitment effort for the Eclipse Megamovie Project.
- Publication:
-
AGU Fall Meeting Abstracts
- Pub Date:
- December 2017
- Bibcode:
- 2017AGUFMED32A..05P
- Keywords:
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- 0815 Informal education;
- EDUCATION;
- 6250 Moon;
- PLANETARY SCIENCES: SOLAR SYSTEM OBJECTS;
- 7507 Chromosphere;
- SOLAR PHYSICS;
- ASTROPHYSICS;
- AND ASTRONOMY;
- 7509 Corona;
- SOLAR PHYSICS;
- ASTROPHYSICS;
- AND ASTRONOMY