Tomorrow’s Full Solar Eclipse, December 4

https://newslit.org/

Before you go on, an article in the May 8 & May 22 issue of Science News ran with a cover "Awash in Deception:  How science can help us avoid being duped by misinformation."  In the lead article titled: "The Battle Against Fake News," Alexandra Witze presents five suggestions on how to debunk bad information.  They come from the News Literacy Project (see the above link).

How to Debunk:

1.  Arm yourself with media literacy skills, at sites such as the News Literacy Project (newslit.org), to better understand how to spot hoax videos and stories.

2.  Don't stigmatize people for holding inaccurate beliefs.  Show empathy and respect, or you're more likely to alienate your audience than successfully share accurate information.

3.  Translate complicated but true ideas into simple messages that are easy to grasp.  Videos, graphics and other visual aids can help.

4.  When possible, once you provide a factual alternative to the misinformation, explain the underlying fallacies (such as cherry- picking information, a common tactic of climate change deniers.

5.  Mobilize when you see misinformation being shared on social media as soon as possible. If you see something, say something.

"Misinformation is any information that is incorrect, whether due to error or fake news.  

"Disinformation is deliberately intended to deceive."

"Propaganda is disinformation with a political agenda."

Sander van der Linden
Social Psychologist
University of Cambridge

Source:  Science News/May 8, 2021 & May 22, 2021

I’m including my notes this time just because I can!

Notes for Dec. 3

• Cruising at 10 knots
• At breakfast, Dr. Rob showed me that we were 100 miles from our destination, South Orkney Island
• Swells of up to 16 feet…so far
• Passengers unbolting chairs resulted in a member of the wait staff dumping several dishes when a passenger’s unbolted chair backed into them at Breakfast
• Up at 0430 this morning
• Noticed sunshine through the window
• Went back to the stern and snapped some photos of the eastern horizon.  It was clear.  Maybe tomorrow as well?
• First presentation today at 0930 is titled “Ice” presented by Mike Jackson
• A little blue sky is slipping through the white clouds
• Change in the forecast, change in course.
• Decision making tree and final decision.
• Early dinner, 0300 wake-up call.

Well, welcome once again to planning events in the Southern Ocean.  We spent the morning heading for a sheltered mooring in the South Orkney Islands to get out of the high winds and 21-foot swells.  A place where we would still see the totality, but not be smack dab in the sweet spot of its path.

It seems that the clear skies to the East that I saw at 0430 this morning were a good omen.  Instead of heading for our sheltered harbor mooring place, we turned North this afternoon back toward South Georgia Island and a spot on the edge of the Totality path.

Now, that doesn’t mean that the conditions will be perfect.  It does mean that there is a good chance that we will be able to find clear sky on the Eastern horizon.  That’s very important because this eclipse will be at Totality when it is only 8 degrees above the horizon. How do you know 8 degrees?

But, the conditions of the atmosphere and the conditions on the ocean’s surface are two entirely different things as Hannah, in her own inimitable way, expressed to a group bent on seeing the full solar eclipse. 

If the conditions are safe, then we will be allowed to go out on deck to view the eclipse.  If not, then we will be viewing it from inside.  She drove her point home on the safety issue by saying that if someone were to go overboard that not only would they be dead, but the ship would turn around and head back to Ushuaia, Argentina.  End of trip.  Point made, at least to me!

Dinner is an hour earlier than normal tonight to compensate for our 0300 wake-up call tomorrow morning.  And there will be a showing of, what was the name of that movie featuring penguins?  I’m away from my room and can’t remember its name.  That’s not super important, but it is showing at 2000. (It’s “Happy Feet.”)

There was a session this afternoon to prepare our Welder’s Glass into works of Eclipse viewing art.  Mine is pretty basic while some are really pretty cool. I’m going to limit my photography to getting a shot or two of the totality.  Everything I’m hearing here is make sure that you see the Totality.  Don’t miss it because you’re fiddling with settings on your camera!

So, we’re getting close to Eclipse Day.  The entire event from start to finish is about an hour.  This one starts at 0316 when the Moon first appears to make contact with the Sun and it ends at around 0425 when the Moon continues its celestial journey revolving around the Earth and the Sun continues to do suns do.  The two will meet again like this in 2023, but the next time that I’ll be seeing it is in 2024 when its path crosses through the central and northeastern United States.

Enjoy the images that you see online or on TV.  I’ll let you know tomorrow if it’s worth seeing in person.  Judging from the reactions of the Umbraphiles on this trip, it will likely be worth it.

Bruce