February 12: The Great Maine Eclipse of 2024
John Meader will explain what causes an eclipse, what to watch for (even in the event of a cloudy day), where to see it on April 8 in Maine, and how to safely view it. He will share stories of his own eclipse experiences.
John, along with Cathy Jewitt, a former CSC Board member, has recently worked on a comparison of this eclipse with the last Maine solar eclipse in 1963, using the images of Maine photographer/cartographer/artist Augustus “Gus” Phillips, Cathy's grandfather. The result of their research is the creation of the new Phillips-Meader map of the upcoming eclipse on April 8th. John Meader started teaching astronomy in 1979 at the University of Maine's Jordan Planetarium. In 1983, he became the Planetarium Director of the Francis Malcolm Science Center in Easton, Maine. He also taught Observational Astronomy classes at the University of Maine at Orono, the University of Maine at Presque Isle, Loring Air Force Base, and Kennebec Valley Community College. In 1987 John founded Northern Stars Planetarium, an inflatable planetarium that sets up in schools, libraries, and museums across Maine and serves 15,000 students each year. John is a Fellow of both the International Planetarium Society and the Middle Atlantic Planetarium Society. He is a founding member of Dark Sky Maine, a non-profit that promotes Maine’s dark sky heritage through sensible lighting and education.