Sure, everyone in society is fed up with each other. But for three minutes and 51 seconds this week, we took a break from arguing about politics on social media to look at the sky.
NASA, NOAA and the National Science Foundation hosted an eclipse watch party at the Cotton Bowl.
Neil deGrasse Tyson lovingly watched over the event, but he actually wound up one of the least interesting speakers. He introduced some of the scientists from NASA and NOAA who talked about how the eclipse helps them study solar flares, but just because you’re a scientist doesn’t mean you can’t also enjoy a solid pun.
Kids from several schools in Dallas sat on the field and had a whole day of events. Ready Jet Go even showed up.
“These guests don’t seem to be grabbing the kids’ attention,” organizers said.
So the band started rockin’ out with music about the dancin’-est planet in the solar system: Earth!
The pro-Earth agenda continued:
I talked to a science teacher who said an eclipse can draw kids’ attention away from their phones for three minutes and 51 seconds [Which sounds like a record for kids today, are ya with me, fellow millennials who increasingly feel old?!]
He said kids might ask more questions about how the universe works, so this can help spark an interest in science that can lead to a career in astronomy, space exploration or another branch of science they find interesting.
To keep that interest going, they had everyone play a game called, “Science Fiction or Science Fact?” Kids held up signs to vote. But while they appeared to understand the moon is not, technically, made of marshmallows, they were disappointed to receive confirmation.
“You know a giant orbiting marshmallow would be more delicious than rocks and dust, right?” you can hear a kid explain with a loud sigh about 45 seconds into this clip.
She goes on to ask if an eclipse is just a giant space whale eating the moon.
In that first clip, Neil deGrasse Tyson says Elsayed Talaat, the director of NOAA’s Office of Space Weather Observations, doesn’t have power over the sun… yet. Perhaps this was a warning that NOAA also envisions a future where they have power over space whales, too [An aside: That wouldn’t even rank among the most outrageous eclipse conspiracy theories].
So we know NOAA scientists enjoy wordplay, but cloud cover was threatening our view of the eclipse. Kids were sitting on the field, but the Cotton Bowl gave away tickets for 30,000 people, so they also led a rousing, scientific chant as the eclipse started with the sun behind a dark cloud.
Sure enough, when it reached totality, we could all see the eclipse clear as a bell.
A National Weather Service meteorologist was serving as emcee. You’ll never guess, but she lives right here in the Metroplex.
Texas: first in population growth, first in baseball and now first in solar eclipses!
