Monthly Archives: August 2017

AU Archives is Moving

AU Archives and Special Collections will be moving to our new home on the second floor of the Spring Valley Building (4801 Massachusetts Avenue NW) the last two weeks of August. We will be monitoring email sporadically during the move so our response time will be slower than usual. Starting September 5, we will provide limited reference service until the rare book collection has been unpacked and shelved. We hope to establish full operations in early October if not sooner.

We will begin accepting donations again starting the week of Labor Day.
Our new mailing address is as follows:
American University
4400 Massachusetts Ave NW
Archives & Special Collections – Suite 207
Washington DC 20016-8042

For FedEX and UPS shipments please use the following address:
American University
4801 Massachusetts Ave NW
Archives & Special Collections – Suite 207
Washington DC 20016-8042

Researchers are welcome to contact us starting the week of September 14 to schedule appointments for late September and early October.

This is a preliminary schedule so please call or email to confirm.

Comparing the solar eclipse of 1970 with the next week’s eclipse

A solar eclipse occurs when the moon passes between earth and the sun and thereby totally or partly blocks the sun for a viewer on earth. A total solar eclipse occurs in a narrow path across earth’s surface, with a partial solar eclipse visible in the surrounding region.

The total solar eclipse of March 7, 1970 was visible across southern Mexico and the southeast coast of the United States and Canada. The lengthiest eclipse occurred over Mexico, with totality lasting 3 minutes and 28 seconds. The longest duration in the United States was 3 minutes and 10 seconds. This eclipse, also known as the “eclipse of the century,” passed directly over NASA’s Wallops Station, where researchers launched 32 sounding rockets to conduct meteorological and physics experiments.

A group called the Aquarians organized a celebration of the 1970 eclipse near the Washington Monument and Sylvan Theater on the National Mall. Patrick Frazier photographed the concert and the participants.

 

Participants singing and dancing at Aquarians’ Sun-In Event on the National Mall in Washington, D.C.

 

On Aug. 21, 2017, the path of the total eclipse will stretch from Lincoln Beach, Oregon to Charleston, South Carolina and will be about 70 miles wide. The longest duration of total eclipse will be near Carbondale, Illinois, where the moon will completely cover the sun for 2 minutes and 40 seconds.

The last time the contiguous U.S. saw a total eclipse was in 1979. You can watch NASA’s live video stream.