MTSU makes final preparations for Monday's eclipse viewing

MURFREESBORO -- From assembling a large stage to the live musicians performing on it and from hot dogs to safety precautions, Middle Tennessee State University is making final preparations in anticipation of thousands of total solar eclipse enthusiasts descending upon campus Monday, Aug. 21.

MTSU will be entertaining people planning to attend the Great Tennessee Eclipse, an official NASA viewing site for the Greater Nashville Area. The free event will be held from 11 a.m. to 1:45 p.m. in the green space along the Science Corridor of Innovation in the heart of campus.

The event will feature a main stage with video screens, musical performances and eclipse-related presentations on stage and around the grounds. Hoped-for good-but-hot weather is expected for people to view the 1-minute, 5 seconds of total eclipse around 1:29 p.m. and the partial eclipse before and after.

Before Monday's big show, the public is also welcome to attend the 3 p.m. Sunday, Aug. 20, panel discussion from noted astronomy experts. It will be held in Science Building Room 1006.

The coast-to-coast path of the total solar eclipse is a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity. The last one to pass through the region was nearly 540 years ago; the next one is 549 years away.

The website www.mtsu.edu/eclipse features plenty of information. Of particular interest will be the Aug. 21 day of the eclipse section. The site includes a map of the event site and another showing the approximately 70-mile wide path of the total eclipse as it crosses from Kentucky into Tennessee.

For those unable to come to MTSU, watch it on Facebook Live at https://www.facebook.com/mtsublueraiders/ and Livestream at https://livestream.com/mtsu.

It will be broadcast from 12:30 to 1:45 p.m. in the following areas:

• Comcast Channel 9 in Rutherford County.
• ATT U-Verse Channel 99 in Middle Tennessee.
• DTC Communications Channel 195 in Alexandria, Tennessee.
• United Communication Channel 206 in Chapel Hill, Tennessee.
• Roku in the PEG.TV community television section (click on MTSU in the Education row).

Nearly 20 (and counting) additional areas across the country -- from Stow, Massachusetts, to Yuma, Arizona, George Mason University and others -- requested and will receive live coverage through TelVue.

Five television stations across the state -- WMC Action News 5 in Memphis, WKRN-TV News 2 and WTVF NewsChannel5 in Nashville, WRCB-TV in Chattanooga and WCYB-TV in Tri-Cities -- requested live HD satellite feeds from MTSU and its Mobile Production Truck in the College of Media and Entertainment.

Audio/Visual Services and the Education Resource Channel in MTSU's Center for Educational Media in the College of Education are supplying satellite and distribution to broadcasters and the center's feed to TelVue.

A timeline for the day's events

• 8 a.m. -- Campus opens to the public.

• 11 a.m. -- Event activities begin as does safety glasses' distribution at registration areas outside the Science Building and near the main stage. (Please note that no eclipse glasses will be distributed before 11 a.m.) A map and eclipse schedule will be available. NASA and MTSU telescope feeds will be on the main stage screen. Four groups from the College of Media and Entertainment's Match Records will provide music.

• 11 a.m. to 12:30 p.m. -- Self-guided tours in the science buildings. Watch the eclipse on telescopes. Eclipse-related presentations will be available in Science Building Room 1006. They include "The End Has Come ... Again: Apocalypticism in American Religious History" with Andy Polk; "The Sun, the Moon and the Stars: A Brief Cultural History" with Susan Myers-Shirk; and "Ancient Greek Astronomy and the Invention of Philosophy" with Ron Bombardi.

• 12:30 p.m. -- Welcome and other information from the main stage.

• 12:45 to 1:15 p.m. -- Department of Physics and Astronomy chair Ron Henderson and faculty members Chuck Higgins and John Wallin will share eclipse history, facts, safety information and have a question-and-answer dialogue from the main stage.

• 1:15 p.m. -- Final safety reminders will lead into a total eclipse countdowns from the stage.

• 1:29 p.m. -- Total solar eclipse begins.

• 1:35 to 1:40 p.m. -- Wrap-up and discussions from the main stage.

Safety, food and drink, parking and more

MTSU officials encourage the public to bring water, food, wear sunscreen and use only approved safety glasses (no glasses needed during the total eclipse). They are welcome to bring chairs and picnic blankets.

Nashville's Turner Construction, which built the Science Building that opened in 2014 and renovated Davis Science Building and Wiser-Patten Science Hall, sponsored the safety glasses distributed to city and county school students as well as those that will be distributed on-site on a first-come, first-served basis.

Murfreesboro Fire/Rescue and Police and Rutherford County Sheriff's personnel will join Campus Police in providing safety and security.

All campus buildings will be open for the public to use restrooms and water fountains. Portable restrooms will be located between Keathley University Center and McWherter Learning Resources Center and near the science buildings.

In the KUC Grill, MT Dining will be selling hot dogs, chips, water and soft drinks. Food venues will be open in the Student Union. The KUC Theater will be a cooling area where NASA Television will be shown on the screen. Other cooling areas include Wiser-Patten Science Hall Room 102 and Davis Science Building Room 100.

Public parking will be available in the Champion Way and MTSU Boulevard garages, and Cummings, Greenhouse/Student Union, and Softball lots. The MTSU and Rutherford lots, which border Rutherford Boulevard, will be available if needed.

The public should enter campus from Rutherford Boulevard at Alumni Drive on the east side of campus.

To find free parking and the event site, a printable campus map is available at
http://www.mtsu.edu/parking/documents/parking-map.pdf.