From Staff Reports
PRESS RELEASE: The city of Corsicana and Navarro College are partnering on a multi-year project to prepare for the 2024 Solar Eclipse on April 8, 2024. A Solar Eclipse Committee, with the guidance of Dr. Bruce Brazell, Professor of Astronomy and Head of the Corsicana campus Planetarium, have developed a logo unique to Corsicana. It will be used to promote the phenomenon in a variety of ways.
The logo was debuted at this month’s mayor partnership meeting.
What It Is
A total solar eclipse occurs when the Moon, in its orbit around the Earth, crosses and covers the face of the Sun completely for a short period of time. Due to the motion of the Moon and rotation of the Earth, the Moon’s shadow tracks quickly across the Earth’s surface over the course of a few hours. Fortunate viewers in the path of the Moon’s shadow will be able to view the total solar eclipse as the shadow passes across the region The length of time, or TOTALITY that the Sun’s light is blocked depends on the size of the Moon’s shadow.
For Corsicana, the total solar eclipse will enter Texas at the Mexico border and travel north on Monday, April 8, reaching Corsicana at approximately 1:40 p.m. For the next four minutes and 10 seconds, Corsicana will bathe in the dim light of the Sun’s corona (its outer atmosphere), stars will appear in the sky and automatic street lights will come on. For over four minutes, people here will experience one of nature’s most unique events, described as the Super Bowl of astronomical events, and one that will not occur here again until November 15, 2077. (The last time Corsicana was in the path of a total solar eclipse was July 29, 1878.) The totality in Corsicana will be about 30 seconds longer than seen in Dallas, making it the ideal location for viewing.
It’s also important to know that on October 14, 2023, there will be an annular eclipse (a ringed eclipse where the Moon doesn’t completely cover the face of the Sun) that will cross Texas in the opposite direction of our eclipse, only seven month earlier – as a preview of what’s to come.
In 2017, Corsicana experienced a partial eclipse, but in the path of totality, the length of the eclipse was an average of two minutes along the path. On the east coast, in a city about the size of Corsicana, the county seat, and about 50 miles from a major city, Hopkinsville, Kentucky experienced this two minute totality. They prepared for it for 12 months. The city estimated 116,000 people converged on the city (population 31,000).
The Corsicana Solar Eclipse Committee researched the 2017 eclipse and interviewed people from Bend, Oregon, where the eclipse first touched the U.S., to Hopkinsville, Kentucky on how those cities managed the event, how they added additional activities to maximize their potential, and reviewed best practices. They have embarked on a three-year marketing plan, and the first steps is the brand identity. A website will follow, allowing any venue providing parking, a festival, viewing area or other activity to be included. The website URL will be www.corsicanasolareclipse.com and it will launch by the end of the year.
The Corsicana Solar Eclipse Committee is: Dr. Bruce Brazell, Stacie Sipes, Amy Tidwell, Susan Wilson, John Boswell, Sharla Allen, Leah Blackard, Kyle Hobratschk, Anna Paul, Hayden Crawford, Dr. Diane Frost, and Joe Hill. Anyone interested in learning more about the Committee and marketing plans for the 2024 Total Solar Eclipse, and joining the Committee may contact Susan Wilson, susan.wilson@susanwilsonmarketing.com
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