How did Berlin Girl Scout Elliot Blubaugh become an Eclipse Investigator?
BERLIN ― Elliot Blubaugh saw her first total solar eclipse in 2017 when her family took a vacation to Charleston, South Carolina, to watch the Aug. 21 eclipse that crossed the west to east coasts of the United States that year.
“It was really cool,” she said. “We planned our vacation around it.”
On April 8, Blubaugh will again experience a total eclipse, but this time she will be more than a spectator.
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The 15-year-old, Berlin-Brothersvalley High School freshman is one of 20 Girl Scouts who will be Eclipse Investigators, studying the total solar eclipse in a “citizen science research project” with the Girl Scouts Western Pennsylvania (GSWPA) and Einstein’s Incredible Universe program.
Elliot is the daughter of Aaron and Erin Blubaugh and she is a Senior Girl Scout with Troop No. 46468 in Berlin, where her mother is the troop leader.
Girl Scouts in sixth grade and older were eligible to apply for a spot on the research team, Erin Blubaugh said.
How will the team study the solar eclipse?
The Eclipse Investigators will study the total solar eclipse at a Girl Scout camp near Erie, which is within the “path of totality,” or where the moon will completely cover the sun during the solar eclipse.
Between noon and 4 p.m. April 8, Blubaugh and the other Girl Scouts will be collecting data and taking photographs as they watch the moon slide between the sun and the Earth, covering the face of the sun and turning the sky dark for nearly four minutes before pulling away.
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The information they collect will be forwarded to the Dynamic Eclipse Broadcast (DEB) Initiative, which is coordinating the work of a variety of citizen scientist teams studying the total solar eclipse. The GSWPA was also chosen to provide a live stream video of the total solar eclipse to NASA, according to a release from the Girl Scouts.
“All of the girls on the team have a specific task to do,” Erin Blubaugh said.
Since January, the Eclipse Investigators have met several times in Edinboro for training on the use of the telescopes, computers and cameras that they will use to record and take measurements during the total solar eclipse.
“My job is to set up the telescope, hook it onto the computer and point it at the sun ... and to take photos as the moon crosses over the sun,” Elliot Blubaugh said.
The Scouts also learned about the constellations using a StarLab portable planetarium, and they learned how to look at the sun safely, she added.
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For their work on the solar eclipse research project, Blubaugh and the rest of the team can earn up to four Girl Scouts badges and one Journey Award, which recognizes scouts for their efforts to make a difference in their communities.
Their work is to be published in scientific journals, with their names listed as authors of the study, according to the GSWPA release.
The Scouts also get to meet and work with each other and with scientists and staff from NASA, which Brubaugh said she was looking forward to doing.
“Meeting people from NASA, and I hope to learn stuff about what they do at NASA,” she said.
This article originally appeared on The Daily American: Somerset County girl studying total solar eclipse with Girl Scouts