FW: [Chaos-l] Regarding Morehead eclipse observing session.

[Jeff Polston]

Richard, you might be right.  I thought I had remembered there being a
settlement but can't find any reference to it.  Of course part of this is
compounded by the fact that Shapiro refused to answer any questions I asked
of him.  At the time I asked him, I was planning a solar observing party and
wanted to make sure I had considered ALL possible scenarios.  Shapiro's
response?:

"This is to acknowledge receipt of your inquiry, but I am unable to respond
to individual requests of such a nature".

Huh?  I figured "legal" made him silent, so I asked if he could direct me to
someone or some agency (i.e. lawyers, administrators, etc.) that could
answer my question. He refused to answer.

So are you saying there was no lawsuit/settlement that you know of?  Seems
like I remember the kid even traveling to some other country during an
eclipse to "warn" the people of possible eye damage.  I figured that was on
the planetarium dime, but must admit I can't seem to find any reference to
that either.  Did I dream it all?  :)

If you were involved, can you tell me what was determined to be the must
likely cause of the boy's accident?  I haven't had a public solar session
since then!

Thanks,

Jeff


-----Original Message-----
From: Richard McColman [mailto:rmccolman at mindspring.com] 
Sent: Sunday, April 10, 2005 9:02 AM
To: chaos-l at rtpnet.org; jeffpo at mindspring.com
Subject: RE: [Chaos-l] Regarding Morehead eclipse observing session.

Thanks for the concerns you expressed over the eclipse observing session,
Jeff.

I would offer a friendly caution, however, on making too much of a 
connection between Morehead's "projection devices only" policy on 
solar observing sessions and the 1998 eye-damage incident that you 
referenced.  To my knowledge, there was no direct connection between 
the two.  When the policy was first proposed by then Assistant 
Director Austin Guiles a few years back, I can assure you that there 
was no context or discussion of the 1998 incident.  It truly was out 
of concern that observing session visitors not draw misconceptions 
from viewing -- or seeing others viewing -- the Sun through a 
telescope eyepiece, and then going away thinking that direct solar 
observing through any telescope is okay.  Having said that, I'm sure 
that the 1998 incident served to further heighten our overall 
awareness of solar observing eye safety, and thusly could have had 
some *indirect* effect on related issues.  But as I indicated, it did 
not appear to me from the discussion at the time that the "projection 
devices only" policy was in any way directly tied to the 1998 event.

As to an "out of court settlement" related to the 1998 incident (and 
I assume you're implying some significant monetary compensation), 
this is the first I've heard of it -- particularly interesting since 
I was at least peripherally involved in a discussion or two resulting 
from the incident's aftermath.  While it's certainly possible, I 
suppose, that some "settlement," as you call it, occurred without me 
hearing anything about it, I would be surprised.  Perhaps you can 
enlighten me.

Again, thanks for your concerns,

Richard McColman


>The real reasoning and concerns probably stem from that kid that claimed
eye
>damage at a planetarium some years ago and got an out of court settlement.
>http://www.wral.com/news/586325/detail.html
>
>After the settlement, Morehead refused to provide details on what happened,
>so I hope we don't accidentally repeat it from the lack of knowledge.
>
>
>
>-----Original Message-----
>From: chaos-l-bounces at rtpnet.org [mailto:chaos-l-bounces at rtpnet.org] On
>Behalf Of Stewart-Taylor, Jon
>Sent: Friday, April 08, 2005 8:49 AM
>To: Chapel Hill Astronomical Observation Society
>Subject: [Chaos-l] Reagrding Morehead eclipse observing session.
>
>Hi all. I'm sure you've already read it, but regarding:
>
>>  [...] bring your telescope and solar filter
>>  to the planetarium [...]
>
>Mr. McColman of the planetarium wrote:
>
>>  we respectfully request that CHAOS members *not*
>>  bring any solar observing equipment [..] other
>>  than image projection.
>
>He had some reasonable concerns, and please be sure to read his post.
>
>Thanks.
>
>J.
>--
>Jon Stewart-Taylor
>Manager, Network Applications Programming
>jstewart at misg.com, 919-406-8824
>
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