These Merced students didn’t just watch the eclipse. They helped record data for NASA

At 10:18 a.m. Monday, students at Yosemite High School in Merced used a number of methods to turn their eyes toward the sun and view the peak of the Great American Eclipse.

They used special glasses, homemade reflectors made from cereal boxes and shadows using paper plates to watch as the moon covered about 70 percent of the sun.

But why did they need thermometers?

Shannon Mauras’ biology class recorded atmospheric temperatures and cloud patterns to report to NASA’s Global Learning and Observation to Benefit the Environment (GLOBE) Program through a mobile app. Observations are recorded into an interactive map.

Students held glass thermometers on a string and recorded the temperature in degrees Celsius every few minutes, while others took photos of the clouds and sky with their cellphones.

Diana Gutierrez and Neva Bittner noticed as the moon covered more of the sun, their shadows on the ground became more precise.

“When you look closely through the glasses, you can really see the shape of the moon,” Gutierrez said.

Nathan Gonzales recorded weather conditions into the mobile app, noting whether the sky was hazy or cloudy and taking pictures in each geographical direction.

Gonzales described the sun as a “macaroni-shaped crescent” and noted how blinding the sun was without special eyewear.

“I thought for a second you wouldn’t be able to see any of the sun,” he said. “But it seems like a normal, overcast day.”

The students joined millions of Americans in watching the eclipse on Monday, which crossed the country from Oregon to South Carolina in the course of an hour and a half and covered 14 states in darkness for about two minutes.

The U.S. will experience its next solar eclipse in 2024.

This story was originally published August 21, 2017 at 5:52 PM with the headline "These Merced students didn’t just watch the eclipse. They helped record data for NASA."