With the total solar eclipse steadily approaching, universities like Gannon are preparing not only for its students to enjoy the once in a lifetime event, but also the greater community.

"Outside of our Waldron Center, by the big Gannon Arch that we have, there will be a public viewing available there. There will be telescopes there, which will be filtered. We also have some custom design windows that we’ve tested in our lab and are safe for people to actually use,” Physicist Dr. David Horne said. 

Dr. Horne said Erie is the biggest city in Pennsylvania in the path of totality for the eclipse. He said the eclipse is a special experience for those visiting and natives alike.

"For people who live here, this should be particularly important because if you don’t want to travel to an eclipse -- now I went to Romania to see two minutes and ten seconds of eclipse once. You’re living here. This hasn’t happened since 1806. It’s not gonna happen till 2144, and you’re going to get a good three minute and 40 seconds,” Dr. Horne said. 

Horne also has been booking talks to inform the community on the eclipse, and said the eclipse also creates an opportunity for people to learn more about space. 

“It's a big subject, right? It’s not just about the eclipse, astronomy is all year round. It just happens that this is one of those very finite, very quick events that are really super spectacular, and we just happen to be underneath this thing. . .Increasingly space is much more important to people. It’s so dependent on space communications, and it’s become an industry these days. People are interested in space,” Dr. Horne said.