Blind people will see the eclipse — thanks to an SC professor and Spanish moss

Thanks to a South Carolina geology professor, visually impaired people can view the total solar eclipse — in braille.

The College of Charleston’s Cassandra Runyon partnered with David Hurd of the University of Edinboro to write a braille book about the event, which millions will watch Monday, Aug. 21, when the sun will be completely obscured by the moon and a shadow will stretch along the path of totality from Oregon to South Carolina.

Using a NASA grant, about 5,000 copies of the book — “Getting a Feel for Eclipses” — will be distributed to “schools, libraries, museums and science centers who serve the blind and visually impaired,” according to the College of Charleston.

Each book is printed and bound by hand, according to ABC News.

Spanish moss and other on-site materials were used to create the book.

“Spanish moss is the sun, really rough cardboard is the moon and the Earth is smooth cardboard with sand to create the continents,” Runyon told ABC. “We used materials we had on hand, like the moss which happened to be hanging outside the office window.”

Runyon and Hurd have written braille science books for the past 20 years.

She credits her father, an artist, for encouraging her at a young to engage all of her senses and look at things from different perspectives.

This story was originally published August 17, 2017 at 11:55 AM with the headline "Blind people will see the eclipse — thanks to an SC professor and Spanish moss."