The total solar eclipse is fast approaching and Wyoming is one of the best states to view the rare phenomena. Daniel Ferguson, a documentary filmmaker with Cosmic Picture, thinks that it also makes Wyoming a perfect candidate for an IMAX documentary.

Ferguson will direct a documentary featuring Wyoming people and landscapes, in particular the Grand Tetons, under the working title “Einstein’s Incredible Universe,” according to a UW news release.

The documentary is set to include aerial shots on the Grand Tetons, as well as a five minute segment featuring University of Wyoming faculty members replicating Sir Arthur Stanley Eddington’s May 29, 1919 experiment that provided one of the earliest confirmations of Einstein’s theory of general relativity.

UW faculty members Michael Pierce and Adam Myers, both UW associate professors of physics and astronomy, will be conducting the experiment, which will image the stars near the sun during a solar eclipse.

Myers says the experiment is a learning opportunity for students, who will learn to conduct observations using an experimental setup that can detect gravitational lensing of the light from distant stars by the mass of the sun. The bending of light from these stars makes the position of the stars change by an order of 1.75 inches for light that is just grazing the edge of the sun – which is predicted by general relativity.

In addition to Grand Teton National Park and the experiment, Ferguson will also get shots of backed up traffic on Wyoming’s main roads as the eclipse passes through the state.

Ferguson said the 45-minute feature film will be released in 2019, primarily showing in museums with IMAX and giant screens.

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