Total Eclipse: how to view it?
Today a total eclipse of the sun will delight sky watchers. The moon will pass between the earth and the sun, completely covering the latter, visible for people to see along the designated path of totality: a long diagonal, crossing North America, from Oregon on the West coast to South Carolina on the east coast.
For those outside of this geographic band, the eclipse will appear partial, so the entire disc of the sun won’t be covered.
Never view an eclipse directly. You can buy special heavily tinted viewing glasses to protect your eyes, or make your own pinhole viewer from a cereal box.
“…Around 1:15 p.m. Eastern time, the total solar eclipse will first reach Oregon’s coast. Then it will race for the next 90 or so minutes over 13 more states: Idaho, Montana (barely), Wyoming, Nebraska, Kansas, Iowa (hardly), Missouri, Illinois, Kentucky, Tennessee, Georgia, North Carolina and finally South Carolina.
At about 2:49 p.m. Eastern time in South Carolina, some lucky souls in the Palmetto State’s marshes could be the last on American soil to experience the total eclipse. Just after 4 p.m. Eastern, the partial eclipse will end and all of America will again be under the full August sun.
If you don’t live in one of these states, don’t despair: Every American state will experience a partial solar eclipse (although it won’t darken the sky like a total eclipse). In Honolulu, the sun will be about 20 percent covered. In Brownsville, Texas, you’ll see something like a half sun. Here in New York when the maximum eclipse occurs around 2:44 p.m. Eastern, the sun will be just over 70 percent obscured (and here are tips for taking in New York City’s partial eclipse)…” Learn more – NYTimes
