(C) Virginia Mercury This story was originally published by Virginia Mercury and is unaltered. . . . . . . . . . . Solar spectacle: 15 questions and answers about Monday’s solar eclipse • Virginia Mercury [1] ['Clay Wirestone', 'Samantha Willis', 'Derron King', 'Roger Chesley', 'Ivy Main', 'More From Author', 'April'] Date: 2024-04-08 Let’s avert our eyes from Virginia’s state budget battle for a moment and look toward the skies. Actually, before you do that, make sure you have a pair of special solar viewers. That’s right, ladies and gentlemen and children of all ages, we have a solar eclipse on the way. Enjoy these 15 questions and answers — informed by actual experts — about the big event. Wait! There’s going to be a solar eclipse? Yes! On Monday, April 8, 2024, to be precise. The partial eclipse will be visible from roughly 2:20 p.m. to 3:30 p.m., with the total eclipse lasting from 3:28 p.m. to 3:35 p.m., depending on your location in the state. What’s a solar eclipse again? According to our friends at NASA: “A total solar eclipse happens when the Moon passes between the Sun and Earth, completely blocking the face of the Sun. The sky will darken as if it were dawn or dusk.” Just imagine that you’re watching an important TV program and your beloved spouse passes in front of the set. They instantly become much less beloved. Now, let’s equate your TV set with the sun and your spouse with the moon. It’s just like that. Who will get to see it? Everyone in Virginia should witness at least some degree of the solar eclipse, although the state is not in the path of totality. Richmond and most areas of central Virginia are expected to see about 83% to 85% of the moon covering the sun during the celestial spectacle, according to NASA. In Southwest Virginia, about 87% to 90% of the sun will be blocked during the eclipse’s peak, 3:00 to 3:20 p.m. The Hampton Roads region will see the least of the eclipse, with Virginia Beach and localities close to the coast expected to witness just 80 to 83% of sun blotted out by the moon. The best views of the eclipse will happen in Northern Virginia, where several counties will experience about 90% visibility or above. How much will I see if I, you know, decide against traveling? I advise this handy website, sponsored by a NASA grant. It lets you to enter any ZIP code and reveals the eclipse extent for your neighborhood. Any advice on watching it? Don’t look at the eclipse with your naked eyes. Let me repeat that, in italics: Don’t look at the eclipse with your naked eyes. The sun is usually so bright that we can’t physically stand to look at it. An eclipse cuts down on the brightness, but doesn’t stop solar radiation that can cause major vision damage. This happens to people. It literally scars their retinas. They see a phantom image of the sun for the rest of their lives. But I can still sneak a peek, right? Please don’t do that. If you don’t believe me, listen to Shannon Schmoll, the director of the Abrams Planetarium at Michigan State University. “We don’t ever, ever want to look directly at the sun. It will harm our eyes and can cause permanent damage,” she told journalists during a briefing organized by SciLine last week. “So to look at this, you need to use either eclipse glasses or some sort of eclipse viewers.” So where do I find those solar viewers? The American Astronomical Society maintains a list of reputable manufacturers and retailers. For the record, they do not recommend going to your prominent online retailer of choice and searching for “cheap eclipse glasses.” You can do better. For goodness’ sake, think of those eyes. Virginia State Parks are selling eclipse glasses for $1 per pair; check the visitors’ center at any of the 42 locations statewide. Could I just use a camera instead? Nope. An unfiltered look at the eclipse will leave your fancy digital camera literally smoking. You need a specialized lens filter to take photos of the event with a standalone or phone camera. Okay, okay. Let’s get glasses and filters aplenty. But does this mean the world is about to end? No. Millennia of eclipses have come and gone, and the world remains, for better or worse. People are handling this totally normally and rationally online, right? Haha. Of course they aren’t! A bonkers story from online technology website Gizmodo rounds up some of the wilder claims circulating online. Among them: The eclipse will bring down electrical grids and cellphone service, it will disrupt the “simulation” in which we all live, and assorted Biblical nonsense. Will animals act all weird? Take a read through the briefing mentioned above. In short, we know that birds and insects quiet down during an eclipse, but they don’t freak out or anything. “The eclipse is strong enough to suppress that daytime diurnal activity — of day-flying insects and birds going to roost — but it’s not strong enough to initiate the kind of typical nocturnal behaviors we see at sunset,” said Andrew Farnsworth of the Center for Avian Population Studies at the Cornell University Lab of Ornithology. Any other safety tips? The Virginia Department of Transportation sent out several tips for staying safe on the roads if you plan to travel during the eclipse. Beyond reminding drivers that the darkened skies will reduce visibility and encouraging them to turn on their headlights, VDOT also advised: Do not pull over and park on the shoulders or ramps of highways to view or photograph the eclipse Choose a safe location to stop and see the celestial event After choosing a safe viewing location, be sure to exit your vehicle cautiously Also among the tips: Don’t drive with your eclipse glasses on. Any events in Virginia I should know about? Again, all 42 Virginia State Parks are hosting eclipse viewing events, so there’s sure to be one near you. The Science Museum of Virginia invites the public to The Green (in front of the building) for a free, family-friendly eclipse party in Richmond. You can snag some glasses and buy some ice cream, while you’re there. There are loads of opportunities to take in the eclipse in Northern Virginia, according to InsideNoVA; one example is a viewing party at the National Air and Space Museum’s Udvar-Hazy Center in Sterling. If you’re inclined to venture into D.C., there will be a Solar Eclipse Festival on the National Mall from 12:00-4:00 p.m. Southwest Virginia peeps, head to Virginia Tech’s Drillfield, 2:30-4:30 p.m., for an eclipse viewing party complete with free glasses and Moon Pies. When will we get to do this again? That’s a great question! The next eclipse to reach Virginia won’t be until 2078. This article from Astronomy discusses why and how often eclipses occur. Is this good for the country in some way? I can’t imagine it being good or bad for the United States or Virginia. However, the Washington Post opinion section bravely charged forward with a hot take. “A four-minute spectacle will not repair the fabric of our country rent by years of mutual distrust, yet if enough of us stand in the path of the moon’s shadow on April 8, the eclipse may remind us of the unity we long to restore,” wrote science correspondent David Baron. This piece was adapted for Virginia. The original was published at the Kansas Reflector, which like the Virginia Mercury, is part of States Newsroom, a nonprofit news network supported by grants and a coalition of donors as a 501c(3) public charity. [END] --- [1] Url: https://virginiamercury.com/2024/04/08/solar-spectacle-15-questions-and-answers-about-mondays-solar-eclipse/ Published and (C) by Virginia Mercury Content appears here under this condition or license: Creative Commons BY-NC-ND 4.0. via Magical.Fish Gopher News Feeds: gopher://magical.fish/1/feeds/news/virginiamercury/