How—and where—to (safely) view Monday's near total solar eclipse
Finally! After being foretold for years, the mother of all Teachable Moments is finally here! On Monday, August 21st, 2017, between 1 p.m. and 4 p.m., there will be a Solar Eclipse visible from Chattanooga and the area to the north of the city.
What Is A Solar Eclipse?
Well, obviously, a Solar Eclipse is a sign of the end times, heralding the return of Gozer the Gozarian!
Kidding! It’s actually a natural thing that happens when the moon passes between the Earth and the Sun, temporarily blocking the Sun’s rays from reaching the Earth. It’s actually a very common occurrence, with at least a partial Solar Eclipse happening somewhere on Earth every 18 months or so.
What’s less common is for an eclipse to happen in one particular place; it can be centuries between occurrences. The last time a total Solar Eclipse was visible in this area was 1900, and the next one won’t be for another hundred years (at least). So, this is literally a once in a lifetime event for the #CHA.
Where Can I Experience It?
Here in Chattanooga, we’ll actually be experiencing a partial eclipse. Only about 99.9 percent of the sun’s light will be blocked. If you want to experience totality (100 percent of the sun’s rays being blocked), you need to travel north just a bit.
Driving about five minutes north of Soddy Daisy should be far enough. If you have friends in Dayton, maybe offer to buy them a late lunch in exchange for a place to hang out during the eclipse.
If you don’t know anyone in Dayton, or would just like somewhere else to experience totality from, just climb on the Intertubes and search for “Xavier M Jubier interactive eclipse map full”. The first result there should be an interactive map of the path of the eclipse.
Zoom in on the Chattanooga area and click anywhere in or around the path of totality (the dark, snake-looking path) to see how much of the sun will be eclipsed, as well as starting and end times. (2:30 p.m.-ish is the time of the maximum coverage for our area.) You can also mouse over the pop-up to see an animation of the different phases of the eclipse at that location.
Don’t Look At It!
Now, despite what the Gozarian Priests will tell you, it’s just a coincidence that the moon is the right size, and the right distance between Earth and Sun, to totally block the Sun’s rays occasionally. It’s what Scientists call a “happy coincidence.”
And, when the moon gets in there, and is blocking those rays, it will get dark. Like, full on, middle of the night dark. You’ll be able to see stars, planets and all the other things that you normally have to stay up late, or get up early, to see.
For bonus points, spot a meteor from the Kappa Cygnids shower (which peaks on the 21st) during the eclipse.
However, even in this strange darkness, you should not look at the Sun. Even if you are in an area of totality, that 100 precent blockage will only last a few minutes. And if even a tiny part of the Sun’s rays are peeking out around the moon, you could damage your eyes severely.
And, yes, you can go blind.
The only way to be 100 percent safe is to use a pair of certified safe eclipse glasses. As you can imagine, these glasses, which meet the ISO 12312-2 safety standard and reduce the Sun’s brightness to about the same level as a full moon, have become scarce in the run up to the eclipse.
And, because humans are awful, the market has been flooded with glasses that purport to be safe, and even have the ISO stamp on them, but are not safe for actually looking at the sun. So, beware of glasses that become available at the last minute, and instead reach out to your science-minded friends that have been prepping for this for a while now.
Even a once in a lifetime event like this isn’t worth giving up a lifetime of eyesight.
Realistically though, this is Chattanooga, so it’s likely to be overcast the entire time the eclipse is happening. (Gozer’s work, to be sure.)
So, get some glasses if you can, but just plan to gather the family ‘round, sit back and enjoy the eerie darkness together.
Steven W. Disbrow is a programmer who specializes in e-commerce and mobile systems development, an entrepreneur, comic-book nerd, writer, improviser, actor, sometime television personality and parent of two human children.