In Southern California during today’ total solar eclipse, we’ll see a less dramatic blockage of the sun with about 50 percent totality as the moon slips between the sun and Earth.
Here are the eclipse times to keep in mind on Monday (all times our local times):
Partial eclipse begins: 10:05 a.m.
Totality begins: 10:35 a.m.
Maximum: 11:12 a.m.
Totality ends: 11:50 a.m.
Partial ends: 12:23 p.m.
“It is very important that observers view the eclipse safely,” Gerald McKeegan, an adjunct astronomer at Chabot Space and Science Center in Oakland, wrote in an email. “Looking directly at the sun, even when it is partially blocked by the moon, can cause serious eye damage.”
To safely view the eclipse without damaging your eyes, you need special glasses that meet the ISO 12312-2 standard, McKeegan said.
McKeegan said you can also make a homemade pinhole camera that will allow you to safely see an image of the sun. “An alternative to a pinhole camera is to use a colander or pasta ladle, allowing the Sun to shine through the holes onto a white surface,” he said.
The American Astronomical Society advises using a solar filter to protect cameras against intense sunlight and heat. You can buy a filter that screws onto DSLR lenses, and for smartphones, you can buy a smartphone filter.
In a total eclipse, the moon’s shadow is projected onto the Earth’s surface. For the April 8 eclipse, the 115-mile-wide path of totality — where the sun will appear entirely blocked by the moon — will stretch across Mexico and then across the middle and northern part of the United States, traversing 15 states from Texas to Maine.
“By an extraordinary coincidence, although the Sun is physically 400 times larger than the Moon, it is also 400 times farther from Earth than the Moon,” wrote McKeegan, who is traveling to Ohio to view the total eclipse at Wright-Patterson Air Force Base. “As a result, for observers on Earth the Moon appears to be almost exactly the same size as the Sun. So when we see the Moon pass directly in front of the Sun, it completely blocks the disk of the Sun and we see a total solar eclipse.”
