Clear skies expected for solar eclipse
Special activities planned throughout the region
Weather permitting, area residents should see 66 percent coverage of Monday’s Great American Solar Eclipse as the moon passes between Earth and the sun.
This rare event will be seen in its totality from Salem, Oregon to Charleston, South Carolina as it makes its way across the U.S. on a diagonal path. It’s the first time since June 8, 1918, there’s been a coast-to- coast total eclipse in America.
Locally, the eclipse will last about 2 1/2 hours, beginning at 1:22 p.m. and ending at 3:56 p.m., reaching its peak at 2:42 p.m.
A solar eclipse occurs when the moon passes in front of the sun and obscures it totally or partially, sometimes creating highly unusual situations. Where an eclipse is total, stars come out in the daytime, but that won’t occur here.
“It’s not going to get very dark,” said Valerie Rapson, outreach astronomer at Dudley Observatory in Schenectady. “It might look like
it’s a little cloudy. It’s not going to look like dusk.”
Viewing should be quite good, barring a sudden change in the forecast.
“We’re expecting sunny conditions on Monday,” said Evan Heller, a National Weather Service meteorologist in Albany. “Hopefully it will stay that way.”
Interest in the eclipse keeps growing as the time draws closer. Greenwich Public Library got a grant for a large supply of children’s viewing glasses and gave many of them to other libraries, including 200 to the Saratoga Springs Public Library.
“They were all gone in a couple of days,” Greenwich library official Dan Hubbs said. “We’ve been inundated with phone calls. We’ve tried local stores, looking for more, with no luck. There don’t seem to be any anywhere.”
However, the library will show NASA’s live stream of the eclipse from 1 to 3 p.m. in the Susman Room.
At Saratoga Race Course, this week’s “dark day” will come a day early, and the New York Racing Association has several special activities planned Monday.
Skies won’t get dark enough to affect the program, but track announcer Larry Collmus will alert fans about the peak time. The fourth race post time will be moved from 2:40 to 2:45 p.m. to accommodate this.
Seasonal track worker Benjamin Palmer, a National Astronomy Foundation employee, will also be on hand next to the paddock to answer questions and assist fans who want to view the eclipse through telescopes. NYRA is also giving away special “Eclipse” awards, free NASA- approved viewing glasses, to 100 lucky fans.
NASA’s livestream of the eclipse will be shown on several of the track’s videoboards, and eclipse-themed games and activities will be held in the Family Fun tent.
Dudley Observatory is hosting a viewing event at the Museum of Innovation and Science in Schenectady. Telescopes with special solar filters will be set up outdoors, and there will be a livestream of the total eclipse indoors, as well.
Several other places in the area are holding special events, including livestreaming of the eclipse:
• Crandall Public Library in Glens Falls, noon to 4 p.m.
• Clifton Park-Halfmoon Public Library, 1 p. m., livestreaming and outdoor viewing. Glasses will be made available.
• Siena College in Loudonville, 1 to 4:30 p.m. Special glasses will be provided until they run out. Visitors should park in Lot F on the first-base side of the baseball field.
• The Sage Colleges and Frank Vozzo, associate professor of physics, will host a gathering from 1 to 4 p.m. outside Buchman Pavilion at 65 1st St. in Troy. Images of the sun will be projected onto screens to allow safe group viewing. Glasses will not be available, but children are welcome to bring shoeboxes to make pinhole cameras.
• Hirsch Observatory at Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute in Troy will be open for public viewing from 1 to 4:30 p.m. Students and observatory volunteers will be on hand with eclipse glasses and four solar telescope to assist with viewing the eclipse. Volunteers will also explain what’s happening during the eclipse and what people can see.
The observatory is at 110 8th St,, just off College Avenue, in building No. 74 on the RPI campus map.
• Girl Scouts of Northeastern New York will host a viewing party from 12:30 to 4:30 p.m. at Camp Is Sho Da on Manix Road in East Greenbush. Approved glasses will be provided, along with ice cream sundaes and solar bead bracelet kits. The cost is $ 3, with admission limited to the first 125 registrants. To register online, go to http://gsusa.ebiz. uapps.net/vp/FamilyManagement/ ProductDetail. aspx?ProductId=730405347.
• The Children’s Museum at Saratoga will hold a special program at 2 p.m. for children ages 5 and older that will include crafts, science and other eclipse-related content. The program is free with museum admission, but pre-registration is required. Call 518-584-5540 for more information.
For those planning to view the eclipse on their own, officials urge extreme caution, as serious, permanent eye damage may occur otherwise.
“You absolutely have to use eye protection,” Rapson said.
Several types of safe viewing equipment may be used.:
• Solar glasses designed for direct viewing. Regular sunglasses are not adequate.
• Welders glass of Grade 14 or higher, available at local welding supply shops.
• Telescopes or binoculars with specially designed solar film or solar filters. Using telescopes or binoculars without filters is extremely dangerous.
A partial or total solar eclipse occurs somewhere on Earth about twice per year. The next major one viewable in upstate New York will occur on April 8, 2024.
For more information about Monday’s eclipse go to http://eclipse2017.nasa.gov. For more information about safe viewing go to www. skyandtelescope.com/astronomy-news/howto-look-at-the-sun/.