Solar spectacle: 13 questions and answers about Monday’s solar eclipse

Let’s avert our eyes from politics 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 in Utah from roughly 11:25 a.m. until about 1:40 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 Utah should witness some degree of the solar eclipse. Much of the Beehive State can expect to see about 50% coverage.

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. Those in Logan will see about 46% coverage while Blanding will have 60% coverage.

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.

Clark Planetarium in Salt Lake City has some for sale at its Planet Fun Store, while supplies last.

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.

When will we get to do this again?

That’s a great question! March your calendars for Aug. 12, 2045, when Utah will get to witness a total solar eclipse. 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. 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 Utah. The original was published by Kansas Reflector, which like Utah News Dispatch, is part of States Newsroom, a nonprofit news network supported by grants and a coalition of donors as a 501c(3) public charity. Kansas Reflector maintains editorial independence. Contact Editor Sherman Smith for questions: [email protected]. Follow Kansas Reflector on Facebook and Twitter.