2017 Total Solar Eclipse

The eclipse is coming up in a few days! ...August 21st. Here in Gainesville people won't get to actually see the "totality" phase of the eclipse. You'll have to travel to within the path of the moon's shadow to see that. Some nearby states include SC and TN.

Here are some maps for the states that the path of totality will be going through...

If you're okay with staying in Gainesville to view the partial phase, you can visit the UF Campus Teaching Observatory where they'll have UF astronomers on-hand with telescopes and eclipse viewers. More information here:

If I remember, during the last Arts Festival in downtown Gainesville, one of their students had a telescope in the middle of the street with a hydrogen-alpha filter on it. Wonder if he'll be there, too. :) The sun doesn't have to be in eclipse to still be interesting to look at!

NEVER, EVER, EVER LOOK DIRECTLY AT THE SUN!!! Please be careful when trying to view the partial phases of the eclipse. Just because the moon is partially covering the sun doesn't mean that it's safe. Even when the sun is up to 99-percent covered you still can't look at the sun directly - ESPECIALLY IN BINOCULARS, SPOTTING SCOPES, AND TELESCOPES! And here in Gainesville the maximum coverage of the sun's surface will be something like about 84%, if I remember. So there will not be - here in Gainesville - ANY PERIOD OF TIME AT ALL - where you will be able to look at the sun WITHOUT special eclipse glasses or filters. ...NOT HERE IN GAINESVILLE! So do NOT look at the eclipsed sun without special protection.

Of the eclipse viewers and filters out there, make sure that you obtain the correct ones. There are fakes out there. They're not just designed to darken the sun, but to filter out other harmful rays from the sun, too.

*** THE AC LIBRARY AND ALL ITS BRANCHES ARE *OUT* OF THE FREE ECLIPSE VIEWERS as per a Facebook notice on the 16th. ***

Here are some tips from the NASA site about viewing the eclipse, with lists of safe vendors...

Here's how to make a pinhole camera to view the eclipse, from NASA:

Don't bother trying to get any hotels INSIDE the eclipse path NOW, especially in SC or TN, this late in the game. They're all booked up now. Your best bet is to find a hotel OUTSIDE the path ot totality and hope for that. Still, it's going to mean travel to some place within the path, and then, you're likely to have to deal with traffic.

If you'd like the latest weather bulletins, remember that we also provide them for free with the Alachua County EMWIN Project. More info here: http://alachuaskywarn.org/emwin. Unlike most other bulletin services, we can customize your messages for you if you wish - long form, abbreviated short form (if you have character space limits, etc. We may also have bulletins the other services don't provide. So feel free to ask. AC-EMWIN has been doing this for 15 years, since 2002, long before many of the other newer bulletin services. (You have to tell us WHICH bulletins you want, though, and where to. Can't just send us an email saying "subscribe". You'll just make us scratch our heads, then.) :)

Okay, SO! Here in Gainesville, partial eclipse begins at 1:15pm, maximum is at 2:47pm, and the entire event ends at 4:11pm.

However you plan to do it, be safe, and most of all...

Enjoy!

Todd