The United States will experience its second coast-to-coast total solar eclipse in 7 years today, then won’t see another for 21 years.
While the 2017 eclipse ran from the Pacific Ocean to the Atlantic with the path of totality just south of Chadron, today’s eclipse stretches from Mexico across the U-S (hitting parts of 15 states) and on into Canada
The moon’s shadow will cover 68% of the sun in the Chadron area, starting about 11:35 on the lower right-hand side of the sun. It will reach its peak about 12:47 for less than 4-minutes. The sun will be totally uncovered at 2:00
The Veath Planetarium in the Chadron State College Math Science Center of Innovative Learning is hosting an Eclipse Party starting at 11:00.
It will include using the Planetarium to help explain how solar eclipses happen with feeds of the total eclipse from various locations along its route. There will also be special eclipse glasses available.
Even though the eclipse won’t be total in this area, the brightness will be reduced enough that some people will be tempted to look directly at the sun for an extended period, which could cause permanent damage to the eyes.
Normal sunglasses and photographic film don’t provide anywhere near the level of prevention to safely view the sun during the eclipse. Not even most welding goggles offer adequate protections – only the specially labeled eclipse glasses.
Of course, today’s weather forecast of mostly cloudy skies and a chance of rain might keep the sun from being visible anyway.