Trending
BUCKHANNON - West Virginia Wesleyan College is offering a special event Monday afternoon for people wanting to experience the total solar eclipse.
WVWC's SPACE Club, Physics and Engineering Society and Sigma Pi Sigma will sponsor the solar eclipse event from 2-4:30 p.m. Monday in the Chapel Oval of Wesleyan's campus.
"Buckhannon will see a 90 percent eclipse, starting at 1:58 p.m.," a WVWC press release states. "The peak of the eclipse will occur at 3:16 p.m., and the eclipse will end at 4:29 p.m.
"Those attending will be given a pair of eclipse glasses and instructions on how to construct a pinhole camera. A few telescopes will also be available for use."
"One of the neatest ways to see the eclipse is to look at the shadow of a tree," WVWC's Dr. Tracey Delaney, associate professor of physics, said. "As the sunlight makes its way through the leaves, the system is very similar to pinhole projection and so you will see all of the little sunbeams coming through and hitting the ground in the shape of crescents."
Viewing any part of the bright sun through a camera lens, binoculars, or a telescope without a special-purpose solar filter secured over the front of the optics will instantly cause severe eye injury, the WVWC press release states.
"When watching the partial phases of the solar eclipse directly with your eyes you must look through safe solar viewing glasses ('eclipse glasses') or a safe handheld solar viewer at all times. You can also use an indirect viewing method, such as a pinhole projector."
This eclipse will be the first total solar eclipse to be visible in American since August 2017, and the first to be visible in Canada since 1979. It will be the first to be visible in Mexico since 1991.
Officials say it will be the last total solar eclipse visible in the United States until 2044.