Stargazers will thrill Monday to a full solar eclipse that crosses the country from Texas to Maine. But locally, residents will only be able to see a partial eclipse. It won’t pack the same punch as the total eclipse that wowed Lowcountry crowds in August 2017. But it will still be cool.
Laura Penny, a long time instructor in the College of Charleston’s department of physics and astronomy, points out that you’ll still need eclipse glasses to look at the eclipse, even though it is outside the “path of totality” of a full eclipse’s coverage of the sun by the moon.
“About 75% of the sun is going to be covered in Charleston, which is still a huge percentage to be covered,” Penny said.
Penny said that eclipse glasses don’t expire. If you have a pair from seven years ago, it’s safe for use as long as they are not bent, scratched or have any holes in the filters.
“When you’re wearing eclipse glasses, the only thing you should be able to see through them is the sun — everything else is going to be completely black,” Penny said.
How to use eclipse glasses
She proposed a practical way to test your glasses: Put them on and look at a bright light bulb. If you can approach the light closely and the view remains completely dark, then your glasses are still safe to use.
“As humans we’ve developed a physiological response when we normally try to look at the sun. We get this sense that we should immediately look away, it’s too bright,” Penny said. “The issue when the sun is partially covered by the moon is that when you look at it, you don’t get that same physiological response, but it is still burning a hole in your retina.”
An alternative and effective method for viewing the eclipse is through a homemade pinhole camera.
What to expect
“At 1:53 p.m. locally [on Monday], you’ll start to see it [the moon] eat into the sun. The moon circle will start to come on top of the solar circle, and then at 3:10 p.m., the sun will be the most covered — that’s the 75% covered,” Penny said. “Then after, 3:10 p.m. to 4:24 p.m. is essentially when the moon will be coming off the disk of the sun.”
The solar eclipse isn’t predicted to disrupt daily routines because “you would still have a significant amount of daylight that you’d be able to do something,” Penny said. Because it’s only a partial eclipse, it won’t be exceptionally noticeable.
“If it’s a bright sunny day, you might think that there were more clouds — for the amount of sunlight that you’re actually seeing. And if it’s cloudy, it’ll just seem more cloudy, it’ll just be sort of less light,” Penny said.
But remember, don’t look directly at the sun, regardless.
With a teacher work-day scheduled for April 8, schools in the Charleston County School District will be closed, giving kids an enjoyable chance to view the eclipse from home.
“This is in that category of things that you can’t learn in the classroom — you can get
a lot of science enrichment out of this — understanding of shadows, the reason why it’s a partial here in Charleston and a total someplace else,” Penny said.
Whether you plan to watch the eclipse from your driveway, the beach or the downtown battery, witnessing an eclipse is a rare opportunity.
“Despite the fact that just seven years ago [an eclipse] went through Charleston,” Penny said, “having these two total solar eclipses occur over the continental United States in this short amount of time is very unusual, and it is something that people will remember forever.”
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