If you are in the United States or Mexico, come Tuesday 8 April you might be able to view a total solar eclipse. Even if you are not in the path of totality, you might have an opportunity to view a partial eclipse. If you are interested in viewing, the key pieces of information you need are when it will be, where it can be viewed, and what you need for viewing. It isn’t too late just yet to get viewing equipment (if you are interested in any). But if something shows a delivery date of Monday, consider it something that will likely not arrive in time.

When and Where

The time at which you can see the eclipse will vary by location and timezone. NASA has in which you can enter a zip code and get the information for your location. Even if you are not in the path of totality, you might be able to see a partial eclipse.

What do you need for viewing?

There are a lot of options for equipment. The simplest option would be a pinhold projector or some variation of it. To make one of these, you only need a stiff piece of material, such as cardboard, and a white sheet of paper. Drill a hold in the center of the cardboard. If you aim the hold for the cardboard at the sun and place the paper behind it with a decent gap between them, you’ll see a circle of light on the carboard. That’s a projection of the sun. As the eclipse progresses, it will be more apparent that this is an image of the sun as you see the sape of the moon encroching on the projection. This solution isn’t much different from the earliers cameras (Camera Obscura), which were made by cutting off all light sources in a room except for one edge with a hole or lens. The image of what is going on outside the room is projected on the wall opposite to the hole.

The next step up for viewing would be to have solar viewing glasses. These are usually have cardboard frames with a thin plastic where lenses would go. Though either absorption or reflection, these glasses prevent an overwhelming majority of the light from reaching your eyes so that you can safely view the image. They are as cheap as 0.80 USD for disposable units and as much as 7 USD for some of the studier ones. If you are a T-Mobile subscriber, you might have grabed some solar glasses for T-Mobile Tuesday for free.

If you plan to use your smartphone to take pictures, you might run into a challenge if you try to put the glasses in front of your phone. Even if you zoom for your phone’s camera to use a specific lens, some phones will still switch lenses based on changes in lighting conditions. It may be easier to get a silter specificly made for the phone.

Beyond glasses, there are magnifying devices or viewing the eclipse. The least expensive of these would be eclipse binoculars. These darkened binoculars give you a much more dramativ perspective of the show. On the higher end of this, there are telescopes that have been fitted with solar filters (similar to the glasses). This would be an option to considere only if you already have a telescope. Keep in mind that if you are using a regular telescope, do not use a viewfinder to aim the scope. That would be a great way to cause eye damage. Instead, keep the caps on the viewfnder so that it is blocked and put a sheet of paper behind the viewfinder. When it is aimed properly, the sioulette of the viewfinder will be a perfect circle.

Finishing Preperations

Check your local weather before monday. If you know the weather might not be good, you may be less disapointed if and when it doesn’t allow viewing. If you have the option, make it a work from home day. Remember to block your calendar around the time of the eclipses maximum. If you plan on viewing away from home, load your glasses into your car so that they are not forgotten. If you plan to order viewing equipment, make sure you have it in hand by Sunday!

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